Will be spending two and a half days in Prague? Anyone hired a private tour guide before? What are the must sees? Any of the places need reservations?
Must sees? Depends on person. But probably everybody sees at least Old Town Square, Charles Bridge and Hradcany Castle. Very good book for you would be Rick Steves: Prague and the Czech Republic. It contains the most important information and suggestions especially if you have very little time. You can find a lot of information what to do in Prague on this website: http://www.pragueexperience.com
We took the free walking tour with the girl with the green umbrella(Old Town Square). It was 3.5 hours well spent. We gave her 25 euros at the end.Shouldn't this be in "to the east"?
Prague is very walkable. Easily done on your own.
I agree that Prague is very easily done on one's own, especially with a very handy guidebook/online source, like Rick's! I had the better part of a long wkend in Prague (arrived Fri AM, left Sunday night, by train for Berlin) and, granted, I had action-packed days and got an early start each day, but pretty much saw all of the highlights. Rick's guide for Prague is REALLY useful for this; follow what he says and you'll be sure to see it all! And best part is, it IS a super-easy city to walk around. One thing I DID do, on day one, is take a Prague Walks walking tour. It meets under the clock in the main square and took us around that area as well as across the bridge to the castle (it ended at the castle/cathedral), at which point you are on your own to tour it yourself. This sort of walking tour gives a great orientation, gives an over-view, and is inexpensive (b/c you are w/ a group, NOT with your own private guide).
Also, you don't need reservations, you just show up and pay.
My wife and I were there last summer and had a wonderful time. Lots of must-sees but let me recommend two that others might overlook. They are the two museums dedicated to Kafka and Mucha.
Martin Belohradsky: [email protected] Very interesting guy. He spoke a lot about art and architecture and took us into buildings we either would not have known to enter and ones we would not have been able to enter without him. I believe we were with him about 2 1/2 hours - don't recall how much $$ but we enjoyed our time.