Just returned from a wonderful trip (May 2013). There are so many things to see outside of Prague. My advice although Prague is lovely, there is more to the country you should see. We visited Telc, where there is a castle with marvelous wood carvings and a beautiful town plaza with all kinds of quaint shops, Krivoklat castle with its quaint chapel and vast library, and Lednice chateau in Moravia with its incredible gardens. We encountered wonderful people, like the workers practicing their English and teaching us Czech at our choice of lunch cafe and the children hiking through the woods greeting us withw 'dobri dehn' and 'ahoy' and the actor in historical costume for a documentary, sitting in a castle courtyard in Telc talking on his cell phone. We ate knedliky and borscht, duck and fish. Someof the literal Enlglish menu translations were bafflinglike "beef from the navel of a cow", and "meat from the rump of a bull". We stopped at Tebrice, which was mentioned in a Rick Steves column, and went through their Jewish quarter. We stopped to eat at a small cafe, where we had plum dumplingsvery good. The menu had some interesting entries, in particular, under "Meatless Food", "100 g Fried Edam cheese with ham and garnish". Lots of fun, can't wait to go back.
Hi Susan, what part of the country are those areas in? And also, did you get around by car or public transport? Are any of the sites you mentioned UNESCO sites, by any chance?
Telc (pronounced Telch) is in southern Bohemia and is a UNESCO site,Krivoklat is in central Bohemia not far from Prague, Lednice is in Moravia and is a UNESCO site, Trebice is in western Moravia and is a UNESCO site. We travelled with friends, which unfortunately is not an option for many, but we made much use of GPS technology and the roads were good, if you want to drive. I did see that there were bus/coach trips to many of these places. Hope you have a chance to visit some of these spots. Cesky Krumlov, a UNESCO site and Ceksy Budejovice are also quite nice--and I believe these are also quite nice--I've seen them on other trips, and may be more accessible.