Prague City Guide | Viking River Cruise Prague Extension 2019
Back in April we flew 5,000 miles from Florida to Prague, Czech Republic.
It was our first time setting foot in Europe and we were all ready for our 14-day Grand European Tour with Viking River Cruises. Instead of flying to Budapest (where the cruise begins) we purchased a two-day pre-extension in Prague. What a wonderful, magical and beautiful two days it was.
This post is a comprehensive guide to seeing Prague in two-days. If you want to see it exactly like we did, book the Prague pre-extension on the Grand European Tour. We’re splitting this up into four sections for easier reading! If you’d like a video version, check out the two vlogs we posted on our YouTube channel.
Prague Fast Facts
The Prague language is Czech. Some easy phrases are:
Ahoj (ahoy) - Hello + Goodbye
Prosím (pro-seem) - Please
Děkuju (de-qui) - Thank You
Ano - Yes
Ne - No
The Prague currency is the Czech Koruna, which is about .043 USD or .039 Euro. Some of the larger shops in the city center will accept Euros or credit/debit cards (MasterCard and Visa mostly). There really aren’t any shops that will accept American dollars or cards like American Express or Discover. Our recommendation is to have Korunas on hand because a lot of the cuter shops or street vendors will only accept the local currency. Plus, Korunas look really cool and actually make a great souvenir when you get back home!
In Prague tourism is huge. It’s one of the main sources of income for the city, but that means that the streets are extremely crowded. Most of the crowds are directly in the city center, especially around the Astronomical Clock.
While the crowds may be an unfortunate situation of many, since tourism is so important to Prague, locals are very kind! They're extremely understanding when you can’t speak the language or when you’re just confused about where you are or where you’re going. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it! Most people around 40 and below will speak amazing English!
The people of Prague also take extreme pride in the cleanliness of their city. Shop owners are often seen cleaning and sweeping the outside of their storefront. You won’t find trash along the streets or overflowing trash cans. Prague is by far the cleanest city we’ve ever visited.
If you’ve been to Europe, you may already know this, but you have to pay to use the public restrooms. This isn’t something we were prepared for at all, so we thought we’d throw it in. They’re usually 10 Korunas and you must pay in cash. You’ll walk up to a person at a window or table and they’ll take your money. Then you can do what you need to do!
This is for all the single ladies out there… Prague has some of the most attractive men we’ve ever seen. This is especially true with the castle guards, police officers, and military members. Sweet mercy!
Prague Things to Do
There are so many things to do in Prague, but we’re going to break down some of the best spots for pictures, shopping and eating in this magical city!
The Old Town Square is kind of a given. It’s pretty much dead center in Prague and it’s marked by a big open space. When we visited (April 2019) there was a beautiful Easter market going on in the town square. This is where you’ll find most of your souvenir shops, yummy places to eat and coffeeshops. If you’re not feeling the local restaurants or coffee spots, you can also find a Hard Rock Café and Starbucks in the Old Town Square.
Old Town Square is also where one of the most famous Prague attractions can be found. That’s the Astronomical Clock. Huge crowds stand around at all hours of the day to see the spectacle that happens every thirty minutes. It’s kind of like a giant cuckoo clock, except even better. Here’s an article that explains the meaning behind the clock and why it’s such a tourist attraction. One thing to note when visiting the clock… beware of swinging selfie sticks! It can be a little scary!
The third most famous spot in Prague (possibly the most famous) is Charles Bridge. Many of the most beautiful landscape photos of Prague are taken from Charles Bridge. It’s also a beautiful photo-op on its own. There are thirty Baroque statues (fifteen on either side of the bridge), most of which were placed there between 1683 and 1714. Here’s more information for you history buffs. The statues are given regular maintenance, so that they stay as beautiful as they were the day they were made.
Another thing you’ll find on the bridge (besides a lot of tourists) are street musicians and even some street artists singing, playing instruments and painting beautiful pieces dedicated to Prague.
One thing to note when you’re on Charles Bridge… because there are so many people in a fairly small space, pickpocketing is most common here. Prague is a notoriously safe area and we never (not even on the bridge) felt unsafe. When you’re on the bridge, just be extra aware of your belongings.
Viking River Cruises and Prague
As we already mentioned, we took the Viking River Cruise Prague extension. It was two days in Prague prior to our Grand European Tour (starting in Budapest, Hungary). We booked everything through Viking, so they chose the hotel, which was the beautiful Corinthia Hotel. Since the hotel was quite a ways outside of the city center, Viking provided a complimentary shuttle that ran every thirty minutes from about 8am until 7-8pm. Prior to arriving at our hotel, Viking also picked us up from the airport. Everything was smooth!
On our first full day in Prague we had an eight-hour tour of the city. We saw all of the major sights like the Old Town Square, Charles Bridge and the Astronomical Clock. We also had a chance to explore on our own and experience the culture of Prague. This tour was included with our Viking River Cruise extension.
That night we took an optional tour, which was a folklore dinner in the Czech countryside. We drove about 1-1.5 hours outside of Prague to this beautiful little house. We ate authentic Czech food and enjoyed a great performance of music and dancing. It was one of our favorite parts of the entire trip.
On the second full day, we spent the first half of the day exploring on our own. We took this chance to visit the Hard Rock Café and enjoy some Czech burgers. Just kidding… they were just normal burgers.
That night we had the Viking Prague by night tour. We visited the Prague TV Tower and enjoyed a magnificent view of the entire city. Then we traveled to the monastery for a lit-up city view and a Czech beer tasting. If you like beer, you’ll love Czech beer. It’s light in color, but is closer to a dark beer flavor profile. We’re not beer people, and if you watch the video you’ll see that we didn’t quite enjoy it as much as everyone else.
Why is Prague so beautiful?
If you know anyone who’s been to Prague, then you’ve probably heard them go on and on about the beauty of this city. Everything you hear is true. But instead of explaining its beauty, we’re going to end with a little photo diary from our trip.
We hope you enjoyed our Prague City Guide from our Viking River Cruise Prague Extension. We had such a wonderful time and can’t wait to go back to Praha!
Have you ever visited Prague? Let us know in the comments below! And don’t forget to check out our last city guide on gorgeous Dubrovnik.
If you want to book the Grand European Tour, visit Viking’s website.
A very special thank you to our Patron, Sylvia Vasquez Plexus, for supporting us on this wild ride! If you’d like to become a Patron, we have some awesome reward tiers. Sometimes we even pick up little gifts for you along our travels.
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