Our Prague weekend
To celebrate our friend Chris’ 30th birthday, the whole CFB team plus five friends flew to Prague for an epic weekend. This itinerary features details of beer being delivered by miniature train set, a sculpture of two pissing men, and cocktails served in a bronze garden gnome.
Day 1:
We stayed in the Praha 2 region of the city, in a lofty, top floor apartment of a huge block of holiday lets. Here’s the link. What sold it for us was the promise of a 30 pint beer keg on our terrace! They delivered! Our accommodation was quite far out (probably a good 30 min walk to all the action), but that gave us an excuse to rent hop-on electric ‘Lime’ scooters to get about.
* An Uber from the airport to our accommodation cost about £11.
The Train set bar
After unpacking and settling in, we headed out to the town and found a themed bar called Vyntopna. Customers have their drinks served by model trains that run along a track in the middle of all the tables. It’s squeal-inducing fun!
Beer Bikes
After a couple of ‘warm-up pints’ we merrily trundled to the edge of town to hop on a Beer Bike tour! Our friendship group is a mixture of males and females (inc. one who is pregnant), but we all still wanted to do the Beer Bike thing (albeit with soft drinks), as they’re a fun way of touring the town. We hired our bike from Beer Bike Prague. 2 hours hire cost us EUR350. Eeek at the price, but you do get to be your own DJ around town!
Grand Cafe Orient
All that biking over cobbled streets didn’t half work up the munchies, so we stopped in the city centre for a cake, panini and coffee at Grand Café Orient.
It’s an Art Deco style café with balcony seating and a pleasant view. We saw a recommendation for it on an episode of Honest Guide to Prague on YouTube. Worthy of the recommendation and it was here we tried a traditional cake. Word has it the Grand Café Orient is only place you’ll find them in square form, rather than circular. There’s a lot of seating so even on a Saturday it wasn’t full.
Kantyna
Another recommendation from Honest Guide was Kantyna – butchers, chefs and fire, although here’s why it was one of the most stressful dining experiences we’ve ever had…
It’s popular and you can’t reserve seating. We had to awkwardly wait around in the restaurant amongst diners and pounce on a table when it became free. There’s no orderly queue and the staff will not care that you’ve waited longer than anyone else. We hustled our way to a table but then another group of eager customers competing for the same one, decided they’d give us the stink eye for the rest of our time there.
When ready to order, you take a blank order card to the butchery station and choose your uncooked cuts of meat (this arrives on your table later on), a pre-cooked food station where they serve mashed potato, sausages, slow roasted meat, veg, side dishes (a staff member loads your tray with 100g portions of your choosing which you take away with you and pray it doesn’t get cold before your meat arrives), and then finally the drinks station. The staff mark on your card what you order from each one and this is what you use to pay at the end. Every element of your meal will arrive at different times. Despite the chaos, the food was incredible.
It’s considered a relatively expensive place to eat in Prague but you can spend as little as say £10-£25 per person on a light meal, or easily upwards of £45 for one cut of their best steak, with sides/drinks extra. The food is priced per 100g, so you might not know how much you’re spending until you pay the bill.
At night it’s worth taking a walk to the edge of the river Vltava to see the Castle lit up and the Old Town Square’s world famous Astronomical Clock. This is exactly what we did after our meal at Kantyna.
Activity summary
- Geeky train bar and restaurant – Vyntopna
- Beer Bike Prague
- Central café with a view Grand Café Orient
- Evening meal for meat lovers – Kantyna
- Prague’s Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock
Day 2
Lego Museum
We’re children of the 80s and 90s and are very nostalgic about Lego. One thing Prague has, which was a little unexpected, is a Lego museum and shop containing some amazingly rare sets like Death Star 2. You’ll see all the Harry Potter and Star Wars sets on display, plus some of the first Lego sets ever made. We certainly appreciated the detailed model city reconstructions of famous Prague landmarks such as Charles Bridge.
Donuterie
After the Lego shop it was time to head over to Prague Castle for a tour. On the way we found a donut shop called Donuterie.
Prague Castle
After a long, uphill romp through the old side of the city, we finally arrived at Prague Castle, which you really have to go and see. It’s the largest castle complex in the world and the most important cultural institution in the Czech Republic. The visit took easily 3 hours and could have taken us longer, but at times it was frustratingly busy and our pregnant friend bailed out from too much hustle and bustle. It cost about £14 to enter.
Outside the Castle was a food market where we grabbed hot dogs and Trdelník (chimney cake) filled with melted chocolate and ice cream. The dough cone should be cooked over hot coals, that’s the traditional way. Look for a vendor cooking them this way if you’re going to try one. They’re absolutely worth the calories!
Self-guided tour
After our cultural morning, we leisurely self-guided our group around the town to see several sculptures and landmarks. Old town, Astronomical Clock, Dancing House, The John Lennon Wall, Charles bridge, The Two Pissing men.
The Hemingway Bar
At 5pm, and as soon as it opened, we dived into a classy, old fashioned venue for serious cocktails – The Hemingway Bar. It gets booked quickly and this was our second attempt at entering. The premium cocktails worked out about £8 each, and as us Brits know is quite cheap for a premium cocktail.
Czech Goose and Duck
For dinner we picked a restaurant called Czech Goose and Duck (Husinec) we could try traditional goulash with dumplings. It wasn’t a posh place, probably our equivalent would be a Beefeater perhaps, but the portions were massive and all the food devoured, despite massively over-ordering. Beware, food portions in Prague are generous!
Activity Summary
- Lego Museum and shop
- Donuterie
- Prague Castle
- Self guided landmark tour
- The Hemingway Bar
- Czech Goose and Duck restaurant (Husinec)
Day 3
Brunch at Hooters – I know, I know. Not our idea, but it was cheap and cheerful and kept the 30 year old birthday boy happy. To be fair, the food was perfectly satisfying and again, loads of it!
After Hooters we mooched around a nearby market selling magnets by the truck load, but also some traditional wooden children’s toys and gifts, string puppets, fruit and veg, chocolates, leather bags, you get the gist. It seems the three most impressive locally made wears are glass wear, ceramics and delicate wooden toys that you can’t or wouldn’t want to cram in a suitcase.
After our Hooters experience we needed to replenish our levels of Czechoslovakian culture, so we jumped on a Dotto Train guided tour running from the Old Town Square. It was bone shaking to say the least and we witnessed a drugged up, spaced out women nearly fall to her death over a city wall, but to see so much of the city in an hour made sure we captured all the essentials. £8 per person for 1 hour tour with English speaking narration. Ideally you’d do this trip at the start and not on the last day like us!
The day ended at Bakeshop for cake before an Uber back home.
Activity summary
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