When I first visited Prague with my daughter, I fell in love with its beautiful Old Town, the history, the food and the friendliness of the people.  But that was almost 20 years ago, so what is it like now. But, before I get into that, let me give you the details of how I put this trip together, it may give you some ideas.  If you aren’t interested…just skip down to the pretty picture of Prague, the City of 100 spires..

Now, if you know my travel style, you know that I do my best to travel well, but cheaply….I mean very cheaply ….OK, I like free or close to it.  So, for this trip, which would put us on the road for a month, I needed a one-way flight to Europe. We planned to return on the Legend of the Seas (largest cruise ship in the world) for its inaugural Transatlanic voyage.  We like cruises as transportation, so we wanted to spend a few weeks traveling in Europe before we returned home.  Now, we have spent a good bit of time in Europe but there so much to see and do, so where do we start.  Well, Reva has never seen Prague and I would rank it right up there with Paris, London, Rome and Barcelona as cities not to miss.  Of course, in my opinion, Prague is cleaner, friendlier and less expensive.  So, we decided to put this on our schedule for this trip.

First thing to decide was how to get there for free or close to it.  Well, from my Delta Airlines American Express credit card, I had about 100,000 miles (sign-up bonus).  I searched major airports looking for a cheap one-way trip to Prague or a city somewhere in Europe that we could use as a starting location.  As luck would have it, I found a one-way fare from Ft Lauderdale to Prague for 17,000 miles per person. The flight connected through New York, but the price from New York was double that from Ft Lauterdale. I could fly us from Orlando to Ft Lauderdale for $60 the day before our Europe flight (Reva can fly free with me on Southwest using my Companian Pass, also our bags are free because I have a SW credit card). 

In regards to hotels, we needed one night in Ft Lauderdale and two nights in Prague.  So, for our stay in Ft Lauderdale, we stayed at the Hyatt Place Cruise Port, since I have the Hyatt Credit Card, and we had a free night.  Unfortunately, I chose the wrong Hyatt Place and had to pay for a ride back and forth to the Airport (even pros make mistakes sometimes!) The fact that there was Total Wine store in a plaza a block from the hotel did make up slightly for the lack of a free airport shuttle.  For our two nights in Prague, the Ramada Hotel City Centre was $249 a night including breakfast (if you paid for it), but it was only 7,500 Wyndham points a night.  Since, I have the Wyndham credit card, and get 10% off point stays, it was only 13,500 points total which I purchased for $90.  The Wyndham credit card also gave us status at the hotel; including early check-in.  This was very handy when we arrived around 11:00 AM.  If you are thrifty, you really can travel cheaply and well.

Our hotel, was located on Wenceslas Square which is adjacent to the old town and one of the best areas to stay in Prague with easy access to most of the major sites and the metro.  The hotel can easily be reached by the metro, but we opted to use Uber which was only $25 each way from the airport.

After we dropped our bags, we went to the square and walked down to the Hop-on, Hop-off bus kiosk which was only a few hundred meters away.  Two 24-hour passes for the bus including a one-hour river cruise was $91.  I could have purchased them cheaper on-line, but we were tired.  There are two competing hop-on, hop-off bus companies but the prices are similar.  The bus ride on the first day was not a good idea, since after 16 hours of traveling and a red-eye flight we needed to keep moving and sitting on the bus was just making both of us fall asleep.

So, we ditched the bus and headed for Charles Bridge and the old town.  Charles Bridge is the most famous tourist attaction in the City.   It was built in 1352 and has towers on both ends.  It has 30 beautiful statues and is always crowded with tourists and artists.  This bridge was a favorite of mine in the 2000’s and still is. 

Once you cross the bridge, you enter the old town with cobblestone streets, shops, restaurants, churches, medieval squares and everything you would expect in the best preserved medieval old-town in Europe.  A second highlight of the old-town is the central square and the Astronomical Clock.  Hourly the clock’s mechanism triggers a small show. 

The next day we took the metro which is very easy and efficient in the city.  It was only two stops and were at Prague Castle.  The castle grounds are free and open very early.  If you want to tour inside there are extra charges for each building or exposition.  For us, the grounds and gardens were enough.  We still had a few hours left on our hop-on, hop-off bus tickets, so we did a loop around the city learning a little of its history.  (The bus really wasn’t worth it. Just stick with the metro and book a river cruise.) 

Finally, we headed off to the Lennon Wall, a tribute to John Lennon and street art, located very close to the Charles Bridge.  We capped off the day by climbing the powder tower and walking the streets of the old town.  It was a good fast couple of days in a very safe and clean city.

Prague is a fine city and well worth a visit.  It is crowded and much more expensive than it was in 2008 but still a wonderful place…with lots of whipped and ice cream.