Prague Castle at twilight

There was a time when a giant statue of Stalin stood at the top of the Petrin Gardens overlooking Prague’s Vltava River.

There was a time when artists and intellectuals spent evenings typing novels – not necessarily their own, but the contraband versions of books smuggled across the border.

There was a time in the late 1960s when Czechs believed they could democratise socialism. It was called the Prague Spring, abruptly terminated when Kruschev’s tanks rolled into Prague in 1968.

There was a time in the aftermath of the 1989 Velvet Revolution that shucked off 40 years of communist rule when Westerners were lovingly embraced and admired, when everyone wanted to learn English and tiny amounts of any Western currency could give you something bordering on movie-star status in the eyes of the capitalism-starved Czechs.

Those times are over, but they’re worth thinking about as you wander the Czech Republic’s soulful cobblestone streets.

The Czech Republic was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the dawn of the twentieth century. Between the first and second world wars, a new nation, Czechoslovakia, briefly flourished. Then Hitler’s war machine trampled through, and the country emerged in the 1950s as a locked-down member of the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1989, the socialist experiment collapsed during the non-violent Velvet Revolution.  

The Czech Republic offers culture with a capital K (literally – it’s spelt Kultur in Czech). This is the land of Milan Kundera, Franz Kafka and Jaroslav Hasek (the author of The Good Soldier Svejk). It has a soundtrack by Dvorak, Smetana, Janacek (have a listen to the soundtrack to the movie of Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being) and the censored ´70s band, The Plastic People of the Universe.

Art is not contained in galleries, but rewards the eye in unexpected places: on the footpath at your feet, hanging from a pole above your head, in the design of the park bench you’re sitting on. The west of the Czech Republic is traditionally known as Bohemia – so it is quite correct to refer to most Czechs as Bohemians (although Kundera and Dvorak, for example, are Moravians from Brno in the east).

While the Czech Republic does have its fair share of stock market dealers in slick cars, bohemia in the La Boheme sense flourishes here. The Czech Republic is riddled with groovy basement “Klubs” devoted to art and music and literature.

Survival guide

The Czech Republic is a fairly easy place to travel in. After the Velvet Revolution, the country gave itself a thorough clean-up and overhaul. Gorgeous gothic, renaissance and baroque buildings were restored and given a lick of paint; decades-old bathroom fittings were ripped out and replaced; young people set about learning English and buses, trains and planes were made comprehensible to tourists.

So, there’s nothing to be afraid of – except the fact that this ease of access and the sheer staggering beauty of the place have brought in visitors by the truckload. In the peak summer season, your progress across the famed Charles Bridge in Prague will be slowed to almost a standstill as the tide of tourists inches forward.

You can’t miss the obvious tourist spots – that would be a crime – but it is worth getting up at dawn to hang out on the Charles Bridge before the hordes, and it is worth taking the time to wander away from the popular spots for a breather. Or rug up and go in winter! It’ll be freezing, but it’ll be just you and the Czechs and the cafes, pubs and restaurants are nice and warm.

If you’re flying in, you’ll be set down at Prague’s Ruzyne airport. If you are entering the country by train, your journey is likely to terminate at Hlavni Nadrazi (“main station”) or Praha Holesovice; the international bus will most likely set you down at the Florenc bus station.

While the Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004, they are yet to embrace the Euro. The national currency is the Crown (Korun), which you can get like magic by putting your normal card in an ATM machine.

Even if you’re on a budget, don’t assume you won’t be able to stay right in the fairytale Old Town near the Charles Bridge and the Castle. As you emerge from your train, plane or bus, people are likely to approach you with offers of accommodation. Give them a good hearing: bargains are to be had this way, and you should feel free to haggle. Basically, every kind of accommodation is available, from basic student accommodation during college holidays, backpackers, pensions, to hotels of all stars.

It’s as easy as anywhere in western Europe to get around on the national train and bus system. Sometimes you might have to wait for an English-speaking clerk to attend to you. There is really no need to hand yourself over to traditional travel agencies like Cedok, because self-guided tourism is a cinch.  You can mostly just turn up in a town and expect to find accommodation, although every now and then you might be told that the entire town is “full”. (But it’s fairly easy to hop on a bus or train and go to the next place.)

Of course, as you move further away from popular tourist destinations, expect to hit more snags and fewer people who can speak English. The Czech language is Slavic, like Russian, but written in Roman script. With its mass of accents and clashing consonants, it is pretty incomprehensible if you haven’t studied it, so it’s worth memorising or keeping a list of words like entrance, exit, arrival, departure, toilets and tickets (you can see and hear them here).  Hello is ahoj (pronounced as in “ship ahoy”) or you might like to choose the more formal dobry den (literally good day, pronounced dobree den, with a rolled r). The word for goodbye is na shledanou (na-skled-an-ow).

You can eat well in the Czech Republic and if you have unusual requirements there are supermarkets selling everything you might need. If you want to try Czech cuisine, look for duck on the menu (jidelny listek). In the main tourist areas, the coffee is excellent. Alcohol, as you may have heard, is no problem. (Getting it, that is; if you over-indulge in some of the world’s best beer you may have problems of your own making).

Prague has a typical mid-continental climate, mild with warm, damp summers and chilly winters. For the best weather, visit between May and September.