I did a very spontaneous thing, which is so not us. We booked a river cruise over thanksgiving.
Will be spending 4 days in Paris and 4 in Prague.
What are must do in each place? Versailles is a definite. Also the Louvre. Our hotel is set there.
Looking for a great hotel in Prague.
Want to go to Cesky Krumlov, has anyone been there? Is it worth spending the day? Would probably do a viator tour unless you have a good place for a tour.
Am always looking for good restaurants. We are not fancy for Michelin stars are wasted on us.
I absolutely just love walking around these two cities! Prague Castle, Old Town, Charles Bridge, and walking along the river. We stayed at the Marriott in Old Town. Very convenient but I’m not sure I would put it in the “great” category ; )
In Paris I would add Musee d’Orsay to your visit list.
Soleil de Naples on Rue de Babylone for amazing pizza and pasta. We went to Paris after eating our way through Italy including Naples, and this little place beat the pants off those pizzerias in Italy.
I’ve posted this before, but it worked very well for us. Visit Versailles “backwards”. We started at the Petite Trianon and informal gardens first, walked through the formal gardens, having lunch there as a break, then toured Versailles palace later in the day (guessing approx. 3:30 pm). The palace was still very crowded, but not nearly as bad as it would be in the morning.
The Louvre and Eiffel Tower need to be booked in advance. We also loved our Seine evening cruise. The double-decker bus tour was helpful in getting our bearings.
I haven’t been to Prague. But for Paris, we’ve enjoyed the Picasso and Rodin museums in additional to Musee D’Orsay. The Louvre is too crowded and overwhelming for me, but I probably just a need a guide to help me understand what I’m looking at.
We loved taking a bike tour of Paris - Fat Tire is popular, but we’ve used Bike About, which is a smaller company and have have multiple great experiences with them. They also do a fabulous bike tour of Versailles.
A true highlight was a Paris By Mouth food tour. It’s a small group tour (eight people) in English of a Paris neighborhood, where they take you to a cheese shop, patisserie, charcuterie, boulangerie, getting a talk from the tour guide in each shop and learning about the food, then choosing as a group some selections. At the end, your take your spoils to a wine shop and feast with the group. So so fun - they do them in multiple neighborhoods.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Paris (was a student in France during college and have visited several times since). If you haven’t been there before some of the sights I’d suggest: Musee d’Orsay, Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame, walking along the seine where you can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance, Ile St. Louis (if you like ice cream Bertillon is fantastic), les Invalides, walking through the Latin Quarter. Frankly, if you haven’t been to Paris before I wouldn’t spend a full day at Versailles - there is more than enough (actually too much) to see in the city itself and Versailles is a full day proposition - that is just my person opinion (and Versailles is great - I’ve been there several times).
We enjoyed a visit to Prague castle as well as touring the Jewish Quarter. We took a train out to a small village and then walked to the the home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (it’s called Konopiste), there is likely a tour bus that will take you there.
Walked a lot in Prague Old Town and there is a little alley leading off of it with a really good pizza place. Cant remember what it is called.
I emphatically second (third? fourth?) this recommendation. Our family did a “skip the line” tour of the Musee d’Orsay in 2019 that included lunch in a restaurant inside the museum; we got to go to the head of the line, and the food was great! I don’t know whether the tour is now offered with the lunch option included; but the restaurant was very nice.
We also visited (and liked) the Musee de l’Orangerie, which had several “Water Lilies” paintings by Monet, along with other Impressionist works. We got there when the doors opened, in order to avoid the crowds.
Prague is super interesting to walk around. The Charles Bridge is famous of course, and you will definitely cross it at least once.
Have a beer at any one of the big, old beer halls. I can’t remember the one we went to, but generally, the interior will be fantastic and the food will be horrendous (that’s besides the point.) Ours was somewhere near Wenceslas Square. The beer ticket was literally comprised of dozens of beer glasses and the waiter simply ticked off how many we drank (not many, because it was just me, hubby, and our kids.)
My whole family are big fans of Art Nouveau and we went to some of the key places to view work by Mucha. We also viewed the incredible stained glass windows by Mucha at St. Vitus Cathedral. There’s a beautiful church where Dvorak is interred, Vysehrad Cemetery. Of course, you will go to the castle. There’s a lovely park up there too.
I have no food recs for Prague. We gave up and had delicious Indian and Italian food while we were there. We went to a fun subterranean beer cellar where they had “medieval” entertainment, including a snake charmer and fire-breathers. It was on Nerudova Street.
Not sure what your weather will be like, but we had a lot of fun wandering around looking at the street walls painted with crazy stuff. If you walk around where Beethoven lived, you will see a lot of great street art there. I believe it’s the Mala Strana area, especially closer to the river.
There are a lot of very cheap classical music performances held in chapels and churches during the middle of the day. I loved doing that one day.
I love Český Krumlov. It’s very charming and is definitely worth a visit. I’ve spent tons of time in Prague, including a 6-month sabbatical, and I have a whole list of suggestions that I’ve put together for friends visiting Prague. Will be happy to send it to you through PM if you’re interested.
We were in Prague as the first part of our river cruise. I think the cruise used the intercontinental which was a good location and great service but a not the most beautiful architecture. Prior to the cruise we rented an apartment near the Charles bridge.
We did a day tour to my FIL birthplace and she was incredibly helpful at finding his childhood home and the cemetery where he had family buried. She was amazing and I highly recommend her. She does day tours in Prague but also day trips fo other nearby places.
We also did a day yr with another guide to Terezin. It’s not a place everyone wants to visit but those in our group who went were moved and felt the visit was worthwhile.
@Motherprof it would be great if you would PM me. Thank you.
I was out most of yesterday so I wasn’t able to respond. Thanks to everyone who responded. I’m going through and bookmarking all of the suggestions.
This group is great!
@mom60 the river cruise hotel is the Hilton. Not the old town Hilton. I’m going to find another hotel in old town.