Image Credit: Valerii Tkachenko / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY 2.0
A staggering ninety percent of foreign tourists visiting Czechoslovakia never strayed from the environs of the Czech capital, Prague. While that no longer holds true, Prague is still the main focus of most people's trips to the Czech Republic, certainly English-speaking tourists. Of course, much of the attention heaped on Prague is perfectly justified. Prague is the perfect launching pad from which to explore the rolling hills and forests of Bohemia, at their most unspoilt in South Bohemia, whose capital is České Budějovice, a grid-plan medieval city and home to the original Budweiser beer.
Moravia, the eastern province of the Czech Republic, is every bit as beautiful as Bohemia, though the crowds here thin out significantly. The largest city, Brno, has its own peculiar pleasures - not least its interwar functionalist architecture - and gives access to the popular Moravian karst region, or Moravský kras, plus a host of other nearby castles and chateaux. To the north, Olomouc is perhaps Moravia's most charming city, more immediately appealing than Brno, and just a short step away from the region's highest mountains, the Jeseníky in Moravian Silesia, and the Beskydy, renowned for their folk architecture.
Although the Slovak capital, Bratislava, can't compare with Prague, it does have its virtues, not least its compact old town and its position on one of Europe's great rivers, the Danube.In the central mountain regions, well-preserved medieval mining towns like Banská Štiavnica and Kremnica still smack of their German origins.
Image Credit: Guillaume Speurt / Flickr / CC-BY-SA 2.0
Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna
Arrival to Prague, journey to the hotel, check in, afternoon & evening at leisure, overnight in Prague.
Full day sightseeing of Prague incl. Old Town, Lesser Town and Prague Castle, optional evening visit of Black Light theatre or Marionette theatre performance, dinner in typical restaurant, overnight in Prague.
Journey to Brno, visit of the town wih the UNESCO monument Tugendhat Villa which is one of the most important examples of the functionalist style in the European period of the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and continue to Bratislava, overnight in Bratislava.
Morning visit of Bratislava historical centre, continue to Hungary, possibility to visit Szentendre on way, afternoon and evening sightseeing in Budapest incl. Parliament, the Royal Castle, Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church on Gellert Hill, overnight in Budapest.
Morning free at leisure or sightseeing in Budapest, afternoon journey to Vienna, overnight in Vienna.
Full day visit of the city centre with famous Ringstrasse, State Opera, the Hofburg, possibility to visit Schonbrunn or Belvedere Palace, evening free at leisure, overnight in Vienna.
Journey to Prague via Lednice - Valtice, Trebic, Telc, or South Bohemia, overnight in Prague.
Return home.