Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
spring and early autumn. Summer in the city can be stifling, but the real reason for avoiding
the peak season is that it can get uncomfortably crowded in the centre - finding a place to
eat in the evening, let alone securing a room, can become a trial. If you're looking for good
weather, April is the earliest you can guarantee at least some sunny days, and October is the
last warm month. The city looks beautiful under winter's snowy blanket, though it does get
very cold, and it can also fall prey to “inversions”, which smother the city in a hazy grey
smog for a week or sometimes more.
SIGHTSEEING BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT
If there's one thing every visitor would like to take home with them from Prague, it's the
public transport system. The
metro
- one of the few legacies of the Soviet period that
the locals are truly grateful for - is clean and constantly expanding, while the much-loved
cream and red trams negotiate the city's cobbles and bridges with remarkable dexterity.
You can have a lot of fun with a 24-hour
travel pass
. Hopping on
tram #22
from Národní
třídagetsyouafreetourofthecity,crossingtheriver,ploughingthroughpicturesqueMalá
Strana and taking on a couple of impressive hairpin bends before ending up outside the
gates of Prague Castle. Alternatively, for a few extra crowns, you can catch
tram #91
, an
old 1930s tramcar with a conductor, which takes a circuitous route through the city centre
enroute toorfromPrague Castle. Travel passes also cover the city's
funicular
,which will
whisk you to the top of Petřín hill, home to the mirror maze and miniature Eiffel Tower.
Even more fun are the summer-only
boat services and tourist steamers
,
which allow a
particularly relaxing way to watch the city's main sights slide idly by.
