We will be in Prague for three nights, including New Year's Eve. We are staying at the Prague Marriott (a freebee, thanks to my business travel and Marriott points) on V Celnici, which is apparently close to the Old Town Square.

I have never been to Prague before, and we will have our ten year old daughter with us. Does anyone have any suggestions for New Year's Eve in Prague? Has anyone been in Prague for New Year's-- if so, what might we expect?

We returned last night from our 16 day Christmas/New Year's trip, and I wanted to give a brief report on Prague. We spent three nights there (Dec 30 - Jan 2).

It's an absolutely beautiful city. On our trip we visited five beautiful cities-- the others were Salzburg, Innsbruck, Vienna, and Munich. I took more photos of Prague than anywhere else. The architecture is so intriguing, and it's truly a walking city-- lots of narrow streets and squares. There's a big castle complex that dominates the city from a vantage point on a hill overlooking the river. Several beautiful bridges span the river, including the most notable-- the Charles Bridge.

The shopping is excellent-- so many things to buy! There were several big fairs for the holidays-- almost bazaars selling a variety of handcrafts, most reasonably priced. Wonderful crystal, wooden toys, and those nested dolls, marionnettes, ceramics and pottery. You could buy the similar merchandise in shops all over the city.

Like Salzburg and Vienna, Prague is a city of music-- Dvorak is a famous son and Mozart spent time here. Concerts tickets were readily available from ticket sellers on the streets. We went to a performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons at the fantastic art nouveau Municipal Hall two minutes from our hotel-- $50 for good seats for the three of us (our daughter was free) and very well performed. There are several marionnette theatres and also something called Black Theatre...

There were lots of varied restaurants, but we were wimps in Prague. Our daughter had tired of German-type food after ten days in Germany and Austria-- our main dining in Prague consisted of two Italian dinners, several snacks of Chinese Lo Mein noodles at the fair at the Old Town Square, Mexican(!) for lunch one day, and a good room service meal. We did have three great breakfasts though at the Municipal Hall cafe. Food was reasonably priced compared to other large European cities we've visited.

Now about New Year's Eve. I first need to say that I had a bad experience the night of our arrival that definitely influenced our decisions for New Year's Eve. We got to Prague by train a bit after 3 pm. First, our cab driver tried to rip us off-- initially quoted a price of 30 euro to take us maybe two miles from the station to our hotel. (He finally decided our daughter was a baby, and the hotel wasn't quite so far-- cut the price in half.) My husband was anxious to show us the city, since he spent three weeks there in 1995. By this time it was about dusk (at 4:30 pm). He wanted us to see Wencelas Square, Old Town Square and then the Charles Bridge. We wound through very narrow city streets. It was really very crowded on Dec 30-- more tourists (mostly European) than I had seen up to that point on our trip. In the crowded area just around the Charles Bridge, I suddenly felt someone press right up against me from behind and put their hands on both sides of my waist. (Not my husband.) I spun around and shouted "hey!". It was an older woman, perhaps a gypsy. As I turned to face her, she actually put her hand in my pocket. I moved away quickly and then watched her try it on someone else. This is the first experience I've ever had like this, and I was totally unprepared. Later I read in the guidebook (which I should have read to begin with) that the Charles Bridge area is notorious for pickpockets. (The same guidebook also warned of unscrupulous cab drivers!)

So, given the crowds and my pickpocket experience, our family decided to have a quiet night at the hotel for New Years Eve. (This is the same family who braved the crowds on the Champs D'Elysees for the Millennium New Years Eve!) We ordered room service and watched BBC Prime, really had quite a fun time. But we heard many festivities on the streets outside and were just as glad to have missed them.

I definitely think Prague is worth visiting-- it seems a city that is just being discovered. I'm glad to have spent a couple of days there and I've brought back some wonderful purchases and gifts at very reasonable prices. (Though apparently prices have escalated in the last several years.)

I'd be glad to share more info if anyone is interested!

What a shame about your 2 bad experiences, but I'm glad they don't seem to have spoiled your overall view of Prague. I absolutely fell in love with the place when we went there a few years ago.

Did you by any chance take your daughter to see the production by the marionette theatre? It was produced for the Mozart centenary (I think) and was so successful it was still running several years later. It certainly was the surprise hit of our visit. Very funny, inventive and clever.

We were also surprised that the food was excellent. (We had erroneously expected stodgy beer and wurst type menus)

Beebee

Kaydee,
Thanks for coming back and sharing your experiences in Prague with us. It sounds as if you saw both the good and the bad sides of the city!

I hope you'll post some of your photos in the Slow Trips section of the website.