Topic Wiki

Trip Reports:
yitzy93
Capshnell

Places To Eat:
shalanu pizza and grill - Chabad
Dinitz (and small kosher store near it)
King Solomon (https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=924.msg1991612#msg1991612)
King David hotel restaurant

Places to Stay:
King David
Intercontinental
President hotel
Hotel Maximilian
Salvator superior apartments
Boscolo prague autograph collection

Sheraton
Hilton old town
Marriott
Hilton Prague

Places to see:
Jewish quarter- cemetery (maharal and kli yakar), 6 shuls, museum, (can daven micha/maariv at oldnew shul and get free entry),
old town square - municipal house, powder tower, astronomical clock (hourly show), wenclesas square,
Charles bridge (by boat?- Prague Venice boat),
Palace,
metronome- nice view point,
petrin tower viewpoint,
victov hill, free army museum,

Noda beyebuda kever (at zizkov TV tower in prague 3, its an easy 4 stops on the metro from old town, open every day till 4 friday till 2),
Museum, markets (havelska street market, parizska window shopping (right off the ghetto), lesser town (mala strana), dancing house,
water night show at Prague 7,
cable car??, 
45 min night boat tour on river,

Terezin concentration camp -  Drive or hr bus from train station

Holesav- Kevarim of shach , kolin, nikolsberg,

Tips:
can use Triposo app to tour

Tour guide Michael Dushinski, midushy@gmail.com, +420606498214
$80 per hour, minimum 4 hours.

King David hotel has a tour everyday to the major places.

Shacharis
6:30 King David
7:30 King David
7:45 Chabad
8 kehila building (near altneu)

Kosher list

1) always keep a few krona change in your pockets for bathroom breaks. It costs about $0.15-$0.25 USD (in Krona) per visit no one will let you in for free. (besided the chabad restaurants).

2) You can rent boats to go on the Vlatlava river, not sure the cost. You can also rent "City Bikes" in the old town square for 300 Czech krona. (About $12) for 2 hours & every additional hour its 50 krona which is about $2 USD.

3) All Jewish attractions close at 6pm (or 4 in winter).


« Last edited by yitzy93 on December 27, 2023, 08:23:21 PM »

Author Topic: Prague Master Thread  (Read 143567 times)

Offline harrym

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #160 on: September 12, 2014, 07:31:53 AM »
Thanks. Do you remember who else is buried there?
The Tshuva Me'ahava and the Shevas Tziyon.

Offline Hershelsdeals

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #161 on: September 13, 2014, 08:48:07 PM »
He gets money from the driver for hooking up, but it's up to you.
Do you have his number?

Offline clear thinker

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #162 on: September 13, 2014, 08:49:09 PM »
Do you have his number?
If you want it, pm me.

Offline bookwrm

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #163 on: October 29, 2014, 01:58:40 PM »
Here's the trip report. Sorry it took so long to write up:

Day 1- flying (we left USA on Tue and landed Wed night). Once we landed in Prague (in the evening) we decided to rent a car to get from the airport to the intercontinental (we had a lot of luggage so it worked out better this way). Once we got to the hotel (Intercontinental), we checked in, relaxed for a bit then went to the Chabad House for dinner. We are positively famished by the time we arrived (full day of traveling + lack of sleep since we had crappy seats from SFO-Frankfurt). Post meal we went back to the Intercontinental and attempted sleep. I say attempt because of my three month old son who slept on the plane and woke up at 3 am and was ready to party (this is why we chose to go for a while, we didn’t want to rush with the baby).
Day 2 (actual day 1 [Thursday])- We woke up, went to Shelanu for breakfast and then decided to tour the Jewish area. My family and I first went to the community council so we would be able to go see the Maharal for free. Note* The guards out front will have a mini interrogation before letting you go inside. Some questions are: Jewish name, describe Friday at your house, did you have a bar/bat mitzvah, where do you live and which Shul do you go to. Bring your ID with you. Post interrogation we got a paper saying that we could go to the Mahral after 5:30pm. After this, we went to buy passes to see the Shuls. I had a former student ID on me so we were able to get the package (all shuls except Old-New Shul [can go for free at either mincha or maariv time]) for $25. We then went to the Spanish Synagogue, walked around (beautiful architecture), took a photo outside with a statue from Franz Kafka, then walked around the Old town Square.
Note about changing money- speak to the Shluchim. I was able to find a place that gave me a great deal to transfer USD to Czech Koruna (When we went xe- was saying the xchange was 1usd-22czk, I found a place that would do 1usd-20ck (most places did 19 or less).
At the Old Town Square we walked around, found the Astronomical clock and watched the hourly clock show. After this we went to Starbucks (free internet). Post Old Town Square we went back to the hotel for a brief nap. At around 5:00 we walked to the cemetery, davened by the Maharal and the Kli Yakor. We then went back to our hotel, had a quick dinner and walked to the Old-New Shul to see the inside and take photos. In most places photography is not allowed….we don’t listen well. After that we walked around the Jewish Quarter a bit more then went back to our hotel.

Day 2: Friday, Since we were switching hotels, we spent most of the morning packing up and getting ready to check out. Before we left the Interconteneital, I went to Shelanu to pick up our food for Shabbos.
Note: We ordered food for Fri night and Shabbos day. Since we were switched to the Sheraton (a good 20 minutes away) and have a baby, going to Shelanu/Chabad House for food on Shabbos was out of the question. When picking up your food, make sure, if you ordered two meals, that you get two meals. We had a slight incident, but thank g-d everything worked out in the end.

Day 3: Shabbos. We spent Shabbos at the Sheraton In our room. Saturday night, we walked from our hotel to Shelanu, ate and then walked back to our hotel. Since we slept all day and my son was not on the right time zone, we decided to walk slowly and take gorgeous night photos.
Day 4: Sunday- We left our hotel and walked to Wenceslas Square, Powder Tower, back to the Jewish Quarter for Souvenir shopping and then walked to the Metronome for Sunset photos. We took some amazing photos (dslr+tri pod+ remote).
Day 5: Monday- Prague Castle. Eh. For my first Eurpoean Castle I wasn’t that impressed. The only interesting part was the St. Vitus Cathedral. We spent the better part of an hour walking around and taking photos. After that we went to Starbucks near the castle, and took some gorgeous photos of the view from the Castle.
Day 6: Tuesday. Tuesday was the 17th of Tammuz. We spent ¾ of the day at our hotel. Two hours before the fast we walked back into town, went back to the Alt-Neu shul, took some more photos (got to see the Ladies side of the shul, since it was open), went back to Shelanu for dinner and then slowly walked back to our hotel, enjoyed and taking photos of the many sights.

Day 7: Wednesday, we went back to the Jewish Quarter, went to Klaus Synagogue, then to the Chevra Kadisha building. While Klaus synagogue had a beautiful Aaron Kodesh, that was all I can say about it. The Chevra Kadisha building wasn’t anything special (sadly). Most of it was either locked or tapped off. Although, while inside, there was a minyan by the Maharal, so that was nice to watch and listen to. After that we went back to the Old Town Square, took some more photos, bought a few more souvenirs and that was it.
Day 8: Thursday, packed and went to the airport.

Note: We brought a lot of our own food so we would not have to eat out often. We did buy bread and milk (when they had) from Shelanu. The hotels do not have mini fridges, so we had to use the mini bar to store our food. It was a tight squeeze and it kept our food cool enough that it did not go bad.

All in all we had a great time. 6 days in Prague was definitely enough. The only reason we stayed longer was 1- did not want to fly back on a fast day, and 2- Thursday there were saver tickets to fly business (on Lufthansa).
Hope you enjoyed, feel free to ask any questions :)

Offline yids

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #164 on: January 30, 2015, 04:02:59 AM »
Hiya - Im going with my wife and baby this thursday for a long weekend in Prague... Id love some help with 2 things -

1. I have like 80,000 Marriott points which arent worth much unless I use them... But they have 2 hotels I can use them for.
---One is 15 minute walk from the Jewish Quarter, which takes 140,000 for the 5 nights (Prague Marriott Hotel - V Celnici 8 Prague, Czech Republic 110 00)
---or one thats 45 minute walk, or 15 min tram ride - and they take 80,000 for the stay (Courtyard Prague Flora Lucemburska Street 46 Prague, Czech Republic 130 00)

I cant seem to get a good rate at all for a normal nice hotel near the JQ... What do you suggest? Get food from Shelanu for all the meals and pickup for shabbos too? Splurge for a hotel near the JQ?

Is there any kosher food & shul in walking distance from the Courtyard Prague Flora??

2. I think it would be helpful to have a sim card I can use there... Mostly for data.. Any cheap suggestions?

Thanks!
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Offline morgs

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #165 on: January 30, 2015, 04:44:04 AM »
Hiya - Im going with my wife and baby this thursday for a long weekend in Prague... Id love some help with 2 things -

1. I have like 80,000 Marriott points which arent worth much unless I use them... But they have 2 hotels I can use them for.
---One is 15 minute walk from the Jewish Quarter, which takes 140,000 for the 5 nights (Prague Marriott Hotel - V Celnici 8 Prague, Czech Republic 110 00)
---or one thats 45 minute walk, or 15 min tram ride - and they take 80,000 for the stay (Courtyard Prague Flora Lucemburska Street 46 Prague, Czech Republic 130 00)

I cant seem to get a good rate at all for a normal nice hotel near the JQ... What do you suggest? Get food from Shelanu for all the meals and pickup for shabbos too? Splurge for a hotel near the JQ?

Thanks!
IMO its def best to be right near the Jewish quarter as that is where it is all happening especially if you are there for over shabbos-we stayed at the IC which was great and location could not be better.
There is a glatt kosher hotel that has just opened in Prague called the King David-prices are surprisingly good-100 euro a night (which is just a bit over $100 these days :D)-they have a shul in the hotel, shabbos meals, breakfast, etc.-def. worth looking into.....

Offline yids

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #166 on: January 30, 2015, 07:05:47 AM »

IMO its def best to be right near the Jewish quarter as that is where it is all happening especially if you are there for over shabbos-we stayed at the IC which was great and location could not be better.
There is a glatt kosher hotel that has just opened in Prague called the King David-prices are surprisingly good-100 euro a night (which is just a bit over $100 these days :D)-they have a shul in the hotel, shabbos meals, breakfast, etc.-def. worth looking into.....

Thank you very much. Will deff look into it.
Was just thinking of doing a Hotwire hot deal - they have a guaranteed 5 star in the old city for $64/night. Someone would buy my 80,000 Marriott points for $330, so for a lil more I can potentially stay in the IC. Other than that the sites all want 6-700$ for our stay, so this might be our safest  option for getting a nice hotel for cheap. At most a 15 minute walk from one side to the next. I used Hotwire like this once and I was happy with the hotel so yeah. Thanks again..
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Offline Emkay

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #167 on: January 30, 2015, 07:52:54 AM »
Thank you very much. Will deff look into it.
Was just thinking of doing a Hotwire hot deal - they have a guaranteed 5 star in the old city for $64/night. Someone would buy my 80,000 Marriott points for $330, so for a lil more I can potentially stay in the IC. Other than that the sites all want 6-700$ for our stay, so this might be our safest  option for getting a nice hotel for cheap. At most a 15 minute walk from one side to the next. I used Hotwire like this once and I was happy with the hotel so yeah. Thanks again..
I have stayed local and not local and I ended up liking the not local location.  Every time I walked back I took a different route and I enjoyed it immensely as Prague is one of those places where its an experience just to walk around. I never did it with a baby so I don't know how much harder it will be

Offline PlatinumGuy

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #168 on: February 24, 2015, 01:24:52 AM »
Rumor has it the RoccoForte is turning into a Park Hyatt soon.
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline moish

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #169 on: February 24, 2015, 03:18:10 AM »
Rumor has it the RoccoForte is turning into a Park Hyatt soon.
gotta go back then to add to my collection

Offline travel agent

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #170 on: July 07, 2015, 05:39:31 PM »
did someone have experience about king David hotel? how far is it to chabad? how is the food?

btw they just opened a spa last week 6 am - 2 pm for men 2 - 6 for women.


Offline travel agent

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #171 on: July 08, 2015, 11:40:12 AM »
any latest updates?

I`m planning to go next week.

Offline bznt

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #172 on: July 08, 2015, 11:44:54 AM »
I was there about 3 months ago. I did not stay there. Just walked in and looked around. They have a nice shul in the building. The mashgiach is a lubab originally from monsey. He was very helpful providing local info .

Offline ajs625

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #173 on: July 09, 2015, 08:12:12 PM »
Does Yakov Schwab still give the Jewish tours of Prague? If not, can someone recommend someone who does?

Offline morgs

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #174 on: July 10, 2015, 05:00:02 AM »
Does Yakov Schwab still give the Jewish tours of Prague? If not, can someone recommend someone who does?
We used a lady named michaela efrati-she was fantastic IMO (pm for email)

Offline moish

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #175 on: July 10, 2015, 11:03:45 AM »
Does Yakov Schwab still give the Jewish tours of Prague? If not, can someone recommend someone who does?
2 years ago he did

ive been twice, once with a guide and i recently went back to do it again with a really good book. i enjoyed the second time better. i really dont see a need for a guide there

Offline Emkay

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #176 on: July 10, 2015, 11:05:49 AM »
2 years ago he did

ive been twice, once with a guide and i recently went back to do it again with a really good book. i enjoyed the second time better. i really dont see a need for a guide there
Is it possible you enjoyed it the second time so much because you had a guide the first time so you had context?
On a side note I also did it without a guide and was extremely satisfied

Offline moish

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #177 on: July 10, 2015, 11:57:35 AM »
Is it possible you enjoyed it the second time so much because you had a guide the first time so you had context?
no

my guide guided me in all the shuls besides for the altneushul which i used the book. it was so great i said i need to come back and redo everything with the book

Offline harrym

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #178 on: July 11, 2015, 02:52:12 PM »
Which book?

Offline moish

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Re: Prague Master Thread
« Reply #179 on: July 11, 2015, 05:27:46 PM »
Which book?
i like The great Jewish cities of Central and Eastern Europe