Czech Republic: Prague, Český Krumlov and the Moravian wine country

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Prague, dinner in a beer hall

   Václav Havel Airport Prague to your hotel in the old centre

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner in a beer hall
   • Nuit : Prague
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG), about 17 km west of the centre, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the half-hour ride into town. Plan to land by mid-afternoon so you are settled before the evening; the exact meeting time comes with your final itinerary. Your hotel is in the old centre, so the afternoon is yours to walk: the lanes behind Old Town Square are a few minutes away, and the astronomical clock on the Old Town Hall strikes on the hour. At about six your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: how the days are paced, what to wear for the raft, and why we start early at the castle tomorrow. Then we walk to a traditional beer hall for the welcome dinner, with Czech pub food such as roast pork, dumplings and sauerkraut, and unpasteurised tank beer poured at the table.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in a Prague beer hall

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Jour 2 : Prague Castle early, then down to the river

   Hradčany to Malá Strana, Charles Bridge and the Old Town

   • Environ 15 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Prague
   Détail du jour 2

   We take the van up to Hradčany for about eight, while the castle courtyards are open but the tour coaches are still arriving. With the grounds nearly to ourselves we walk the three courtyards and around St Vitus Cathedral, then go in when the interiors open at nine: the cathedral nave and its stained glass, the Vladislav Hall of the Old Royal Palace, St George's Basilica and the tiny houses of Golden Lane. By late morning we walk down through the castle gardens or Nerudova street into Malá Strana, the baroque quarter under the hill, for a sit-down lunch. Afterwards your guide takes you across Charles Bridge, past its statues and the views upriver, into the Old Town, ending at Old Town Square and the astronomical clock. The rest of the afternoon and evening are free: the Jewish Quarter, a riverside café or a concert in one of the churches. If day 2 falls on a Sunday, St Vitus is closed to visitors in the morning for mass, so we see the palace and Golden Lane first and the cathedral interior after midday.

   Compris

   • Prague Castle with your guide: the courtyards before the crowds, then St Vitus Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, St George's Basilica and Golden Lane
   • Walk down to Malá Strana
   • Sit-down lunch in Malá Strana
   • Charles Bridge and the Old Town with your guide, ending at the astronomical clock

   Activités en option

   • The Jewish Museum in Prague (synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery), paid locally
   • An evening concert in one of the Old Town churches, paid locally

   Option plus facile : Take the van back from the castle instead of walking down, and meet the group for lunch.

   Option plus active : Climb Petřín hill from Malá Strana after lunch for the view back over the castle and the river.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 8 km on foot, much of it downhill on cobbles, with stairs inside the castle.

   

3. Jour 3 : Kutná Hora: the bone chapel and St Barbara's

   Prague to Kutná Hora and back

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Prague
   Détail du jour 3

   Kutná Hora grew rich on silver in the Middle Ages, and its historic centre, with St Barbara's Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec, is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. It is about 80 km east of Prague, an hour and a quarter in our van, so we leave after breakfast and reach the Sedlec Ossuary close to opening, before the day-trip buses. The small chapel is decorated with the bones of tens of thousands of people, arranged into a chandelier, a coat of arms and garlands; it is strange and quiet early in the day. Next door is the Cathedral of Our Lady, then we drive into town for a sit-down lunch. In the afternoon your guide walks you along the terrace of statues to St Barbara's, a Gothic church with a tented roof and painted vaults paid for by the miners' guilds, and past the Italian Court, the old royal mint. We are back in Prague by late afternoon, with the evening free.

   Compris

   • The Sedlec Ossuary close to opening
   • The Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec
   • Sit-down lunch in Kutná Hora
   • St Barbara's Church and the old town with your guide
   • The Italian Court from outside

   Activités en option

   • The Czech Museum of Silver and its medieval mine tunnel, paid locally (helmet and overall provided; not for the claustrophobic)

   Option plus facile : Stay in Prague for a free day instead and meet the group again in the evening.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Prague

   Activité : About 5 km on foot in Kutná Hora, mostly flat with a gentle climb to St Barbara's.

4. Jour 4 : South to Český Krumlov

   Prague to Český Krumlov through South Bohemia

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Český Krumlov
   Détail du jour 4

   After a relaxed breakfast we leave Prague at about 9 and drive south through the farmland and fishponds of Bohemia, about 175 km and under three hours with a coffee stop. Český Krumlov sits in a tight double bend of the Vltava, with the castle on a rock above it, and its old town is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. We arrive in time for a sit-down lunch by the river, check in inside the bend, and set out with your guide in the afternoon: the main square, the lanes of Latrán, the bridges, and then up through the castle courtyards to the round painted tower for the view over the roofs. We finish in the castle garden, a long baroque garden on the hill behind the castle with its fountain and summer house. The day visitors leave by early evening, and the town is quiet for dinner, which is yours to choose.

   Compris

   • Drive from Prague to Český Krumlov with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch by the Vltava
   • Český Krumlov old town and Latrán with your guide
   • The castle tower climb
   • The castle garden

   Option plus facile : Skip the tower climb and wait in the castle courtyards, or rest at the hotel before the garden.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : About 6 km on cobbles, with steep lanes up to the castle and about 160 steps up the tower.

   

5. Jour 5 : The castle at opening, then a raft on the Vltava

   Český Krumlov Castle and the river

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Český Krumlov
   Détail du jour 5

   Everything today is on foot or on the water, and luggage stays in the room. We take the first guided tour of the castle interiors in the morning, before the town fills: the Renaissance and baroque rooms of the Rosenberg and Schwarzenberg families, the chapel and the masquerade hall painted with costumed figures. Afterwards there is time to walk across the high, covered Cloak Bridge and look down on the river you will be on later. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town. In the warmer part of the afternoon we meet a local raft operator upstream and float back down the Vltava in inflatable rafts, a trip of about an hour and a half with a guide, under the castle rock and through a couple of small weir chutes that are more fun than frightening. You will get your feet wet. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Český Krumlov Castle interior tour, first morning slot
   • The Cloak Bridge and the upper castle
   • Sit-down lunch in town
   • Raft trip on the Vltava with a local river guide, about 1.5 hours

   Activités en option

   • The Egon Schiele Art Centrum, paid locally
   • The baroque castle theatre tour, when it runs, paid locally

   Option plus facile : Skip the raft and spend the afternoon at the Egon Schiele Art Centrum or in a riverside café watching the rafts come through.

   Option plus active : Walk up Křížová hora (Cross Hill) before breakfast for the view of the castle above the town, about 3 km return and steep.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : The raft is gentle water with small weir chutes; life jackets are provided and you need to be able to climb in and out of a raft from the bank. If the river is too low or too high, we swap it for a canoe on a calmer stretch or a riverside walk.

6. Jour 6 : Telč, then a cellar lane in Moravia

   Český Krumlov to Telč, then to Mikulov and a wine village nearby

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Mikulov
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave Český Krumlov at about 9 and cross into Moravia. This is the longest drive of the week, about 255 km and three and a half hours in all, so we split it in Telč, roughly halfway. Its long triangular square, lined with arcaded Renaissance and baroque houses in pastel colours, is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and we have time to walk it and the château garden before a sit-down lunch on the square. The second leg runs south through the rolling farmland around Znojmo to Mikulov, a small town under a castle and a white limestone hill near the Austrian border, at the edge of the Pálava hills. After check-in we drive a few minutes to one of the wine villages nearby for the evening in a cellar lane: rows of small press houses dug into the slope, where a local winemaker pours whites such as Welschriesling, Grüner Veltliner and Pálava from the barrel. Dinner is in the cellar, with Moravian food.

   Compris

   • Telč square and château garden with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Telč
   • Wine tasting with a local winemaker in a cellar lane near Mikulov
   • Dinner in the cellar

   Activité : Most of the day is in the van, with about an hour and a half on foot in Telč. The van brings everyone back to the hotel from the cellar, so no one drives after the tasting.

   

7. Jour 7 : Holy Hill in Mikulov and home

   Mikulov to Vienna Airport, or to Brno

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 7

   Early risers can walk up Holy Hill with your guide before breakfast: a path of small chapels climbs the white limestone hill above Mikulov to the Chapel of St Sebastian, with a view over the town, the castle, the vineyards and the reservoirs at the foot of the Pálava hills. After breakfast there is a short walk through the old town and around the outside of the castle, then we load the van. Most guests fly home from Vienna International Airport (VIE), about 95 km and an hour and a quarter south across the Austrian border while Prague is over three hours back the way we came; we aim to be there by about noon. If you are staying on in the Czech Republic, we drop you instead at Brno's main railway station, about 55 km north, with fast trains back to Prague. Your guide sees you to the airport or the station before saying goodbye.

   Compris

   • Holy Hill walk before breakfast with your guide
   • Mikulov old town walk
   • Drop-off at Vienna International Airport (VIE) or Brno main railway station

   Option plus facile : Skip the Holy Hill climb and join the group for the old town walk after breakfast.

   Activité : Book a flight from Vienna leaving after about 2 pm. Holy Hill is about 2.5 km return with a steep, stony final section.

Faune et météo : May, June and September are mild and the best walking weather; July and August are warm, sometimes hot, and Prague and Český Krumlov are busiest then, which is why we go early. September and October bring the grape harvest in Moravia and young burčák wine in the cellars. Raft trips depend on the river level and can be swapped for a canoe or a walk if the water is too low or too high.

• Prague3 nuits
• Český Krumlov2 nuits
• Mikulov1 nuit