Rick Steves Prague & the Czech Republic Paperback – May 12, 2015

In the opinion of this frequent traveler, Rick Steves's guides are the ONLY ones you need if you're going anywhere in Europe! In the past, I've bought two or three guidebooks for the same country before I felt like I had all of the information I needed. Once I found the Rick Steves books, I have never bought another vesion of any travel guide again. The Rick Steves guides are so thorough, that the only way you could get better, more complete guidance would be to have Rick or one of his tour guides along with you.Each guide takes you through the country city by city, including what to do before you leave home, what to pack, where to stay, where to eat, and what to see. He'll tell you what sights will need advance booking or reservations. There are walking guides for cities, as well as detailed walking tours for museums, churches, and other major sights. For the history lovers, there are beautifully written sections to educate you about what you're seeing, which makes your experience measurably more meaningful. The information is so detailed that Rick tells you things like, "When exiting the front of the train station, turn to your left and walk 20 yards to the bus stop. Take bus #11 to go directly to the castle." It doesn't get any easier to plan your sightseeing than that! And of course, there are simplified city maps to help you navigate once you get there, usually marked with his suggested walking tour route.Other helpful sections include tips about money, shopping, climate, and transportation. But one of my favorite parts of Rick's books is that he tells you how to really see a place by becoming what he calls a "temporary local." In other words, don't miss the real heart of the country by seeing only the well known tourist hot spots. He tells you how the locals live and how you can have that experience, too.Finally, each book includes a list of survival phrases and words to help you communicate while you're there. As Rick says, and I can confirm, the locals will very much appreciate your attempt to use their language instead of just assuming that they speak English. Don't worry about your pronunciation - just try it!There is so much valuable information in the Rick Steves guides that I'm sure I'm leaving something out. In my opinion, they have no equal!

Very useful and practical book. Steves can make your planning and sightseeing so much more fun because he cuts to the heart of what you need to know. Maybe a little more in-depth discussion of the artistic but often problematic cobblestone paving would have been useful to me (every sharp, pointy little cobblestone seemed to have my name on it; and the tram tracks are not exactly embedded into the surface level of the broader cobblestones of the streets.). His self-guided walking tours and restaurant recommendations are particularly useful. Take his advice about riding the trams for getting around and for seeing areas out of the tourist centers. Very instructive. The metro system is amazingly swift and runs on time. We found his advice particularly useful in exploring the Jewish Quarter for most of a day. If you have any knowledge of European Jewish life and history (and perhaps more importantly, if you don't), the Quarter and the "model" but very real concentration camp just outside the city will be a heart-stopping revelation. He tells you to pull out the book pages you need, rather than lug the whole book along for a specific destination. I supplemented his information with other books that go into greater depth about various locales and sights (and their names in Czech). His love of the history and culture is excellent and succinctly presented, and those sections will make your trip much more enjoyable.

All in all, we found this to be a very useful guidebook. We were on a guided tour and didn't need to follow the directions explicitly. It was an excellent reference to go back and review what we had seen. We did use it to go through the Jewish quarter, step-by-step, and found it to be quite good. As he mentions in the text, the tram system may have changed, as we could not match up the tram tour to what he had outlined. It did give us the courage to jump on public transportation with great success. Well worth the investment.

This book was soooo helpful to us. First, it helped me to plan and make an itinerary for our 4 days in Prague. Second, it was so helpful once we were there. He has directions and prices for everything listed. We followed his directions many, many times with no problems. It was nice to have prices for everything and their hours right there at your fingertips. The maps were great. I also love the language section to help with the most useful words. I was so happy that I read about Vysehrad because no one really mentioned it as a tourist stop, but Rick Steve's did and it was a beautiful place to spend the afternoon. Both my husband and myself loved this book and used it so much on our vacation. Before I read the book, I didn't even know there were so many places that we would want to visit. What an amazing place. This book really makes it so you can go to a place like this on your own without a tour and not feel like you missed out. We saw so much and it all was amazing. Thanks for all the tips!!

Always my go to tour guide when I am traveling abroad, I thoroughly studied and enjoyed this organized planner on a recent trip to the Czech Repulic, Prague, and Karlovy Vary. What a marvelous country with a tradition of truth, egalitarianism, and delicous food. I was wowed by the 1,000 year-old city of Prague with it's magnificent castle, Old Town quarter, inexpensive food & drink, and friendly citizens. Karlovy Vary, with its 12 hot springs, Becherovka brewery, Thai massages, and fabulous pubs felt to me like the European version of the Jersey Shore, Milwaukee, and Door County in Wisconsin all wrapped up in one. My only regret in Prague was my near miss with Slav Epic by renowned artist, Alfons Mucha, which was on its way to Japan. Alas, my reason to return to this amazing place.