Pros and Cons of Prague

Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic, and last weekend I was there for a city break. Having barely visited Central Europe prior to this trip, I was amazed by all the beautiful architecture. Everywhere you look, there is a beautiful bridge or building to admire. The weather was also way better than expected, it was mid-October and too warm to wear a jacket. Here are some quick pros and cons of Prague.

When going to a city you don't know in a country where you don't speak the language, public transport can feel intimidating. In Prague, however, you really don't need to worry (or end up getting Ubers every day). We bought 72 hour travel cards, which were about £10.50 each, and they gave us unlimited travel (for someone who lives in London, this is absolutely incredible). We ended up traveling by tram only, which was great. They are frequent enough that I don't think we ever waited longer than five minutes for one, and they cover the major parts of the city, including all the places we wanted to visit.

A huge perk of Prague is that there are public toilets everywhere. I never used one, so I don't know the condition they are in, but just the fact that they exist is amazing, as searching for a bathroom is a common struggle on a city break. There were also plenty of benches, which is another issue for city walkers. There's usually few places to sit—but not in Prague! You're never far away from either of these facilities, which makes life considerably easier.

When you tell people you're going to Prague, most of them will tell you to have beer there. Everyone knows Prague is known for their beer, so don't be surprised when you see people sipping pints at 10 AM. As someone who doesn't drink alcohol, I also want to mention that most restaurants had mocktails on the menu, which is something I don't often see. I was almost a bit surprised seeing this in a city where alcohol is such a big thing, so I'm extremely pleased with that. The only complaint I have is that all of them came with plastic straws.

Over to the people. Everyone kept telling me the people in Prague were lovely, but I actually received more warmth from people who weren't paid to be nice to me, than the ones who were. For our restaurant visits we had a good mix of servers. Some of them were friendly and talkative, and some of them didn't even smile at us. I can appreciate that they're not overly comfortable chatting away in English, but body language is a powerful tool, and a few of them just came off as cold. Some of the shopkeepers were strange as well, eyeing us as we walked around their stores and correcting any items we touched. They were clearly worried we were gonna steal something, and I've honestly never been faced with that attitude before. I don't really consider myself sketchy-looking, but perhaps these shops get their fair share of people helping themselves to free souvenirs, and take no chances.

This might be a bit of an unfair point, as I haven't fully eaten my way around Prague, but the food really wasn't as good as people kept telling me it would be. The "Chimneys" you see people selling all over the city, which is a chimney-shaped piece of dough which reminds me a bit of a bun with a churro coating, filled with ice cream, surprisingly left me disappointed. The ice cream was delicious, the chimney itself was not. It's uncommon for me not to finish a dessert, but unfortunately this one ended up in the bin. However, if you're going to Prague, you must try the goulash. It's one of the best dishes I've ever tasted, it's amazing. Along the lines of food and drink, I'm gonna mention that I was largely disappointed by the coffee there. I'm aware that complaining about coffee makes you sound like a snob, and I can assure you that I'm not one, but I do like my coffee. Also, if you order a latte, chances are they'll serve you a latte macchiato instead. I was not pleased.

To sum up, Prague is definitely worth a visit. It's not gonna break the bank, it's not too far if you live in Europe, and there are lots of things to do. I would without a doubt recommend getting this city czeched off on your list.