So You Want to Visit Prague...

So you want to travel to the golden city of Prague in the Czech Republic. Great idea – I highly recommend it. It's a city that will keep you busy. Full of ancient buildings, cobblestone paths, refreshing beer and friendly people.

Do You Want To Experience Prague Like A Local?

If you have already talked to your travel agency and browsed through travel guides then the main tourist attractions have been mentioned: Charles Bridge, Old Town Square and Prague Castles. You probably also saw the classic panoramic picture encompassing all three: the river, Charles Bridge and Prague Castle. That is the tourist version of Prague.

Searching the Internet you have been bombarded with guided tours and hotels offers. Unfortunately most of the information you receive is from the perspective of a travel agency catoring to tourists. They want you to visit tourist spots because that is their business - they will not tell you about local destinations, they will not tell you about the real Prague where the locals go.

This website will present Prague from the perspective of a tourist turned resident - me. I will show you a side of Prague that you cannot find in guides and travel agencies. Consider this website as your friend who lives in Prague, as the guy that will show you what it really is like in Prague.

Of course you need to see the main tourist sites in Prague: The Charles Bridge, Old Town Square and National Museum. But what about the rest of your visit? Do you want to walk amongst hordes of tourists with clicking cameras? Or do you want to see the real Prague?

If you are interested in more than just the tourist's version of Prague this site will help you:

• Get you off the main tourists streets - away from the tourists into the real Prague
• Identify established and popular local restaurants.
• Find local restaurants where the beer is 70% cheaper and the meals are cooked for locals not tourists.
• How the Metro works, how the tram works. I have lived here for 5 years and never used a Taxi, why should you?
• Help you figure out what to do after you tire of old castles and churches?

Most people visit Prague and come back home having seen nothing more than what is sold on every postcard rack in the city. My hope is that with my help you will gain the confidence and knownledge to experience the Prague I see every day. As a 'new worlder' coming back to the motherland I can show you a side of Prague hidden to tourists.

Who Am I

I was born in Usti Nad Labem, a northern city in the Czech Republic. Like most newborns my first reaction was to cry. But there I was. A few weeks later I was whisked away to a little town outside of Prague. There I was introduced to the world. From the comfort of a baby carriage I studied my surroundings. The big black family dog, the river just minutes away, and the smell of blossoming trees in the spring. I liked it there.

Then thanks to the repression of communism, it was decided that I be taken away to the new world. At four I found myself in Canada. For the next 27 years I lived under the big blue sky and towering mountains. Puberty and adulthood was reached there. I had a house, a truck and a quaint small business. But something was missing.

So I dumped it all and came back to where it all began. Now I live in Prague. And I love it here.

I purchased a larger house then necessary – one with a spare bedroom because I knew that I would have visitors. Most of my friends from Canada have already visited me. They come for two weeks. In those two weeks I show them around Prague. The real Prague. Not just the tourist traps. We use the metro and trams, visit restaurants and pubs that locals frequent – that I frequent. We see the sites not shown in tourists guides. With me as their guide they experience Prague as a citizen and not as a patron at Disneyland. The first day we see the must see sites – Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, the Prague Castle...but after that its just normal Czech life. I can't personally guide you but with the help of these pages you just might feel like I am a local friend walking you through the medieval city of a 1000 spires.