72 Hours in Prague, Czech Republic | Notes from the Archive
the fifth new-to-me country from my 2012 inter-railing trip!
*SHARED TO THE BLOG IN NOVEMBER 2025.
ARCHIVE / aar•kive / (noun): a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.
Welcome to a new Notes from the Archive post, a series in which I am sharing some of my old & well documented travel notes to the blog. I’ve been keeping detailed notes and journals from my travels abroad long before I ever started sharing that content to this little corner of the internet. For some reason, it only dawned on me recently that, although not as thorough as my note-taking and journaling of today, this information could a. be useful to someone out there planning a trip, b. offer a glimpse into my travel days of yore, or c. just be fun for me to relive briefly under the pretense of being useful — so I figured why not share them here!
If you have stumbled across this post on a deep-dive through the blog archives, hello! I have done my darndest to make sure every piece of information shared here is just as relevant today as it was the day it was scrawled in my journal. I would also like to take a moment here to apologise in advance for any poor-quality photographs. You have been warned.
Today’s Notes from the Archive post — 72 Hours in Prague, Czech Republic — covers everything myself and my then-boyfriend got up to during our 2012 inter-railing trip. Prague was the sixth official city of the trip, in the fifth new-to-me country(!), and I gotta say: I didn’t love it. I found the whole place way too tacky and tourist-y, wildly underwhelming, and generally just a bit meh?
Listed below is all the useful information I could garner from my trusty old journal, divided into the following categories for ease: getting there / where we stayed / where we ate / and where we touristed.
Enjoy, friends!
getting there
Here’s how we made the journey to Prague from Kraków:
from Kraków Główny, we first had to take the train to nearby Katowice. The journey between the cities took 2-hours, and the train that took us there was the oldest and most breakdown-likely looking train of our entire trip. Thankfully, there were no issues.
once there, we had to wait a couple hours before boarding our next train from Katowice to Prague main station — aka: Praha Hlavní Nádraží or simply Praha hl.n. This second journey took a considerably longer 5-hours and 40-minutes.
if you’re counting along with me, this journey from Kraków to Prague was the fourth official use of our inter-railing tickets, which allowed us to travel on any 7-days within a 1-month period. For more info on the different inter-railing tickets, see the official website here.
from Praha Hlavní Nádraží, we walked 20-minutes to our accommodation, below.
where we stayed
Emma Hostel // a horrific hostel we only spent one night at before relocating. Literally everything about the place was terrible: it was in the super seedy red light district, the whole hostel was in a basement, there was no windows, it was musty and stale, and there were no locks on the bathroom doors. It was horrible. Address: Na Zderaze 10, 120 00 Nové Město
*2025 UPDATE: unsurprisingly, this hostel is now permanently closed.
Hostel Marrakesh // nothing about this hostel stands out in my memory — other than the fact that it was a world away from the one above and it actually felt safe and clean. It was also considerably better located, very near the Old Town. Address: 4, Biskupská 1139, Nové Město, 110 00 Praha
*2025 UPDATE: this property now seems to go by the name Florenc Hostel One.
where we ate
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that, nowadays, I consider myself somewhat of a foodie — but this certainly wasn’t the case back in 2012! Listed below are the food stops I named in my journal, which I am sharing for posterity only!
Paneria // the bakery of our dreams. We stumbled across this place entirely by chance just as they were pulling tray after tray of freshly baked pastries straight out of the oven and absolutely went to town. Apparently we munched our way through 3 pastries each! Impressive. Address: Jindřišská 876/21, 110 00 Nové Město
*2025 UPDATE: sadly, now closed.
Lokál Dlouhááá // we stopped here for a couple pints of local Czech beer and rather enjoyed it! Address: Dlouhá 33, 110 00 Staré Město
where we touristed
Listed below is everywhere we tourist-ed in Prague, divided into free attractions and paid attractions for ease.
free attractions
Walk of the Century, Prague Edition // deciding again to let someone else do the work, we joined another guided walking tour around Prague, this time with SANDEMANs. Lest you think we shirked our cheap student ways: the tour was free, but you tip your guide whatever you can afford. The tour started at the Old Town Square, ended at the Rudolfinum, and the route was about 4.6-kilometers long. Here’s what we saw:
Old Town Square // aka: Staroměstské Náměstí . Within the square itself, we also saw:
The Jan Hus Monument // a statue which depicts Hus being burned at the stake for blasphemy.
Church of Our Lady before Týn // gothic church with two slightly different towers, representing Adam & Eve.
Prague Astronomical Clock Tower // easily the most famous attraction in Prague — but one I found very underwhelming. After watching the clock perform its daily 12pm routine, I just didn’t get it?
The Estates Theatre // previously, the Prague National Theatre, this is where Mozart first premiered his opera Don Giovanni.
Wenceslas Square // one of the main city squares. Within the square we also saw:
Statue of Saint Wenceslas // depicting Wenceslas I, Duke of Bohemia.
Josefov // aka: the former Jewish ghetto. Within the ghetto we also saw:
Spanish Synagogue // with Islamic features.
The Old-New Synagogue // named by a mis-translation.
Old Jewish Cemetery // one of the largest in Europe, with about 12,000 tombstones, and graves layered up to 10 deep.
Klausen Synagogue // overlooking the cemetery.
Pinkas Synagogue // also overlooking the cemetery, now a museum and memorial.
Rudolfinum // now a concert hall, once the seat of Czechoslovak parliament.
Lennon Wall // essentially: a wall that you can legally graffiti, how crazy! Every inch of wall space is covered with quotes, sayings, inspirational song lyrics, paintings of certain Beatles members, etc. Fun! Would recommend. Address: Velkopřevorské nám., 118 00 Malá Strana
Vojanovy Sady // just a really lovely park with beautiful trees and peacocks roaming freely. Address: U Lužického semináře, 118 00 Malá Strana
Charles Bridge // the city’s historic 14th century bridge. Probably the most recognizable landmark in the city, but unfortunately we found it totally overcrowded with tacky street artists and tourists aplenty. Address: Karlův most, 110 00 Praha 1
Petřín Hill District // mercifully, we finally came across a working funicular! We hopped on at the bottom stop, Újezd, and stayed on until we got to the Petřín Hill summit. At the top, we took in the view over the city below and admired the Petřín Lookout Tower, an Eiffel Tower lookalike. We also went into the Petřín Mirror Maze — but more on that in paid attractions, below! Address: Petřínské sady 633, 118 00, Malá Strana, Praha 1
paid attractions
Petřín Mirror Maze // exactly what it says on the tin, this was like something straight out of a movie. Corridors of mirrors leading to dead ends, warped mirrors, etc. It was actually pretty fun! Address: Petřínské sady, 110 00 Praha 1
Hradčany // aka: the castle district. Prague Castle dominates the city skyline, so we felt like it was somewhere we should see. Spoiler alert: it was surprisingly beautiful! As was St. Vitus Cathedral, the church located within the complex. If you decide against actually entering the Castle, the views from the top of the hill alone were also totally gorgeous. Address: Hradčany, 119 08 Prague 1
And there we have it: 72 Hours in Prague, Czech Republic! I hope you enjoyed this latest post in my Notes from the Archive series! I’ll be back soon with the next stop from my inter-railing trip: Berlin!
Until then,
Vicki xo
*Date of trip: 27th - 30th May, 2012*
related posts
My 2012 Inter-Railing Itinerary | Notes from the Archive
30 Countries in 30 Years, Part II
An Afternoon in Bratislava, Slovakia | Notes from the Archive