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Weekend Trips

Trains out on Friday, back for Monday: castles, spa towns and capitals within reach.

70 guides4 min average read

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All Weekend Trips guides

  1. 5 min readLidice memorial: the story and how to visit from PragueA village erased in 1942 in reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich. What happened, what the memorial holds and how to visit with respect.
  2. 3 min readLitomyšl: a Renaissance castle and the town that raised SmetanaBedřich Smetana was born in the castle brewery. The same grounds now hold a UNESCO chateau, sgraffito facades and a summer opera festival.
  3. 3 min readLoket Castle and the Ohře river: a medieval fortress in a river loopThe town is named after an elbow, and from above it is easy to see why. A castle on a granite rock sits inside a tight bend of the Ohře, near Karlovy Vary.
  4. 3 min readMělník day trip: wine where the Elbe meets the VltavaBohemia's wine capital is a short bus ride from Prague and has a chateau with its own cellars, a bone chapel and a view of two rivers becoming one.
  5. 4 min readMikulov day trip: a hill town in South Moravia's wine countryA white castle on a rock, a chapel on a hill, a large Jewish cemetery and vineyards running to the Austrian border. Bring comfortable shoes.
  6. 4 min readMoravian Karst caves: a boat ride on an underground riverNorth of Brno, a limestone plateau hides a 138-metre abyss, caves with stone forests and a river you can sail on. It is cold down there, so bring a jacket.
  7. 6 min readMunich airport to Prague: S-Bahn, train and coach optionsMunich Airport sits 40 km from the city and Prague sits about 380 km beyond it. What to take, in what order, and how not to miss the last connection.
  8. 4 min readMunich from Prague by train or bus: a weekend in Bavaria's capitalRoughly five or six hours each way, so make it a proper weekend: a beer hall founded in 1589, a vast park and the Alps on the horizon.
  9. 6 min readNuremberg and Regensburg: two German stops from Prague in one tripOne is a walled Franconian city of castle and gingerbread, the other a Roman-founded river town with a medieval bridge. How to see both on one rail loop.
  10. 4 min readNuremberg from Prague: castle walls, gingerbread and a hard historyA walled medieval city, a Christmas market with centuries behind it and the courtroom of the Nazi trials. A weekend with weight, a few hours from Prague.
  11. 4 min readOlomouc from Prague: a baroque university city, two hours by trainPrague's quieter cousin has a UNESCO plague column, six baroque fountains and a famously smelly cheese. Direct trains make a day trip easy; a night is better.
  12. 4 min readOstrava weekend guide: industrial heritage reinventedCzechia's coal and steel capital lets you climb a blast furnace, hear a concert in an old gasholder and eat well cheaply. About 3.5 hours from Prague.
  13. 4 min readPardubice: gingerbread, a brutal steeplechase and a Renaissance centreThe fast train from Prague takes about an hour. At the other end: protected gingerbread, a horse race famous for its fences and the town where Semtex was born.
  14. 4 min readPlzeň from Prague: the home of pilsner, and a good town besidesIn 1842 a brewery in Plzeň made the golden lager the world copied. Here is how to do the beer, the cellars and the old town in a day by train.
  15. 6 min readPrague to Amsterdam by train or plane: a long day or a short flightAbout 700 km as the crow flies, and the honest answer depends on how you value a night in Berlin. Train, plane and coach compared.
  16. 4 min readPrague to Berlin by coach: the Dresden stopover and the night optionA coach can drop you in Dresden for an afternoon and carry on to Berlin later. How the stops, the border and the overnight departures work.
  17. 4 min readPrague to Berlin: train, bus or flight compared, door to doorThe train follows the Elbe through sandstone gorges, the coach is often cheapest and the plane loses its lead at the airport. Which to pick, and why.
  18. 6 min readPrague to Brno by train or bus: which one actually saves you timeCzechia's two biggest cities are about 200 km apart, so the choice between rail and coach shapes your whole day. Here is how to pick without six tabs open.
  19. 4 min readPrague to Budapest by coach or plane: the long way, weighed upA coach that eats most of a day, or a flight that is short but fiddly. How to choose between them, and when the train guide is the better read.
  20. 6 min readPrague to Dresden by bus or train: the case for each, and a verdictBoth take about the same time and both end up in the centre of Dresden. The difference is in what you do on the way, and what can go wrong.
  21. 6 min readPrague to Frankfurt by train, bus or flight: the honest comparisonFrankfurt is Germany's rail and air hub, so the real question is which of three journeys from Prague wastes the least of your day.
  22. 6 min readPrague to Graz and Linz: two Austrian cities that are easier than ViennaLinz is a few hours down the line through South Bohemia and Graz is the long way round. Two quieter Austrian cities, and how each connects to the Alps.
  23. 6 min readPrague to Hallstatt: by train, car or tour, plus the ferry trickThe Alpine postcard village is a long way from Prague, and its station is on the wrong side of the lake. Routes, timings and whether a day trip is sane.
  24. 6 min readPrague to Hamburg by train: one line, one long day, two good stopsA long-distance train follows the Elbe from Prague to Germany's northern port. What the ride is like, where to break it and what to do on arrival.