The Czech Republic has a beautiful and diverse landscape with plenty of mountains, gentle highlands, lowlands, caves, canyons, broad fields, bogs, lakes, ponds and dams; it consists of Bohemia in the west and Moravia in the east. The damp continental climate over most of the Czech Republic is responsible for warm, showery summers; cold, snowy winters; and generally changeable conditions. The Czechs are a plain-spoken, even-tempered people, with a full spectrum of cultural, religious and political influence, surprisingly broad for such a small country.

Prague, the capital of both the Czech Republic and Bohemia, sits astride the Vltava River about 30km above its junction with the Labe River. Prague's prime attraction is its physical face. The city centre is an open air museum of 900 years' of architecture - Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, 19th-century revivals of all of them, and Art Nouveau - amazingly undisturbed by the 20th century. This historical core of the city - Hradcany (the Castle District) and Mala Strana (the Small Quarter) west of the river, Stare Mesto (the Old Town) and Vaclavske namesti (Wenceslas Square) to the east, and Charles Bridge in between - covers about 3 sq km and is pedestrian-friendly, so you needn't go at break-neck speed to discover its most famous attractions. Prague Castle was founded in the 870s by Prince Borivoj as the main seat of the Premysl dynasty, though the Premysls failed to unite the squabbling Czech tribes until 993.

Kutna Hora - It's hard to imagine today, but in its time this town about 65km east-south-east of Prague was Bohemia's most important after Prague. This was due to the rich veins of silver below the town itself, and the silver groschen minted here was the hard currency of central Europe at the time. With a pastel-hued square dotted with cafés, medieval alleys with facades from Gothic to Cubist, and a cathedral to rival St Vitus, comparisons with Prague are hard to resist. Kutna Hora is certainly as densely picturesque as Prague, and blessed with warmer people and lower prices.

Karlovy Vary - World famous for its regenerative waters, Karlovy Vary is the oldest of the Bohemian spas, and probably the second most popular tourist city in the Czech Republic, after Prague.  It's also the most beautiful of the 'big three' spas in the republic and, despite the crowds, the most accessible.

Check our "Rhapsodies" for quick city visits' rates. Rhapsodies are 2 or 3 nights program in major cities with hotel accommodation selected by central location and value. usually, a city tour is also included. Use them as they are for a single city visit or combine them for a more complete program. To check rates, select the date of your stay from the calendar that will appear.