One of the most popular destinations in Eastern Europe, Prague is a true gem. I’ve had the opportunity to visit this fantastic city quite a few times through the years, but without realizing, it had been almost a decade since I had been there last. So of course, I jumped on a horse, and headed east!

Prague has changed A LOT since the last time I was here approximately 10 years ago…here a list of my Pros and Cons of Prague nowadays.

PROS

The city of Prague is beautiful

It is a truly beautiful city. Pretty much every street you walk on, has something beautiful to offer, gorgeously colored buildings (even the random ones), well kept parks, majestic squares (and LOT of them!). If there is a city that embodies that “fairy tale”-like urban metropolis, Prague is definitely it.

English is spoken throughout the city

This is not to say every one in Prague speaks English, but I would say you have a 50/50 chance of getting English back if you speak to any random person on the street. Shops, restaurants, and bars will for sure have staff that will be happy to communicate in English, with English menus in most establishments. I even caught an earful of a pair of local English language radio stations! Way to go Prague! It cannot be overstated how refreshing it is to have this communication in Eastern Europe. In this sense, Prague is above and beyond ahead of most (or all) of its Eastern neighbors.

The food is amazing

Whether you are a restaurant or a street food type, Prague has you covered! Prague has -in my humble opinion- the best sausages in all of Europe. And that is a huge statement considering Poland and Germany encapsulate Czech Republic, but when the dust settles, nothing beats Czech sausages. Perhaps what makes them go that extra step further, is that in difference to their neighbor’s sausage culture, Czech has the added element of combining them with scrumptious sauces! And I don’t mean mustards, I mean proper goulash-like sauces that just elevate the experience to the next level. In addition, you have the most gorgeous soups, local produce fresh salads, mouth watering “Old Prague Ham”, dumplings, slow cooked ribs, delicious cheeses…you need to try all this!

Czech beer – hands down the best in all of Europe

As for the beer…and again…there is no place in the world that produces better beer than Europe…it doesn’t matter how brave the attempts have been from other continents, Europe is still the home of beer. Having said that, and with apologies to Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Hungary…Czech beer has just that extra special intense hops flavor that no other beer has. Perhaps the thing that made me give the crown to Czech above all is that in contrast to their neighbors which have some awesome specific beers, pretty much ALL beers in Czech are amazing. I cannot remember a beer I didn’t love. After the first week, I stopped ordering the “famous ones” Urquell, Budweiser Budvar, Radegast, or Staropramen, and just started going for random beers off the menu, picking up strange beers in the supermarket….ALL GORGEOUS!!!

CONS

Prague is no longer a cheap city, get ready to pay up!

The days of enjoying Prague on a budget are clearly in the rear view mirror. I was stunned with how prices have spiraled up! “But you mean Prague is expensive for an Eastern European city, right?” No, that’s the thing, it’s become an expensive city full stop. If I would need to rank it, I would put in between Berlin and Amsterdam. “OK, but you mean in the old center of course?” Nope, I walked quite a bit outside the old center and the central area only to find the high price plague has spread throughout the whole city. If you come to Prague, expect to pay proper full Western European prices.

Rip offy towards tourists

There’s a bit of a “rip off the tourist” sort atmosphere that I didn’t see or experience during my previous visits. Let me give you some examples… Czech Republic is not a part of the Euro currency, they use the Czech Koruny. This sets the stage for the first version of rip off experiences I encountered. I got stabbed again and again with the exchange rate! I am so sorry to say that I didn’t have a single encounter that involved exchange rates were I didn’t get taken advantage off. Even when showing them the official rates from XE.com or recognized Forex Exchange institutions, they still nabbed – EVERY TIME! Another set of instances where I felt I was “taken for a trim” was with hair dressers. I wanted to get a haircut, and even after seeing the prices posted on the wall, when I asked in English what the price was for a haircut, they jacked it up almost 100%! This happened in all 3 salons where I walked in…. Does it happen in all of them? I don’t know, sure hope not…but it happened to me 3 times in a row, and that’s when I called it quits. Who knows, maybe I was just unlucky….hopefully it won’t happen to others.

In some cases when I got taken for a fool, I just walked away, but there were situations where I couldn’t, such as my hotel. Part of what I utterly disliked about this new rip off culture was the senseless waste of money (on my part, and gain for them), but by far the most annoying part is the unwelcoming feeling you get from getting ripped BECAUSE you are a tourist.

Prague is fully congested with tourists nowadays

The time where you could just enjoy the squares, sights, and parks in tranquility, are also gone. Prague is packed! It seemed like everywhere I went to, there were hoards and hoards of tourist from all over the world. At times, it felt like being in Paris or London…and I don’t mean that in a good way. I guess this overwhelming interest in Prague has given way to the first 2 points mentioned above… I am still a big fan of Prague, but I hope it normalizes in the future, and we get a sense of the Prague way back when in the good ol’ days :)….or is that just wishful thinking…?

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