Prague, Czech Republic Hotels and Apartments

We stayed for three nights at U Tri Bubnu Hotel (Three Drums) with 2 elderly friends, at the end of April 2007. The hotel\'s location in the \'old town\' area of Prague was excellent, being a few metres from Old Town Square with many restaurants, bars and shops just a few minutes walk away. Within a five minute walk we could get to the Charles Bridge which is crossed to get to the \'lesser town\' with its Cathedral and Castle. We booked Superior Double Rooms which were large and very clean, with comfortable beds, plenty of wardrobe space and a television from which we were able to keep abreast of BBC World News. The bathrooms were also of a good size. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful and gave good advice on local restaurants. Breakfast which offered tea/coffee/fruit juice, cereals, yoghurts, toast, frankfurters, cheese and ham, was perfectly adequate. The only problem for us was that our rooms were situated on the third floor and there was no lift! The stairs were quite steep and winding, and we found them difficult to manage more than twice a day. There was no vacant room on a lower floor available at the time to transfer to as the hotel was full.

We all enjoyed our first visit to Prague: the architecture was very impressive, the Czech people were friendly, and the food and drink was varied and generally well priced. However, none of us was very enthusiastic about the stodgy dumplings which came with the local Goulash. Food and drink in the Old Town Square was more expensive than that found in areas off the Square. We had a guided tour lasting 4 hours, which we found was a little too long and tiring, and we should have opted for the 2 hour one instead. We were glad of our comfortable shoes for tackling all the cobbled streets and squares. At times, particularly in the afternoon around the Charles Bridge and Old Town Square, there were huge crowds of tourists, and it was definitely better to visit the more \'touristy\' spots during the mornings. Public transport was cheap and very reliable. Taxis to or from the airport cost about £12 each way.

We would return to Prague and to the U Tri Bubnu Hotel, but would definitely ask for rooms on a lower floor.

12 of us stayed at the Three Drums.
This was a beautiful building, clean and inviting.
The reception staff were willing to listen and help with enquiries.
the stairs could be hard work, but soon got use to it and any changes to the building would have lost it\'s ambiance and you could\'t get any closer to the Astronomical clock, as the building were attached on the same block.