Prague, Czech Republic Hotels and Apartments

In 2002 my brother was rehoused to the Royal Esprit hotel on a short visit to Prague because his original hotel booking was not suitable. In 2003 my wife and I booked direct as a result of brothers recommendation. I can only say that every thing was wonderful from being collected at the airport by the hotel taxi driver to the service we got during our eight day stay. The room was large and well cleaned daily. The hotel is well located within easy walking distance to most interesting places. My wife and I are visiting again July 2006 this time with mother in law (almost 80) and her friend of similar age. We are quite confident that they also will enjoy there stay. Selfishly I would like to advertise my views about this hotel as Awful do not stay, just to make sure that there would be vacancies for us when we visit. But that would be totally unfair not to tell the truth and share this magical hotel with lots of other guests.
The only tip I would suggest is shop around for prices for this accommodation as if you see it cheaper elsewhere other than direct internet the hotel will negotiate on the room rates and you may get it cheaper. That\'s Business as they say.

We spent a lot of time looking for a decent affordable hotel in Prague and finally chose the Mejstrik based on just ONE good review. We were a little hestitant but really loved this hotel. Because of it\'s location near Nameski Republiki, we were able to take the scheduled Cedaz taxiVan from the airport at only about 90 korunas per person. The regular private taxi is about 1000 korunas( $20-$25). Of course, the \"famous\" cab drivers of Prague try to talk you into paying more for a ride directly to the hotel, but we were only 3 blocks away and managed easily (no hills!). From the Republic Square, you just look for the Kodva Dept Store and the hotel is around the back side of the store in a small street, Jakubska. The Marriot hotel is nearby so if you\'ve read reviews on the more-popular Marriot, you\'ll get an idea of the location. A great spot to be headquartered, but at the same time surrounded by local folks rather than just tourists.

The hotel is small, and nicely renovated. The rooms are good sized, and the bathroom is almost up to USA standards. Immaculately clean. Most of the staff speaks English and are willing to help with EVERYTHING. Being a small hotel, we got the personal help that we needed booking tickets, finding our way around with a map, etc. Red White & blues is a famous Cajun restaurant nearby, and there are several good shops, bakeries, cafes etc. The hotel itself has a nice restaurant with a pleasant patio, and the breakfast (included) features fruits, yogurt, juices, meats and cheeses, fried eggs and terrific breads and pastry. More than enough to hold us through a day of sightseeing!

We chose Martin Tours (---) and were quite happy with our 3.5 hour Grand tour. It\'s 650 korunas ($28), you can reserve online but pay when you show up. The departure spot was very close to our hotel and easy to find. It\'s partly in van and partly walking....I highly recommend a tour on your first morning to get a good overview of Prague. From then on we were off on our own and got accustomed to the trams quite easily.

The hotel is not air conditioned, but they had a fan waiting for us in our room. The weather was smoldering our first day, but the rest of the week was cool with some rains. I would advise against having a first floor room as we did, because there are cafes nearby that are noisy late into the night. Definitely ask for a room on the \"quiet side\" when choosing this hotel, and probably in hot summer you would not want top floor (hot).

We certainly recommend the Mejstrik, you will be happy to get to know the nice family who run the hotel. Definitely not a \"budget hotel\", it is first class all the way and one of the few hotels that actually looks a lot better on arrival than what you see in online photos. We found the hotel on czechbyclick where they were offering a 5th-night-free special. Preferring not to deal with a \"middleman\", we e-mailed the hotel and were able to work out a great rate similar to what we had been seeing on some discount sites. The website lists some very high rack rates, we paid almost half of that. I think we lucked out in that many hotels were offering specials in July. (---)