Things to do in Basel and Prague

[teqp]

Well, I am off on another business trip to Europe next week and will have an afternoon/evening in Basel and an evening in Prague.

Anyone have ideas for Basel, such as watch shops, restaurants, I would appreciate it.

As for Prague, I plan to visit the astronomical clock. But I wanted to see if anyone has any other recommendations of must see and also any places for dinner.

I know I plan to use reputable taxi companies for the trips around Prague.

Thanks so much for the input.

[BaselWorld]

I would recommend you to eat at the Brasserie in the Hotel Trois Rois directly at the river (http://www.lestroisrois.com/Brasserie.151.0.html). Bucherer, Gübelin are the two biggest watch shops.

[Flex368]

In downtown Prague it´s better to walk.

Check out this place for a meal: http://nasemaso.ambi.cz

And make sure to check out Darling Cabaret.

[Limestonedan]

Originally Posted by BaselWorld

I would recommend you to eat at the Brasserie in the Hotel Trois Rois directly at the river (http://www.lestroisrois.com/Brasserie.151.0.html). Bucherer, Gübelin are the two biggest watch shops.

Drink at the bar first. Special place.

[Chuckred]

Originally Posted by teqp

I know I plan to use reputable taxi companies for the trips around Prague.

Thanks so much for the input.

Last year we used Uber - excellent service (driver out of his car looking for us while we both tried to communicate via cell) and very inexpensive. <$10 across town in immaculate car...

[Marcela]

Few ideas, hopefully this will help:

1. Castle - St Vitus Cathedral, St George's Basilica, Loreta, Royal gardens, Golden Lane (Franz Kafka), have a lunch at "Three Violins" (U Tri Houslicek"), or at the Lobkowitz Palace

https://www.hrad.cz/en/prague-castle...e-castle.shtml
https://www.hrad.cz/en/prague-castle...e-castle.shtml

2. Petrin Hill and Observation Tower; Strahov Monastery
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/petrin-hill.html
http://www.strahovskyklaster.cz/webm...me.asp?idk=257

3. St Nicolaus Church - Mala Strana
http://www.stnicholas.cz/en/

4. Wallenstein ans Vrtba Gardens (Valdstejnska and Vrtbovska Zahrada) - Mala Strana
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/vrtba-garden.html
http://www.avantgarde-prague.com/pra...nstein-garden/

5. Charles Bridge (+/- the tower - nice views), Kampa Park Restaurant
http://www.kampagroup.com/en/restaurants/kampa-park/


6. Old Town Square - astronomical clock, Town Hall, St Nicolaus Cathedral, Tyn Church (Tycho de Brahe)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Square_(Prague)

7. Walk Parizska Ulice (Paris Street - considered to be one of the nicest streets in Europe) from Old Town Square to Jewish Town - synagogues, museum, cemetery

8. Walk Celetna Ulice from Old Town Square to the Municipal House and the Powder Gate
http://www.obecnidum.cz/en/

9. King's Road - from the Municipal House through Prikopy to Wenceslas Square (W.S. - very busy, should be seen while in Prague, not my absolutely favourite place, because of crowds, but few nice stores, the statue of Wenceslas, etc); Prikopy, however, I like - especially the Moser store - my favourite czech glass, super beautiful and valuable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslas_Square

10. Vysehrad - national cemetery, beautiful views, very historical place; little remote, need to take Metro - easy, clean, pleasant

11. few more favourite restaurants:

V Kolkovne -
http://www.vkolkovne.cz/en/;

Municipal House
http://www.obecnidum.cz/en/restaurants-1404045200.html

U Modre Kachnicky ("Blue Duckling")
http://www.umodrekachnicky.cz/en/

12. My favorite places for concerts - National Theater (Narodni Divadlo) and Estate Theater (Stavovske Divadlo) - operas;
Rudolfinum; Municipal House, St Georges Basilica
http://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/en
http://www.ceskafilharmonie.cz/en/rudolfinum-p395.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Geo...silica,_Prague

Needless to say - there are many, many more fun places that I would like to mention, but these are the ones to see for the first time visitors.
Try to walk as much as possible, especially through the Mala Strana, the Bridge and the whole Old Town - very charming, sometimes mysterious. I know - crowds will be everywhere, but that is unavoidable.

Have a safe and very enjoyable trip :-)

[teqp]

Originally Posted by BaselWorld

I would recommend you to eat at the Brasserie in the Hotel Trois Rois directly at the river (http://www.lestroisrois.com/Brasserie.151.0.html). Bucherer, Gübelin are the two biggest watch shops.

Thanks for the tip, this place looks good.

[teqp]

Originally Posted by Flex368

In downtown Prague it´s better to walk.

Check out this place for a meal: http://nasemaso.ambi.cz

And make sure to check out Darling Cabaret.

Nase Maso looks like my kind of place, thanks for the tip. their menu isn't loading on my iPad, but the pics on Yelp look good.
As for the cabaret, I will have to pass since I will have some female coworkers with me on this trip.

[teqp]

Originally Posted by Limestonedan

Drink at the bar first. Special place.

Thanks for the tip.

[Flex368]

Originally Posted by teqp

Nase Maso looks like my kind of place, thanks for the tip. their menu isn't loading on my iPad, but the pics on Yelp look good.

Excellent place to eat, I´ve been there only two weeks ago.

As for the cabaret, I will have to pass since I will have some female coworkers with me on this trip.

You don´t know what you´re missing.

Also, there is a nice place called "Charles Bridge". It´s located directly under - guess what - Charles Bridge. The entrance is a little difficult to find but a nice place for a drink or two.

[Limestonedan]

Another fascinating thing in Basel. Tethered ferry on the Rhine. No motor, just the "river current" and the boat rudder to bring people across from side to side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-eGwGozo5s

[teqp]

Originally Posted by Marcela

Few ideas, hopefully this will help:

1. Castle - St Vitus Cathedral, St George's Basilica, Loreta, Royal gardens, Golden Lane (Franz Kafka), have a lunch at "Three Violins" (U Tri Houslicek"), or at the Lobkowitz Palace

https://www.hrad.cz/en/prague-castle...e-castle.shtml
https://www.hrad.cz/en/prague-castle...e-castle.shtml

2. Petrin Hill and Observation Tower; Strahov Monastery
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/petrin-hill.html
http://www.strahovskyklaster.cz/webm...me.asp?idk=257

3. St Nicolaus Church - Mala Strana
http://www.stnicholas.cz/en/

4. Wallenstein ans Vrtba Gardens (Valdstejnska and Vrtbovska Zahrada) - Mala Strana
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/vrtba-garden.html
http://www.avantgarde-prague.com/pra...nstein-garden/

5. Charles Bridge (+/- the tower - nice views), Kampa Park Restaurant
http://www.kampagroup.com/en/restaurants/kampa-park/


6. Old Town Square - astronomical clock, Town Hall, St Nicolaus Cathedral, Tyn Church (Tycho de Brahe)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Square_(Prague)

7. Walk Parizska Ulice (Paris Street - considered to be one of the nicest streets in Europe) from Old Town Square to Jewish Town - synagogues, museum, cemetery

8. Walk Celetna Ulice from Old Town Square to the Municipal House and the Powder Gate
http://www.obecnidum.cz/en/

9. King's Road - from the Municipal House through Prikopy to Wenceslas Square (W.S. - very busy, should be seen while in Prague, not my absolutely favourite place, because of crowds, but few nice stores, the statue of Wenceslas, etc); Prikopy, however, I like - especially the Moser store - my favourite czech glass, super beautiful and valuable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslas_Square

10. Vysehrad - national cemetery, beautiful views, very historical place; little remote, need to take Metro - easy, clean, pleasant

11. few more favourite restaurants:

V Kolkovne -
http://www.vkolkovne.cz/en/;

Municipal House
http://www.obecnidum.cz/en/restaurants-1404045200.html

U Modre Kachnicky ("Blue Duckling")
http://www.umodrekachnicky.cz/en/

12. My favorite places for concerts - National Theater (Narodni Divadlo) and Estate Theater (Stavovske Divadlo) - operas;
Rudolfinum; Municipal House, St Georges Basilica
http://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/en
http://www.ceskafilharmonie.cz/en/rudolfinum-p395.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Geo...silica,_Prague

Needless to say - there are many, many more fun places that I would like to mention, but these are the ones to see for the first time visitors.
Try to walk as much as possible, especially through the Mala Strana, the Bridge and the whole Old Town - very charming, sometimes mysterious. I know - crowds will be everywhere, but that is unavoidable.

Have a safe and very enjoyable trip :-)

Thanks so much Marcela for all the tips and links. Some of the restaurants menus look very yummy. I wish I had more time in Prague. The plan will be to walk around the city to get hungry for dinner. I hope the weather is nice for us.

[teqp]

Originally Posted by Chuckred

Last year we used Uber - excellent service (driver out of his car looking for us while we both tried to communicate via cell) and very inexpensive. <$10 across town in immaculate car...

Thanks for the tip, Uber is on my phone. I will look into giving it a try.

[teqp]

Just to give an update on my trip last week. I wanted to say thanks again for all the great information and tips. Unfortunately, it was snowing when I arrived into Basel airport and my flight was delayed, so when I arrived into town it was a little later than I had planned. So I did not get time to walk around the city. I also stopped in Dresden, Germany and was able to walk around the old town. In doing so, I was able to pass by the Glashutte Original store. Unfortunately, the stores were closed when I was able to walk around.
Really beautiful looking watch!

Some nice old watchmaking tools from ALS. Unfortunately, most of their watches in the window were removed when I walked by.

Then I made my way into the Czech Republic (1.5 hours east of Prague). Again, arrived late into town, so only had a nice dinner.
We went to a nice dinner where I had the deer. Very tender and relatively inexpensive (approx. $14USD)

Finally we were able to make it to Prague. We stayed at the airport, but had a taxi from the hotel drop us off and we called him so he picked us up when we were ready to leave the city. This was my first time to Prague, it is such a beautiful walking city. I did make it to the astronomical clock.

Also, thanks to Marcela, I went to V Kolkovne. We had a group of 5, with 2 vegetarians, and all said the food was very good!

Just as when in Ireland, you need to have a Guinness, when in Czech Republic, you need a Pilsner Urquell or two.

Starter was Prague Ham with bread and carpaccio.

For the main, I had the pork knuckle.

Some photos of Prague.

[Tri-Tip]

Prague is a beautiful city. When I was there (2002), it was for a work trip and we had a banquet at the Pilsner Urquell Brewery.

I don't remember much of it (too many beers), but at one point, they served a VERY stinky cheese. We all drank our water glasses dry and turned them upside down over the cheese.

[Marcela]

Thank you Phil for sharing your great pictures. Prague has a very, very special place in my heart, and I am so happy that you and your friends enjoyed your stay - even though so short.