What to Do in Europe

For those of you traveling from out of town (or from out of continent), we thought we'd provide you some general advice on things you may want to do on your trip to Europe, and how to go about them, as well as some of our favorite things.

First things first — you should plan on spending at least 4 days in Prague, not counting the wedding day. There is so much to see and do, and you definitely won't regret it. We'll be updating our What to Do in Prague page periodically, so check back often, or register for updates.

After a week in Prague, when you're thinking about what else to do with your time in Europe — you should either decide what you want to do, and then plan your trip accordingly; or plan your trip, and then constrain what you want to do, based on how much time you have. Seriously, this is the biggest mistake that people make when traveling from abroad. Hitting 7 cities in 7 days, just so you can say you've seen everything from Big Ben to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Of course you'll have checked those boxes, but I promise you: if you only have 7 days, then seeing at most 2, and maybe even just 1 city, will be a much more powerful, memorable, and meaningful experience.

OK. That disclaimer out of the way, here are some thoughts on planning:

The Czech Republic is almost the definition of Central Europe. Left-over ideas from the Cold War leave many thinking that it's Eastern Europe, but Prague is actually west of both Berlin and Vienna — two cities that almost everyone would consider Western European. The Czech lands have a long history, combining the historic regions of Bohemia (yes, this is what it means to be a Bohemian), Moravia, and Czech Silesia since the late 800s. Prague, by virtue of being the only major European capital not to be bombed in World War II, is one of the most beautiful and historic places in the world. But once you leave Prague, there is still much to explore. Home to a dozen World Heritage sights, you could easily spend a couple of weeks just driving around the Czech Republic and absorbing the history. But for those who want to explore the country with a little more structure, here are three ideas

Spa Towns

For centuries, the rich, noble, and famous from around Europe have traveled to the Czech Republic to bathe in and drink from the country's famous healing spas. Some of the best known are Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Mariánské Lázně, and Františkovy Lázně, which combine to form the "Bohemian Spa Triangle". All three can be reached from Prague and each other by train or car in under 3 hours, so doing a 3-4 day trip that swings through all three is easily possible. But if you don't want to follow an all-spa path, then almost any plan you make for touring the Czech Republic will land you near one of the score of spa towns that dot the countryside.

Hiking, Biking, and Camping

If you're looking for something a little more rustic, the Czech Republic is a great place for hiking, biking, and camping. Criss-crossed with over 25,000 miles of well-marked trails that have been built up over a century, the Czech countryside is beautiful any time of year, but should be particularly grand at the beginning of summer, right around the wedding! There are plenty of places to buy maps once you get here, and there shouldn't be any issue finding a campground and food along the way. For those who might like to combine some outdoor activity with history, one trail in particular has just opened: a trail in Krkonoše below Sněžka (where Sarah and I got engaged), marks the clandestine meetings between Czech and Polish dissidents from the 1970s up to the Velvet Revolution.

Wine!

When it comes to the Czech Republic, if most people think of anything at all, it's likely beer. Fair enough, the Czechs did invent lager, which is well over half the beer the world drinks now. But inside Czechia, beer isn't everything. In fact, the Czech's think of south Moravia (one of the classic Czech lands, to the east of Bohemia) as one of the great wine-making regions of the world. That might be a stretch, but the truth is you can find some really nice wines, from some grapes you've likely never had before, and all set in a gorgeous countryside of rolling hills dotted with castles. Czech Tourism has laid out a wine pilgrimage that would be a nice, relaxing week (you could probably do it in 3 days, but that would be rushed, and just wine — you'd really want to make it longer if you were to explore the UNESCO World Heritage sites in the region).

Prague is situated pretty smack-dab in the middle of Europe, which means you can get to just about anywhere by plane in less than 2 hours. This is your best bet if you want to go to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, the Scandinavian countries, or the Netherlands. There are a number of discount air carries (akin to Southwest in the US), a few of which are EasyJet, Air Berlin, and even Czech Airlines (which is both cheap, and part of SkyTeam).

But for a number of destinations, you might have more fun and save some hassle by taking the train (you can buy tickets and research routes at cd.cz). Here are some short, easy trips:

In addition, there are some great night-train destinations:

As mentioned before, the biggest mistake people make is not giving a city enough time, so here are my recommendations for absolute minimum times in any of these places (you can easily spend a week or even two in any of them). To do it in this amount of time would really mean rushing to see the main sights, and certainly not lingering in museums or exploring the great nooks and crannies that each of these cities have but aren't in the main, tourist loop.