Europe
Czech Republic
"The country where a half-liter of the world's best lager costs less than a coffee in Paris."
Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and this is both its gift and its curse. The Old Town Square, the castle looming above the Vltava, the astronomical clock — all of it is genuinely magnificent, and all of it is swarming with tour groups by ten in the morning. The trick is simple: stay longer. Prague at dawn, Prague in the rain, Prague on a Tuesday night in November — the city that empties out is the one that earns its reputation. Cross the river to Malá Strana. Drink at a hospoda where the menu is only in Czech. Find the Cubist architecture in Vyšehrad. The city has layers, and the best ones are quiet.
But the country beyond Prague is where Czechia becomes genuinely extraordinary. Bohemia is a landscape of dark forests and spa towns — Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně — where the architecture is Habsburg and the pace is nineteenth century. Moravia, in the east, is wine country that almost nobody outside Central Europe takes seriously, producing whites with a mineral precision that rivals Alsace at a fraction of the price. Český Krumlov is a medieval jewel wrapped around a river bend. The Šumava mountains along the Bavarian border offer hiking through old-growth forest with a stillness that is increasingly rare in Europe. And everywhere, the beer. Czech beer culture is not a tourist attraction — it is the foundation of daily social life, practiced in neighborhood pubs with the seriousness it deserves.
When to go: May to June or September. Prague in high summer is hot and overcrowded. Autumn brings golden light to the Moravian vineyards and mushroom foraging in the forests. Winter is bitterly cold but atmospheric, especially in Prague and the spa towns.
What most guides get wrong: They allocate two days for Prague and nothing for the rest. Czechia is a small country with an absurd density of beauty — castles, forests, vineyards, towns that look like they were carved from the same stone as the hills. Rent a car and drive south into Moravia. Order the svíčková. Drink the beer slowly. This is a country that has been quietly excellent for centuries and sees no reason to advertise.
Explore
Places in Czech Republic
Bohemian Switzerland
A landscape of sandstone arches, deep gorges, and pine-covered mesas where nature has sculpted something stranger than fiction.
Brno
The Czech Republic's second city trades tourist polish for authentic energy, with world-class modernist architecture and a thriving underground scene.
Cesky Krumlov
A fairytale town wrapped in a river bend, where a massive castle watches over terracotta rooftops and cobblestone lanes.
Karlovy Vary
A grand spa town nestled in a forested valley where hot springs, colonnades, and pastel facades create an atmosphere of elegant decay.
Kutna Hora
A silver-mining town with a bone chapel, a Gothic cathedral to rival any in Europe, and streets that remember when this was the richest city in Bohemia.
Moravia
Rolling vineyard hills, wine cellars carved into chalk, and a folk culture that makes the rest of the Czech Republic look positively reserved.
Olomouc
A Moravian university city hiding one of Central Europe's finest Baroque squares and a cheese so pungent it has its own festival.
Plzen
The birthplace of Pilsner beer, where brewing heritage meets a surprisingly vibrant cultural scene in western Bohemia's largest city.
Prague
A city of spires, bridges, and beer halls where Gothic grandeur meets a quietly subversive creative energy.
Telc
A tiny Moravian town with a Renaissance square so perfectly preserved it feels like stepping into a painting.