Since I am in Prague for a business trip, I made use of the weekends to do some exploring. If you're interested to read more my adventure in Prague, check out my older travel post on my Prague trip in 2014. I'll be updating a new blog post on my current Prague trip when I return to Singapore (which will be in 2017).

Kutna Hora is a historic town located an hour train ride from Prague. Kutna Hora is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site, home to some of the most magnificent churches. Kutna Hora also sits on a silver mine.

Kutna Hora is an hour train ride from Prague. To get to Kutna Hora, buy your train ticket either online or at the Prague main train station (Praha Hln). The train will take you to Kutna Hora Hln and you'll have to switch to a connecting train to get to the town center, Kutna Hora Meso station. So make sure your ticket brings you to Kutna Hora Meso instead of Kutna Hora Hln. The return ticket will cost 209czk. The train comes at an interval of 2hours in the morning so make sure you check the timings, especially on your way back.

I alighted at Kutna Hora Meso and walked to the town center. It was winter, and one of the coldest days, so nobody was on the streets. The shops were all closed too so I highly recommend not to come in winter.

The first stop is to the Church of St Barbara.

It's such an amazing sight just walking to the church. I took a rather long way, winding some alleys, because I got kind of lost and I was refusing to take off my gloves to navigate the map on my phone because it was freezing.

Church of St Barbara is a gothic style cathedral that began construction in 1388 but was only completed in 1905.

The entrance fee for the church is 60czk and you can actually get a bundle ticket which will include the other main attractions in Kutna Hora.

To be honest, I did not do much research before going over so I had no expectations and idea of what the main attractions looked like. Neither did i know that there's an entrance fee. So I went in on a Sunday when there was service and managed to sneak in for free. I only realised that there was an entrance fee when I was buying tickets at the other attractions and they were showing the bundle package which included Church of St Barbara.

Before leaving, there's this hidden gem with a great view of Kutna Hora just next to the cathedral.

This is the Stone Fountain in Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora Stone House is around the corner and unfortunately, it's closed in winter. During warmer days, you can actually go on a tour into the silver mines.

As mentioned earlier, it's winter and not a single shop was open. So at the sight of an opened store, I went in immediately. The chocolate museum serves chocolates made in Czech and they allowed tasting. So I kind of left the store with a little more chocolates than expected.

Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist is the other attraction in Kutna Hora. While the Church of St Barbara is located at the Kutna Hora Meso station, the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist is closer to the Kutna Hora Sedlec station.

It takes 30 minutes to walk from the town center to the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist. Would not really recommend it so it's better to take the train.

While the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist has a gothic style, the interior of the church has a clean look with the minimalistic style.

But the key attraction of Kutna Hora has to be the Sedlec Ossuary. My colleagues, who recommended me to visit Kutna Hora, was raving about the bone church where they used bones to decorate the interior.

It's a little unusual to use bones to decorate a place but it's definitely an interesting sight. There's piles and piles of bones lined up as decorations.

To be honest, I felt Kutna Hora to be a little underwhelming in the winter with the empty streets and closed shops. But it was definitely worth the escape from Prague to visit somewhere less crowded. If you have extra time on your hands, do drop by Kutna Hora.

Will be updating the blog again real soon as I will be clearing some of my backlogs from my other previous travel adventures.

Till then!

Prague is the capital of Czech Republic and is often regarded as one of most beautiful cities in Europe. I can't deny that either. Prague is a magical city filled with medieval buildings, bridges, cathedrals.

I traveled to Prague on my Christmas break when I was studying in England. Flying on RyanAir from London Stansted Airport to Prague cost £35 (S$73) one way. As I was travelling to Vienna from Prague, I didn't book a return flight.

Czech Republic has their own currency, Czech crowns(CZK, Kč). The basic exchange rate for CZK to SGD is 100 CZK = 5 SGD (approximately, subjected to current exchange rates).

However, if you're travelling from Singapore to Prague, you'll realise that Singapore's money exchange agencies do not sell crowns. You'll be able to use euros when you're in Prague so you don't have to worry about that. The rate for CZK to EUR is 100 CZK to 3.6 EUR but most shops carry 100 CZK to 4 EUR. You may actually be spending slightly more if you're using euros instead of crowns but you don't really have to worry about spending slightly more using euros because it doesn't really add up to a lot at the end of the day.

For my case, as I came from London, I changed my pounds to crowns over at Marks and Spencer. Being a student with a limited budget, I only changed £100 (S$210) into crowns. I budgeted S$50 for each day in Prague, which is probably too much but I couldn't have known better back then.
We stayed in an apartment from airbnb, for 5 of us. It cost us approximately S$55 each in total for all three nights. I suppose you can get similar prices for hostels in Prague. The location was brilliant as it was within 2min walking distance to Charles Bridge. It was on the Old Town side of the river.

The host from the airbnb arranged a taxi to pick us up from the airport to the accommodation. The taxi only cost us 600 crowns (I think we included tips as well). That's 150 crowns (S$8.50) for each of us in a taxi for four. If you're on a really tight budget, you can always hop on the bus and the metro from the airport into the city centre. Their metro tickets charges by time and it's really cheap to travel into the city centre.
You don't really have to travel on the public transport when you're in Prague. The points of interests are all within walking distance from each other. Prague is separated by a river, dividing the Old Town and the Lesser Town. Connecting the two sides is the famous Charles Bridge.

Walking around Prague may get a little confusing as their signs are not in English. This is where my good friend, maps.me, comes into the picture. Maps.me offers the best offline map (which means you can actually navigate around without a data plan). You'll have to download the map beforehand when you're connected to the internet and once that is done, you'll be able to access the map whenever you want. Point to note, GPS doesn't require data plan and as long as you have network, you'll be able to use GPS on your phone as long as you have auto roaming on your line. It won't incur any charges. (This short promo on maps.me isn't paid, though I wished they did)
If you're too lazy to plan for your trip, you can always look out for free walking tours in Europe. They're technically not free because at the end of the day, you'll have to pay them tips. But of course it's up to you to decide how much tips you want to pay them.

What's amazing about these walking tours is that you don't have to plan for your day! Yay because we all know what a pain it is to plan for the itinerary. And you'll have a proper local guide telling you stories about the place instead of having to refer to a book whenever you're at the point of interest.

A quick search on google and I found a free walking tour. I have been on one of these free walking tours and truly enjoyed my experience. I felt that I learnt a lot more about the place than walking around it by myself so I highly recommend it.
Most of the walking tours wouldn't cover the admission charges and simply walk you through the town. Therefore, it's always nice to go for one on your first day of arrival and note down the places you wish to enter.

The tours normally don't last more than 4 hours so you pretty much have the other half of the day to explore the rest of the places. One of the places you definitely should visit is, of course, the Prague Castle. There's actually no need to pay the admission fee to enter the grounds of the Prague Castle. They'll only check for tickets if you were to enter the buildings. However, you can feel free to explore the grounds and the cathedral.
And this is why S$50 budget for each day is way too much. Most of the places of interests in Prague doesn't require much money. You'll be surprised at how little you need to spend when you're there. I even had enough spare money to do some shopping (because the same item you see there is much cheaper than in London).
As Sinaporeans are such foodies, we have to talk about the food, don't we? Chimney cake is a must try when you're there. I know it's more of a Hungarian kind of thing, but they're found in Prague too! They come with many different toppings but try the one coated in sugar.

These chimney cakes are hand rolled from dough and baked over a special oven. They're simply the most delicious thing on this planet and I can't help it but to order one whenever I see it. I'm not sure where to find them because when I was there, it was Christmas and it can be found at every single Christmas market (even the one in Ireland). I hope it's not just a Christmas thing.
Besides the chimney cakes, do try out the potato chips on a stick. They're freshly made, unlike the ones you find in your Pringles. They're normally found on a stick and can be a little bit pricey just for that stick. The image below of me holding to a huge packet of such potato chips is actually taken in Vienna but they're the same.
A meal in Prague costs 150-200 crowns, which is approximately S$10. Having lived in London, you'll be really happy to find a meal costing S$10. And with S$10, you can actually eat in a really fancy cafe with really good food and service.

I visited Cafe Louvre and Cafe Savoy and both meals ranged around 200-250 crowns. Both places are well-known and have been around for decades/centuries. The service and food quality is really good and it's definitely worth the money. Of course, you can always go to the more local places to have your meal. You can easily order a really big plate of meat for only 150 crowns.

I didn't manage to really appreciate their cuisine when I was there as it was really meaty. Moreover, I made a horrible mistake in ordering for dumplings during one of my lunches. If you expected to see Chinese dumplings or something similar, you'll be in for a huge disappointment. They're basically just flour that tasted like kueh.
I had approximately S$50 leftover when I left Prague for Vienna. Therefore, I probably only spent S$150 on my 3 nights there, without starving myself. I even had enough money to shop around for gifts!

I know I didn't really write in details what I did for each day when I was there. To be honest, your probably only needed 2 days to explore Prague if you're on a really tight schedule. You can always leave a comment if you wish to know more about Prague and I'll definitely reply (though not always immediately).

Read all about my day trip to Kutna Hora here.

Cheers.