Prague

shane86

After a mental trip to Glasgow made me realise I spend far too much of the year on the home sod compare to some people Im right home and already booking off to Prague. Going on September 11th (:eek: ), for the match the next day of course, looks like Ill be paying just under 260 euro return, coming back on the Sunday, does it sound reasonable?

Could have got Ryanair to Bratislava for 150 and got a train, but IIRC there was no Tuesday flights, and the Wednesday to Sunday option wouldve meant potentially arriving late for the match and having to leave Prague for Bratislava VERY early Sunday Any other cheap Ryanair tips, places nearby they fly? The only other places somewhat nearby that they fly are Leipzig and Brno, but neither of these are served by an Irish airport. Unfortunately the Ryanair site (or google even) doesnt seem to operate like other travel search engines in that it could organise the trip for me including stopovers, but tbh Dublin to London and on to Leipzig and then a train sounds like a pain in the hole, way Im probably going (Lufthansa) requires one stop/possible transfer and then onto Prague. Just holding out until i hear from the more experienced does this sound good, or is there a way around. Thats what annoys me about Ryanair, they seem to have something about break of dawn 30 quid taxi requiring outgoing flights and bringing you home at 23:30 to wait for a taxi in Dublin completely bollixed

Also, although a bit too early to be thinking of specific places, does Prague have many Irish bars where I could watch the match with a good non hostile crowd The story is that 4 of the lads booked this a while back, at the time I wasnt sure if Id be arsed as Id already intended going on a mad one to the dam, it isnt happening now and so Im tagging along at the last minute (different flights, they arrive Monday and leave later on the Sunday than I do). Unsure yet if Ill be in the stadium (assume it sold out already, ill check in a bit), so I need to find a crowd of paddys to surround myself with for 2 odd hours Anyone have experience of the prices of black market tickets in Eastern Europe, are they grand or are they smarter than that and they know how much we can be prepared to spend.


edit- just checked, Id be making a stopover in Frankfurt during which time Id have, on the best of the deals, 1 hour 10 minutes to get to my next flight. For those of you who know this airport, does it sound like ample time i.e. if for whatever reason the plane was a half hour late touching down would I be good with even 40 minutes? Only carrying hand luggage so baggae wont be an issue. If I am late for my connection due to either airline or airport faults am I entitled to a free ride on the next flight? All flights are lufthansa btw.

Thanks

Raekwon

Aerlingus & CSA are both usually expensive to fly with to Prague anytime of the year but the prices seem to have gone (predictably) through the roof the week surrounding the match. IMO the stop over in Frankfurt with Lufthansa is your best bet and at €250 return it isn't a bad deal, the only bad thing that I can think of is that Frankfurt is a HUGE airport so getting from one gate to another in a short space of time could be cutting it pretty fine time wise. But then again, Ryanair will leave you in the middle of nowhere and it will be much more hassle then it is really worth just to basically save a few quid.

As for the match, afaik it will be in Sparta Prague's Toyota Arena which only has a capacity of just over 20,000 so it will more then likely be sold out weeks in advance (btw I wouldn't touch blackmarket tickets in Eastern Europe as they are usually exclusively only sold by Roma Gypsies or Russian/Ukrainian gangsters and you don't need a headache like that).

As for *Irish pubs, here is a short list of them:
Rocky O'Reillys: Great location. Probably the best one to watch a match in!
Molly Malone's: Nice bar, but not very central.
Caffrey's: Right on Old Town Square. Bit pricey and small though.
O'Che's: Cuban Irish bar. Close to Charles Bridge but very small.
J.J. Murphy's & Co.: Sounds like an Irish pub but because it's so close to the American Embassy it is essentially an Irish-American pub. For that reason alone it should be avoided!

*Be aware that drinks in these pubs will cost you anything from 80 Koruny (for a pint) upwards (that's approx €3) where as in local Czech bars you can get a pint for around 20 Koruny (a whooping 70 cent!). Also, in most cases anyway, there are usually more British people in these pubs then Irish. \i don't know why I mentioned that, I just find it strangely unsettling

Anyway I think that's enough info for one post, if you have anymore questions then let me know

The Bollox

I went to Prague a few weeks ago, flew with CSA. it cost about 270 / 280 including taxes and stuff, wasn't bad considiring Aer Lingus was looking for over 300

beglee

Id say Rocky O Reillys is your best bet for the match. Was in Prague for 5 days about 3 weeks ago on a lads hols, n went in there once or twice to watch the hurling/boxing/copa america, they have a big screen, and they even get RTE, but as Raekwon said its more expensive than Czech bars. Mostly Irish in there when i was there, and id say itll be packed for the match, so you might wanna get the 1st pint in early

P.S. If your out n about in the centre of Prague (Wenceslas Square, Old Town Square) late at night and any girls try come up and hug you, DONT LET THEM! Theyre Romanian gypsies looking to empty your pockets during the hug. Oh, and definitely try the hotdogs being sold at the many hotdog stands in Wenceslas, theyre beautiful at 5 o clock in the morning

P.P.S. If you're into red-heads and feeling a bit frisky, check out this place (cabaret = strip-club). They have freckles in all the wrong places!

shane86

Thanks, booked her now

Looking at this http://www.rockyoreillys.cz/index_full.html

Point number 6 seems a bit harsh for a bar on a match day Theyd really throw you out on your arse for a bit of a sing song?

Is it hyped or do I really have to be prepared 24/7 to lamp some pickpocket out of it?

Unshelved

Is it hyped or do I really have to be prepared 24/7 to lamp some pickpocket out of it?

It's no worse than Dublin. Having said that, if you're drunk then you're not exactly on your guard and they do tend to pick on you. Same for prostitutes around the Old Town Square/ Wenceslas Square area - be aware of your surroundings and don't keep your cash in your back pocket.

As other posters have said, becuase they're frequented mainly by gullible tourists, Irish bars are a lot more expensive than traditional Czech bars in Prague. Stay there for the match and then go somewhere more local. See www.praguepubs.co.uk for ideas.

There are a LOT of English stag parties around the Old Town Square at weekends. Things can get a bit nasty at times. Just keepyour wits about you and you'll be grand.

beglee

shane86 wrote:

Point number 6 seems a bit harsh for a bar on a match day Theyd really throw you out on your arse for a bit of a sing song?

Is it hyped or do I really have to be prepared 24/7 to lamp some pickpocket out of it?

I doubt theyd say anything about a few football chants etc during a big match, so i wudnt worry too much about that.

Only saw the pickpockets late at night when the girls prey on drunken tourists, but as i say they arent too subtle about it and a gentle hand-off did the trick for me. But if they really do have minders, probably wouldnt wanna be too rough the train station is supposed to be very dodgy for teams of em though, but was never there

One other thing is that you'll be constantly harassed in the evening by "stripper touts" trying to lure you into strip bars around Wenceslas with "free beer" n such, but the ones around there are pricy (even if they are quite enjoyable!), and i blew €250 in em on my first night as id no idea how much i was paying at the time what with all the cheap beer id drank before going in and the mad exchange rate

(however, if you are still inclined to visit a "cabaret", may i recommend "Captain Nemos", nice place, hot women, and they weren't constantly pressuring you to go for private dances. was still pricy tho)