Two days in November in one of these cities, limited budget. Which would you pick?

I would pick Prague, it's a beautiful city. Cheaper too.
Can recommend inexpensive hotels or hostels.
If have a limited budget stay away from the tourist traps in the center of the city!!!!!!!!

Having spent a lot of days in each city, Prague is the far greater value and much more pleasant for a short stay, in my opinion. My spouse and young adult daughters also agree.

^ I was leaning towards Prague anyway. Frank (or anyone else), I would love some recommendations on inexpensive hotels and other things to do. I think we will probably end up spending our days just walking around, wandering through the city (pretty much our favorite vacation modus operandi) but if there's something we shouldn't miss, I'd love to hear about it.

Kind of random, but what's the local food like? Any specialties I should be sure to try?

Here's a link http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ghlight=prague to a post I made in this Forum a few months ago with some ideas... For budget stays, you might do a seach to check prices at the IBIS hotels in Prague.

I did Praha and Berlin on one trip. Prague has much better atmosphere, and at a fraction of the price.

I highly recommend: get Rick Steves Prague book and read it. It will help you make the most of your time and money.

If you are not looking for more than a 1/10 star hotel, for 1. Location and 2. Price, the best place to stay is in jail.

I took Ricks recommendation and stayed at one of cheapest places I have ever been in anywhere, and it was one of the best. I'll have to look it up and send info in another post. They now have the words "hostel" in the name, but it is not a regular hostel, just basement rooms with 3 foot thick walls and the WC down the hall. For the last 50 years, it was the jail for the communist secret police, where persons with the "wrong-think" disappeared to. Still got the steel cell doors. The Czech president was a guest there once, I think in room 6. It was built 500 years ago as a convent. The nuns stayed there voluntarily--no doors needed to lock them in.

The same people run nicer rooms upstairs, and they have a modern high rise hotel on the next block if you have even a higher budget.

Great atmosphere. Great location. Great price. Next to a subway station. And a half block from the place that serves the REAL Budwiser on tap--warning, this is the best beer in the world and it will spoil you. Actually it will make you quit drinking any beer available in the US. After you have tried the best, everything else is so third rate that you will give up beer until your next trip to Prague.

The Hotel, I believe, is the Cloister Inn... http://www.hotelsprague.cz/cloister/ I stayed there with my then 16 year old daughter for 5 days in June, 2004 when filming of the movie "Everything is Illuminated" http://wip.warnerbros.com/everythingisilluminated/ started in Prague... The movie is set in the Ukraine, but actual filming took place in and around Prague.

The Cloister Inn was a decent hotel with a great breakfast. The place was the Secret Police Hdqtrs during the commie years. Next door & down the street is the Hostel, located in a building which also housed some of the commie jail cells. I don't recall the name of the Hostel.

Czech food always makes me feel I've stepped right into a Medieval banquet. Expect lots of meat and game, fresh vegetables are scarce. You should certainly try goose, boar, duck, rabbit, smoked pork, goulasch cooked in beer and anything with mushrooms, especially the soups. Good inexpensive places are U Sveti Tomase, U Vladare, U Medviku, U Laury.

Czech beer is the best you can find in the world (and I've travelled a lot) and cheaper than water.

Definitely recommend Prague. Good walking town. Lots to see. Take in a concert somewhere - excellent classical music everywhere. Good food and fantastic beer. Sit at a sidewalk cafe in Old Town Square and jsut sip away at a few beers under the umbrellas near the heaters. You'll be plenty comfortable, enjoy some great beer, and get in some good people/scenery watching.

I was planning to do an Eastern Europe tour for this past summer but fell in love with the Czech Republic and just wandered around that country for about 3 weeks. Prague is great and it is one of my favorite cities that I have ever visited. You will love it. Hear are some friendly tips:

-Avoid Old Town Square and the Prague Castle area except for maybe a day of sight-seeing. Prices are much more expensive there.
-Check out the Prague public transport instead of cabs, it is much cheaper and very easy to use. Dont forget to validate your tickets, there are lots of ticket inspectors.
-If you are paying more than 30Kc for beer at a restaurant or bar you are getting ripped off. And anything over 25Kc better be Pilsner Urquell.
-If you need to go to a grocery store I really reccomend Delvita. It's dirt-cheap and has an assortment of wines and gourmet food along with the regular grocery items.

Feel free to PM me on anything you want to know about Prague or Czech Republic in general. Learning a few words of Czech can only help you and the locals really appreciate your effort.

Czech language site

Absolutely Prague. My grandparents came from Praha and it was such a joy to see the city for the first time a few year's ago. The architecture is unbelievable - a new vista at the turn of almost every corner. Having said that, Berlin is not a bad city to visit. There is much to do including an incredible free 3 hour walking tour. Yes, I said free! BTW, although Pilsner is more well known, try the Krusovice!

I dont think I had a bad beer the entire time I was there. I tried some really inexpensive ones like Zlatopramen (9 Kc) and Eggenberg (6 Kc). They were both great beers and they beat the heck out of beer back home. I also recommend trying the real Budweiser, the one the Czechs make. That one should be the real "King of the Beers".