Jewish Prague Informational site
Cesky Krumlov
A UNESCO protected city with a fantastic castle and renaissance feel. Nearby is the castle of Hluboka which was modeled on Windsor and contains a lot of the Hapsburgs better collections (2,5 hours by car).
Lake Lipno
On the Austrian/German borders this is a small lake in South Bohemia for swimming, sailing and biking. There are great marked trails for both hiking and biking and maps are available ubiquitously. (3 hours by car)
Karlovy Vary
This is the spa town of Kings and famous composers and so on. Amazing architecture and the spa is cool, but needs to be prebooked with a hotel or with an agent. One of the better golf courses is out here. (2 hours by car)
Marianske lazne
This is a lesser known spa town, but I actually like it better as it is quieter and the services are more accessible. Also great architecture and a golf course out here. (2 hours by car)
Karlstejn
Near to Prague, this was Charles IV summer house. It is pretty imposing and there is a 30 minute tour in English which is good. Nearby are restaurants which are not bad and there is a swimming hole called Amerika which is illegal, but offers perfectly clear water from a dug out rock mining site. Also there is a golf course nearby which is well known. (45 min by car)
Konopiste
This is on the road to Vienna and is definitely worth seeing. Franz Ferdinand lived here and before he was bagged in Serbia setting off WWI, he killed literally every animal within shooting distance of the castle. Interiors are quite cool. (1 hour by car)
Olomouc
This is a college town in Moravia that is about an hour from Brno. The architecture is cool and it is worth an hour or two to check out the square and surrounds. (3 hours by car)
Terezin
Terezin (Terezienstadt) - "Family" concentration camp from the 2nd World war. A fortress town built by the Austrians initially against Napoleon’s army, but later used to house Franz Ferdinand’s assassin after the start of WW1.
Terezin is most known as Hitler’s benevolent concentration camp, which was used as propaganda in films and actually received a stamp of approval by the Red Cross.
There is a good museum here that details the actual horrors that took place here, as well as the cultural and artistic contributions of its inmates.
Kolin and Kutna hora
Kolin city has a very nice synagogue and Jewish cemetery, interesting Jewish history.
Kutna hora a city near by kolin and there are ancient silver mines, which are open to public visits.
Boskovice and Mikulov
Ancient Jewish ghettoes in Moravia (eastern part of Czech republic). Mikulov city is the same for Moravia what is Jewish Prague to Bohemia. There is very rich Jewish history with many famous rabbanim - for example rabbi Yehuda Low - Maharal.
Bratislava
The capital city of Slovakia and also a city with old Jewish history. For example Chatam sofer is burried there. It is very close to Austria, so you can combine the trip to Bratislava with trip to Wien and also Boskovice and Mikulov.
Karlovy Vary
Spa city with beautiful architecture, city of healing mineral waters, surrounded by nature. City of Czech crystal glass Moser. There have been two Zionist congresses before the WW2nd.
Amadeus Mozart, Sigmund Freud, Johan Sebastian Bach and many many other famous names are connected to this city.
Plzen city
City of Czech beer and also of big Jewish community in the past. There is huge and beautiful synagogue, which underwent very expensive reconstruction. Open to public visits.
Plzen is one of the most important cities in the western Bohemia and you can visit the interesting places on your way to Germany or to Carlsbad or Marienbad.
Other castles
There are some great castles and fortresses all around the country, thousands. Basically any direction you head, takes you by some of them and they are open usually 9-5 PM.
Some favorites I have are Bezdez, Okor, Hluboka, Krumlov castle, Kromeriz (with the gardens), Valtice and Cervena Lhota.
Of course there is a lot to see in the major capitals of Europe, but you can have a great vacation in the Central European region as well without traveling too much and seeing a whole lot along the way. Here are some of the cities nearby, which I like, and outside of Czech with distances by car.
- Budapest (6 hours)
- Vienna (4 hours)
- Salzburg (5.5 hours) – also the Alps are 30 minutes from there.
- Berlin (6 hours)
- Munich (4,5 hours)
- Krakow (6-7 hours) – Auschwitz is nearby as well as the mountain village of Zakopan, which has nice touring. Schindler’s list was filmed in Krakow and Schindler’s factory is still there.
- Nuremburg (4 hours)
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