Tours in Czechia

You smell the beer gardens before you see the castle. Prague does that to you, coming up the hill through Malá Strana with the tram bells behind you and the whole city spreading out red-roofed below. Czechia is a small country that packs a strange amount into it: a capital that looks like it was built for postcards, spa towns where people still walk around in robes sipping mineral water, and forests and sandstone country further out that most visitors never bother with.

Prague itself rewards slow walking more than any checklist. The castle complex sits above everything, and the walk down through the Lesser Town, over the statues of Charles Bridge, and into the tangle of Old Town is the walk everyone ends up doing, whether they plan it or not. Old Town Square has the astronomical clock and the crowds that gather for it, Wenceslas Square has the wide boulevard feel, and the Jewish Quarter has a quieter, heavier atmosphere worth sitting with. This is the route our walking tour follows, ending with a beer in hand, and it is a genuinely good way to get your bearings on a first day.

Outside the capital, the country changes pace. Český Krumlov folds around its river bend with a castle above it that feels more like a fairy tale than a fortress. Kutná Hora has the ossuary that unsettles people who thought they were prepared for it. Karlovy Vary and the other spa towns move slower still, all colonnades and thermal water and long walks between them. Moravia, further east, is wine country, with a softer landscape and a different rhythm to its towns.

Beer culture runs through all of it. Pilsner has its roots in Plzeň, dark lagers turn up in small town pubs that have clearly been serving the same crowd for years, and a Czech guide will always know which cellar or garden is worth the detour. If a place or a dish catches your eye that isn't covered here, ask, because a local guide can usually build a day around it.