Product Description

This title presents a full colour Architecture chapter written by Prague resident and culture expert, Mark Baker. It includes coverage of Prague's myriad architectural styles from Romanesque to Modernist with clear directions on where to see them.It includes a new history chapter that focuses on the communist era and the Velvet Revolution (not to mention the Velvet Divorce!). It covers all the hippest bars and clubs. You can discover the 'real' Prague and leave the other tourists behind with our new in-depth coverage of Prague's emerging neighbourhoods (Zizkov, Karlin, Vrsovice, Smichov, Holesovice).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16105 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 292 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Where Paris once led the way as the centre of Europe's bohemian lifestyle, Prague now comes out on top. The fourth edition of Lonely Planet: Prague manages to be both compact and comprehensive and is generally a good introduction to this city where European and North American wannabe poets now hang out.

Although the guide's structure follows the layout used by most books in the Lonely Planet series, there is more of a concentration on cultural issues than is often the case. As well as an illustrated colour guide to the city's memorable architecture, there are detailed sections on themes such as the history of the 1969 student rebellion against the Communists, the famous Karlos Most bridge, Franz Kafka and the vicissitudes of Prague's Jewish community. The sections on history and modern politics are perhaps a little weaker though, with no acknowledgement of the sizeable minority in the Czech Republic who have become disillusioned with Vaclav Havel.

The cultural side of the guide goes together with some hard-nosed advice on how to avoid scams in Prague's restaurants and foreign exchange bureaux. Only occasionally does the imperative of cost become a handicap, as when the authors make the inaccurate assertion that, when visiting Prague's "old-new synagogue", there is no need to rent the cheap yamulkahs as a bandanna will do. Still, this will be a very useful practical guide for anyone visiting Prague, with thorough accommodation and eating tips, colour photographs and some detailed and very well-researched maps. --Toby Green

Customer Reviews

Very helpful and thorough guide book
We took this to Prague and found that it had everything we needed in it - the map section is very extensive and there are countless handy hints contained within it as well as a small vocabulary section with all the basics. On the one occasion that we went out without it we were completely lost. I would advise people to take the tram maps with a pinch of salt as we found them misleading - still, if you check the details in the book against the timetable at the tram stop while you're waiting you won't go far wrong. I think the book does encourage over-cautiousness - reading the book beforehand I was convinced the country was full of theives and rip-off merchants, which didn't seem to be the case at all. Prague itself is the most wonderful place I have ever been.

An excellent travel companion to Prague
Lonely Planet at its best, this book provides a good guide to Prague making it easy to find the main sites in Prague with a useful bit of history thrown in. The maps at the back are very good and I found this to be an invaluable guide on my trip. The warnings about pickpockets and cheating taxi drivers may be out of date as I suspect the authorities have got it under control a bit, as I saw neither of these. I did find my hotel to be right in the middle of the red light district but that’s another story (and yes, it turns out the book knew about that as well!!)

I would recommend this book for both a short trip (couple of days) or a longer stay there.

Great
Ive just come back from my 2nd trip to Prague, and this time i never left the room without it. Actually, i did just once, and we got a little lost. The maps at the back are acurate, and indispensible. The guides to places to eat, stay and see make it really easy to get around. We also found that if we stuck to places to eat that the book suggested, we would get good food/service. but when we went to resturants by chance we got ripped off big style.

Ive also got the Rough Guide to Prague, and this one beats it hands down. The information for out of town trips was also very good, and correct on train times/fares etc