Travel

Great Hotels of the World: Prague Marriott Hotel Review

GHOTWPre-Christmas Visit to Prague
and Prague Marriott Hotel

www.ghotw.com

Review by Christine Charlesworth

Flight EZY5493 from Gatwick descended through the thick cloud-cover that had been our view of the world all the way to Prague and finally we were able to see countryside for the first time. Except that the countryside was white with ice and snow as we had arrived into a winter wonderland.

The airport is a little way from the main city of Prague, where we were booked to stay at the Prague Marriott Hotel. We had read that taxi transport in Prague can be a little tricky unless booked through a reliable taxi company as some unregulated taxi drivers charge far too much. An alternative is to travel by airport bus to the Metro station and continue the journey via underground, which can be a little daunting. For a first visit to the city I recommend using the shuttle taxi service which you book online (www.prague-airport-transfers.co.uk). We were met by an English-speaking driver, displaying our name on a board, as soon as we reached the arrivals hall. This was a hassle-free way to arrive.

PragueCastle

The drive into the city had some magical moments as we glimpsed the snow topped spires and rooftops of the city, the icicle-festooned overhangs of the old buildings and our first glimpse of Prague Castle, dominating the hill on the West bank and looking down to the wide, meandering river Vltava below. This was a pre-Christmas visit to see the historical places and visit the Christmas markets, so already the city was displaying bright decorations and there was a great Christmas atmosphere.

PragueMarriottExterior

The Prague Marriott Hotel is conveniently placed for visiting all the attractions in the old part of the city. Set on a street that is not too busy, a few steps from the wonderful Municipal House and a further few steps from Old Town Square, one of the ‘must see’ places in Prague. With the cold already turning our noses red we entered the hotel through very large revolving doors and were immediately enveloped in warmth. The entrance hall is very large, with a central staircase leading to an open first floor level sitting area with a balcony looking down to  a large bar area, with comfortable seating. The main reception desk was situated to the right of the entrance doors with a number of friendly members of staff in attendance. We gave our names and after taking details of our passports and details of our credit card we were given our room cards and explanation of the facilities that we were offered. We chose to make our own way up, on the lift, to our room on the fourth floor. The lifts work by inserting your room card into the slot and then punching in the floor number. We did have problems with this at first as we had to remember to always have our room card to hand when using the lift.

Our room was a business suite. This comprised a sitting room with toilet, wardrobe, mini bar, tea & coffee facilities, large desk, sofa and chair, coffee table and large flat-screen TV with multimedia system. The separate bedroom had a super-kingsize bed, large wardrobe space and two chests of drawers, easy chair and large flat-screen TV. There was an en-suite bathroom with toilet, a small bath with a shower above and a large washbasin area with a selection of toiletries. In the sitting room we had been given a welcome dish of fresh fruit and a bottle of Czechoslovakian red wine. The whole suite had individual climate control and we had high-speed internet access. The view from the large windows was down into a central garden area so it was in a very quiet position.

PragueMarriottExecutiveSuite

The hotel is large. It has 293 rooms including two Presidential Suites, 28 Business suites and 5 Bi-Level Suites. The main restaurant is the Midtown Grill and is a traditional American steakhouse. The Lobby Lounge serves light dishes and snacks and evening cocktails. There is also a coffee bar in the entrance lobby. However, because we were Executive Room Guests we were able to have access to the Executive Lounge, which was a great bonus and we used this facility on a number of occasions.

The Executive Lounge is at the top of the hotel, just beside the lift area on the 6th and 7th floors. On the 6th floor area there is a large sitting room with magazines and TV and another area to the back of this room with desktop computers, free internet access and lots of extra seating. Upstairs on the 7th floor an upgraded continental breakfast is served between 6am and 10am. This breakfast also includes self-service hot food from the buffet. There is a kitchen area where machine coffee is served, cold drinks are stored in glass-fronted fridges and bottles of spirits and glasses are on the shelves. Fruit, cakes and biscuits are also available in this area. Alcoholic drinks and snacks are available from 5.30 to 9.30pm and we were pleased and surprised to find that what they call ‘Hors-d’oeuvres’ was in fact a mini-meal on self-service from 5.30 – 7.30pm, which was ideal for us on the evening we went to the theatre as we did not have time for a proper meal. Late evening desserts and drinks are available from 7.30 – 9.30pm. There are lovely views of the city rooftops from the various tables set along this ‘L’ shaped area and a selection of newspapers and magazines are available, together with details of things to see in Prague during your visit. All services in the Executive Lounge are included as part of the Executive package.

PragueMarriottExecutiveLounge

As soon as we had unpacked we wrapped up and went out to explore the city.

Prague is known as the ‘city of 100 spires’ and has some wonderful buildings with dramatic Gothic architecture. We had a selection of maps to follow and a list of places of interest, but our first call was to the famous Old Town Square to see the Christmas market and also view the Astronomical Clock set beneath the Gothic spires of the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn .There was already quite a crowd beneath the clock waiting for the hourly performance. As the hour struck shutters opened above the clock face displaying a large window area through which we saw painted statues of saints moving along, each turning at a certain point to gaze at the crowd. On the outside, beside the clock, a statue of Death was ringing his bell as he inverted his hourglass. Next, we walked round to the many brightly-lit market stalls selling wonderful snacks, hot mulled wine, hand-painted toys and drinking vessels, fur hats and scarves, glass and ceramics and many other colourful items. There was a huge Christmas Tree lighting up the square and a large wooden structure with steps to climb up to view the whole square from a central balcony, where we listened to the choir singing carols before we went down to watch the street performances. It was extremely cold and each time we took off our gloves to check the map we were almost afraid of getting frost-bite, but there was a great Christmas atmosphere.

On our first evening we went to see Marriage of Figaro at the Estates Theatre, just a short walk from the hotel. We loved this intimate theatre with its plush interior and semi circle of boxes 5 rows high surrounding the central stalls. Mozart lived in Prague for a number of years and I found it thrilling to hear that this was the theatre where he conducted the world premier of ‘Don Giovanni’ in October 1787.

Our second day in Prague was our main sightseeing day. We walked down to the stunning, statue-lined, Charles Bridge, which was built in 1357 and gives a broad, cobbled, pedestrian access over the river between Old Town and Prague Castle, high on the hill. The day was still extremely cold but it was no longer snowing and the climb up the hill all the way to the castle soon warmed us up. We had purchased a ‘Prague Card’ which allowed us access to all the buildings on the ‘short tour’ and discounted entry to any other buildings we wanted to see. There is a lot to see and we allowed most of the day visiting these sights before walking back down into the Old Town. It is important to do a little research before you visit so that you know which route to follow to see as much as possible. I recommend a couple of ‘hot chocolate’ or hot wine’ stops on your way round and make sure that you have enough change in your pockets for visits to toilets as you have to pay.

PragueMarket

After a warming bath back at the hotel and a quick change we enjoyed a visit to the Executive lounge for a relaxing aperitif and snack before walking along to the well-known Wenceslas Square. Here we saw the dominating statue of ‘good king Wenceslas’ before taking a stroll along the massive square, which in fact is really a very broad avenue leading down to the statue at one end and with Christmas stalls in the centre ‘park’ area at the other end. We ate at a small restaurant serving typical Czech food. We enjoyed roast pork with dumplings and marinated beef with cream sauce. We drank Czech wine but also enjoyed the Czech beer, which comes in three sizes of glass with the ‘small’ being a normal English size.

A visit to the Old Jewish Cemetery and Jewish Museum is a must see site. Next day we arrived at the cemetery as they opened at 9am so were the only people wandering between the 12,000 gravestones, packed with over 100,000 bodies in a compact space only the size of a few suburban gardens. It was an eerie experience and best experienced without crowds. There are also six important sites to visit in Prague’s former Jewish ghetto, including the very beautiful Spanish Synagogue.

As the Prague Card included a one-hour boat trip we used it as a well-deserved rest and spent our lunch-break looking at Prague from the river, before catching the Metro to Veletrzni Palace a little way out in the neighbourhood of Holesovice. We were so pleased we had made the trip to visit this large art gallery/museum as it houses a fantastic collection of art from avant-garde Czech to works by the European masters. We particularly enjoyed the many rooms filled with 19th and 20th Century French Art and really wished we had more time to spend visiting the other exhibitions.

Late that afternoon we took a quick trip on one of the many trams from just outside the museum to the Metro station, then down into the depths of the city for a trip to the stop closest to Old Town, where we collected our bags from left luggage at the hotel before returning, via Metro and then Airport Bus, to get our evening flight home. All trips on the Metro, Trams and Airport Bus are covered by the Prague Card and transport is easy once you have got used to the system and mastered the names of the stations.

We flew by Easyjet return from Gatwick to Prague.

We were collected from the airport by www.prague-airport-transfers.co.uk at a cost of 450CZK (approx. £13).

The Prague Card is available to buy for 2, 3 or 4 consecutive day visits. We bought a 2 day Adult Prague Card each. This included entry into 50 attractions and discounted entry to 30 others, also free use of all public transport, including the airport express, city tours and boat trips. Online prices are from around £26 to £51 (for more information visit www.praguecard.com).

Executive Suite at the Prague Marriott Hotel 9,645CZK per night including taxes (approx. £274).

Our visit to Prague was cold, but amazing.

The hotel was excellent and, if we had wanted, we could have even bought a Marriott bed and bedding to have at home.

Rating: 5/5 thumbs_up

Prague Marriott Hotel is a member of Great Hotels of the World Luxury Collection. Double rooms start from £75.For more information or to book, please visit www.ghotw.com/prague-marriott-hotel or call 020 7380 3658.

Prague Marriott Hotel, V Celnici 8, Prague1, 110 00, Czech Republic

5Star

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