My boyfriend took me to Prague in June – it was my birthday and Christmas present rolled into one. We spent 6 wonderful nights in the Prague Hilton, which was an amazing 5 star hotel just slightly out of the city centre but within walking distance to anywhere.

I can’t really comment much about booking flights or hotels as this was all done for me and as it was a present l don’t know anything about costs either. But in the travel sections of Sunday Telegraph and Times l often see very reasonable deals for 3 nights plus breaks. Also obviously the web is an excellent place to search for deals and the usual sites like lastminute.com or ebookers.com should be well able to point in the direction of this fabulous city.

Prague is the capital city of the relatively small Czech Republic, which lies in the heart of Europe, neighbouring with Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland. If like us you are travelling from Europe you needed worry about visas. The majority of locals spoke English, which was a Godsend as Paul, and l spoke zilch Czech and our attempts to do so with the help of our guidebook were pathetic to say the least!

At present currency is the Crown but a recent referendum say the people of Czech Republic voting yes to join the EU so watch out for the Euro becoming legal tender in the not too distant future.

There are the 3 main forms of public transport in Prague – Metro, Trams and Buses. To be honest the only one l can speak with any knowledge on was the metro as that is the transport we deemed to be the most accessible and easy to use. Friends of mine when visiting the city a few years back favoured the trams. The metros arrive around 2-4 minutes between one another during peak hours and perhaps 10 mins during off peak times. Operation times are between 5am and 12pm. A tourist ticket valid for 7 days is approximately 250 KC and well worth the buy.

Prague has become very Westernised and so to the prices (although getting a pint of the fabulous Czech beer for around 80p is possible!). There is meals to suit any plate, and if you favour McDonalds or Pizza Hut fear not these too are available. Our hotel provided us with an excellent booklet breaking down all the available restaurants in the city into cuisine type, with an honest opinion of each. We found this our nightly bible and our only problem being not knowing which one to choose for our evening meal!! There was a rather good Thai called Orange Moon which l would recommend (Rámová 5, Staré Město, Prague 1 (2232 5119 / www.orangemoon.cz). Metro Náměstí Republiky/ 5, 8, 14 tram. Open 11.30am-11.30pm daily. Main courses 180-350 Kč. Credit AmEx, MC, V. ), the only downside for me was an obnoxious American who seemed to want the entire restaurant to know about his love life, and the staff who although efficient were not what l would call friendly. We booked the restaurant although it was not required.
Sites such as Time Out etc will recommend restaurants to you also.
I can do no more than to recommend beer in Prague they are indeed the original masters of brewing and if you come across makes such as Pilsner Urquell, Radegast, Staropramen and Gambrinus on your menu sample them. There is also the light and dark beer – both equally as good – give them a sample. Generally speaking you should pay no more than £1 for a pint.

I much preferred old town square to that of the commercial uninspiring Wenceslas Square. The surrounding architecture and ambience is much more pleasant and the winding streets leading off the square are a veritable maze and wonderful little shops are to be found – including a delightful and delicious ice cream shop with an amazing pistachio ice cream – mmmmmm! Beside the Old Town Hal, which is home to the much acclaimed Astronomical Clock (tip – try and visit on the hour to see the clock chime! We kept missing it!) and the Church of Our Lady before Tyn the square has several other buildings dominating its skyline including: the baroque St. Nicholas church, Kinsky palace housing the National Gallery graphic collection, the Stone Bell house - a gothic city palace from the 14th century - now the Municipal Gallery concert and exhibition rooms, and the Memorial to Jan Hus.