itinerary: czech republic - 9 days

here is a tried and tested itinerary for a solo female traveler to the czech republic:

Day 1
leave usa

Day 2
arrive in prague -- DO NOT NAP

go to tesco to buy water and snackies
Tesco Department Store, Narodni 26, New Town; Metro: Narodni Trida (Line B)

pm:
Old Town Square:
* astronomical clock - go when the clock strikes to watch the mechanical statues
* monument to Jan Hus
* St James Church

pm: join an old town pub walk tour (includes dinner/drinks and clubbing) lots to choose from under the clock tower (i used praguer.com)

Day 3
am: brekky

am/pm: check out charles bridge, cross charles bridge to mala strana and explore prague castle
* go on the hour to watch the changing of the guard at prague castle

pm: dinner at kampa park
bar hop in mala strana/josefov

Day 4
am: brekky and head out to bus station for overnight trip to karlovy vary

here are some useful directions i found while trolling the net to get to the bus station called florenc to catch the bus to karlovy vary:

Getting on Bus – Florenc (Floor-rents)

Prague's main bus station, Central Bus Station -- Florenc, Krizíkova 5, Praha 8 (for bus connections information call tel. 12999), is above the Florenc metro stop (line C). Unfortunately, few employees speak English here, making it a bit tricky for non-Czech speakers to obtain schedule information. To find your bus, you can try the large boards just next to the office where all buses are listed. They're in alphabetical order, but sometimes it's tough to find your destination since it may lie in the middle of a route to another place. If you have some time before you depart Prague, your best bet for bus information and tickets is to visit Cedok, Na Príkope 18, Praha 1 (tel. 800-112-112 or 224-197-111; www.cedok.cz), open Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm.

From Prague you can reach to Karlovy Vray by bus. There are about 8 busses a day but not all of them are express and so the 2,5 hours ride can stretch to 5 hours. You can get the information about the bus times from the Prague bus station or Internet (don't know the link at the moment) or ask your hotel receptionist to give you a hand on this. The timetables on the wall are a bit of a hassle because these are written only in Czech and you should pay attention to the fact that timetables vary according to the weekdays and holidays etc. To be safe just ask from the information. In some cases the ticket can be bought beforehand and you can make a place reservation, on some cases the driver will sell the tickets on the bus (that info can also be obtained from the information desk). If I remember correctly I paid 130 CZK for one-way ticket (or was it return?)

Route to the Bus Station
As you exit the metro carriage you follow the signs for "bus". As you exit the metro station doors, turn right and take the sign for "Zizkov-Bus-Centrum". You go down into the underpass with a couple of bars and you come up onto the street. About 20 metres down the road there is an entry on the right. As you go in you'll find the ticket offices. There are about 6 or 7 different companies selling tickets for various routes. Apart from CSAD, the major CZ-UK carriers are Eurolines and Capital Express. The other main CZ carrier is Student Agency.

Once you have bought your ticket you keep going down the corridor and up the steps into the bus parking area. At this point, on your left will be a ATM (CSOB Bank) and a small shop. In front of you is the overhead walkway to the far stands (London-Prague routes). On your right is the Student Agency stop and at the far end is the open air Vietnamese market.

Outside the station
As you exit the metro station main door the first thing to see is the non-stop "Royal" bar. If you exit to the left you'll find a florist (Summer only), a supermarket (0700-1900) and an ATM to the left of the supermarket entry. The main trams passing the station during the day are 8 and 24. At night there are the 52 and 55. If you walk around the side to the left you find another ticket office buried in the corner opposite the clock (you can buy 3 and 7 day passes here. Opposite the main entry is a small beer garden. If you exited the main doors and turned right i.e. following the "Zizkov-bus-centrum" sign into the underpass, you'll find the supervised toilet facilities (0700-2100).

am: check in hotel at karlovy vary
walk around and explore all the different mineral springs and the hotel grand pupp

pm: SPA for at least 4 hours
i tried Spa - Zámecké lázně (Castle Spa) (http://english.edenhotels.cz/prices-castlespa.php)

pm: dinner anywhere (just not go to a thai restaurant, not very good)
drinks at hotel bar - karlovy vary is kinda boring at night

Day 5
am: brekky early to catch bus to plzen

pm: arrive plzen
cross town to go to the pilsner urquell brewery for lunch at the restaurant there (na spilce - good pork chops) and sign up for a brewery tour
*** you can walk or trolley or cab it from bus station across town to brewery/train station
*** store luggage at train station, which is 1/2 mile from the pilsner urquell brewery

late pm: catch train to ceske budejovice
see ceske budejovice's main square at night for sights and dinner/drinks

Day 6
am: brekky
am/pm: go to cesky krumlov and explore
pm: back to ceske budejovice and go on a budvar/budweiser (the czech, not american, kind) brewery tour
go on a side trip to hluboka
back to ceske budejovice for dinner/drinks

Day 7
am: early brekky and catch bus back to prague

pm: lunch
- Josefov (Jewish Ghetto)
- On the way to Wenceslas Square: The plaque is inside on the left and commemorates the Nov 17th demonstrations that eventually ended with the Velvet Revolution.
- Wenceslas Square (Václavské Námestí)
- Communist Museum on Na Prikope
- Zizkov TV Tower (Panoramic views of Prague) [Nearest Train Station Jiriho Z Podebrad (Line A)]
- explore zizkov

dinner/drinks in josefov (now a hip part of town)

also, check out Zhlato Tygra, Husova 17, a tiny bar where vaclav havel took bill clinton for a beer when billy jeff was in town

Day 8
am: brekky

am/pm: cross charles bridge to go up petrin hill (you can take the furnicular or walk up the steps)
kampa island
frank gehry's dancing house a.k.a. fred and ginger house
municipal house
powder tower
namesti republicky

pm: shopping for glassware - go to kotva department store on namesti republiky

pm: early dinner/drinks for flight back home

Day 9
fly back home

bon voyage!!!