Pension Vltava offers a fine stay as it is reliable for really cheap, really basic and very clean rooms. It is great to know about for very cheap breaks to see the city or see a concert, and flying visits when you haven't booked anywhere.

It's also good if you need to to save money and have a private room if you are just passing through the city and need a place you can rely on for a cheap room which is clean.

This guest house happens to have a tiny coffee shop and bar which stays open all night every night and is really cheap. You can relax with tea or coffee, beers, wine, cognacs or becherovkas back in your room at any time.

I recommend this place. I have nearly always got a room when enquiring on the same day (it is a quite a large guest house). The price is around £11 to £14 for a room for one person per night with very clean common shower and loo.

For those who don't know the city and especially for those to whom the central places are familiar, for the lowest budget place to stay the guest house is ideally placed. It is around eight to ten minutes on a tram from near the guest house to central areas. Around it are a few interesting bars and cafes. There aren't very many tourists around here though the area is quite nice and fresh if you know Prague, except backpackers and younger travellers are noticeable as Sir Toby's travel hostel, Extoll Inn, a few other guest houses and a Czech H.I. travel hostel are around here.

The river where it bends is just over five minutes walk away and it is a pleasant walk into the centre along the riverside from near Pension Vltava. Set aside a couple of hours for a great walk across the river, away from the city, to a leafy part on the outskirts of the city, to the Trojska Chateau gallery and courtyard cafe in summer, Prague Zoo and the lovely Botanic Gardens.

It is ideal to walk here, if you have the time, and better than taking a tram, though you can eaily go by tram. Either way, it is a quiet part of the city which is lovely and I really recommend it.

A good walk away of over ten minutes is the nice Cafe Lisbon on the main riverfront road, which has characteristic pizzas especially and is good for drinking at. Just over ten minutes in the opposite direction, toward Stromovka park, is the Absolut Hotel which has an unpretentious and quite minimalist, pleasant bar and restaurant. The Mecca Music Club is a few minutes walk from the guest house. Not far, good food at a good price in the restaurant of Hotel Henry, U Papírny.

www.pensionvltava.o1.cz

(Web site in Czech, with photos and readable contact details and map)

Dělnická 35
Praha 7, 17000

Phone: +420 220 809 795
Email: josefrandak@tiscali.cz

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This is the best Argentinean steak house I've ever been to! The food was unbelievable and the atmosphere amazing. Salsa dancers appeared mid-meal and a band entertained us in the bar afterwards. Mojitos all round!

www.lacasaargentina.cz/

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A beautiful art nouveau bar with traditional, hearty, Czech food. Try the moravsky hrabec, a dish of diced pork and onions, which comes with both bread and potato dumplings and red and white sauerkraut. Of course all this wonderful Bohemian fair needs washing down, this bar is owned by the Pilsner Urquell brewery and sells beer by the litre .
It was busy on the Wednesday night we went, but we had no trouble finding a table in the cellar bar, which turns into a dance club later on. This bar attracts plenty of locals, which is always a good sign, the staff are also very friendly, not always a Prague strong point. Wonderful!

Junction of Kolkovne and Vezenska,opposite The Spanish Synogogue; nearest metro: Staromestska

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Great bustling atmosphere as good as you would expect in Paris or other more 'sophisticated' cities. OK, it may not be traditionally Czech but its a great place to go after a hard days sightseeing for a drink and something to eat. Clientele is approx 75% Czech, which is always a good sign. Try the soft boiled eggs served in a glass - you will think you have ordered a cocktail when it arrives, it is so beautifully presented.

Vitezna 5, Praha 5; tel: 420 257 311 562;
Right next to the Vlatava River

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An open-air cocktail bar with patio heaters in the winter (when we visited), on top of the U Princ hotel in the Old Town Square. Go at night, when the whole of Progue is lit up around you.

Opposite the astonomical clock in the Old Town Square

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Cheesy bar, very famous, but there's few better places to drink in Europe, let alone Prague.

Novotneho Lavka 1, Old Town, Prague 1

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It is worth walking to Vinohrady to eat or go for a drink - there are a number of great bars and restaurants that aren't as crowded by tourists. They're also a lot cheaper than bars or restaurants in Staromestske or Wenceslas square.

From Wenceslas square go toward the museum, then bear right. or get the trams/tube to nam. miru or IP Pavlova.

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Lovely Pontoon bar with rental pedalos next door - great place to spend an afternoon...

On the river side of the island just below the National Theatre...

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The best selection of cocktails I have ever seen, and a great intimate setting.

V kolkovnì 3, 110 00 Praha 1; Tel: +420 224 811 165; Fax: +420 257 771 366

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As the name suggests, it is a club, but also has a bar and meal facilities. The main thing is the 15th century vault where there are concerts on a tiny stage. I heard Lubos Andrst Blues Band in April, and it was simply divine. It is right in the centre of Prague, right behind the Old Town Square. Brilliant night out with good Czech beer and brilliant music.

Tyn 2, Tynska Ulicka, Praha 1; ungelt@jazzblues.cz; www.jazzblues.cz

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A cocktail bar with a vast range of over 200 cocktails and with friendly and knowledgable staff.

Parizska 10

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Part of a pub/bar chain run by Pilsner Urquell. I believe their are three or four situated throughout Prague, the best in my opinion being Celnice (near the Obneci Dum) and Olympia (on the other side of the river). Though they look very plush, the food is great value and delicious. The beer, naturally is divine and very reasonable considering the location of the pubs.

V kolkovnì 8, 110 00 Praha 1; Tel: +420 224 819 701

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Ornate,art nouveau hotel- excellent value for a cake and a drink and fabulous, if slightly worn surroundings- real character and a welcome break from all that walking and absorbing the sights!

Wenceslas Square- central prague you can get there by tram- the best way to travel around Prague.

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If you like cocktails and good vegetarian food, this is the place to go. There's a cafe, cool bar and night club all in the same place.

Belehradska 120, vinohrady; metro I.P.Pavlova

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'Práce' means work. The only work you'll do here is of the drinking kind. Not the easiest to find, but nothing is with a skinful of Star and Absinth. Table football that no-one seems to mind you slamming your hands on in frustration. Bar staff don't seem to talk but maybe we just couldn;t understand. Mostly a blur. Which is good.

Kamenická 9, Prague 7

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Great pub, popular with students, young crowd. Beer garden out back. Stock Czech menu, so smazeny syr, hranolky a tatarka (fried cheese, chips, tartare sauce) is good stuff. Some other good bars in the area, too, including Akropolis club and not far to walk to see the radio/TV tower with statues of babies crawling up it.

Bořivojova 110, Prague 3 Trams 5, 9, 26, 55 and 58 (stop Husinecká).

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You'll find it in any guide book. Get there at 2.45 pm or earlier to queue on any day. It opens at about 3.05 and you file in dutifully.

Husova 17. About 10 mins walk from Charles Bridge sort of on the way to the Old Town Square

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Classic beer place in a cellar. Get away from the hordes of tourists. The place is actually two pubs, one upstairs, one downstairs. The downstairs one is the gem. Lovely beer, classic Czech food (full of cholesterol and stodge, but tasty) and the obligatory surly waiters. In the evenings you probably have to reserve. If there's just a couple of you, it's generally no problem to just ask people at a not totally occupied table if they can budge up. Drink: beer, maybe a Fernet to finish off. Food: Vepro knedlo zelo (roast pork, duplings, sauerkraut) or smazeny syr, hranolky a tatarka (fried cheese, chips and tartare sauce)

Pivnice U Rudolfina: Krizovnicka 10, a couple of blocks south of the Rudolfinum concert hall/exhibition space

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The bar where the coolest contemporary Czech Film (by THE Czech director and THE Czech actor) was filmed, reasonably priced drink, relatively varied food and relatively unsmokey, the best bar I found in eighteen months of living there.

Come out of Staromestka metro, turn right then left then right, follow the left pavement until you come to a fence, follow that round the corner and you're there.

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This is an internet cafe on the steps leading up (past the British Embassy) to the castle. Run by an English chap and his Czech wife, it's a great place for a swift beer/coffee whilst getting internet access.

Thunovska 21/195, Praha 1 - Mala Strana www.cizi.cz/ruze.php

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