Today was the first day of travel across Central Europe. I checked out of the hotel and left my bags at the front desk. I would be back after four days for one more night here, before flying back home. I had been researching the best way to move around across cities on my go-to site for train travel seat61.com and I found this awesome option to get from Frankfurt to Prague via Nürnberg and Cheb for only €16 each way and booked it on the Czech Railways website. I walked to the train station to catch the ICE 23 from Frankfurt (Main) Hbf to Nürnberg. I changed to regional train RE 5285 at Nürnberg. The train continued till Cheb and I was officially in Czechia. Here I boarded the Ex 559 for Prague.
| Train / Service | Depart | From | Arrive | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICE 23 | 08:19 | Frankfurt (Main) Hbf | 10:27 | Nürnberg Hbf |
| RE 5285 | 10:37 | Nürnberg Hbf | 12:22 | Cheb |
| Ex 559 | 12:33 | Cheb | 15:31 | Praha hl.n. |
The train journeys were quite comfortable and I reached Prague at around 3:30 PM and exited the station towards the old town. I passed by the Jerusalem Synagogue and saw Henry’s Tower and the Powder Tower on the way.
I walked past the Old Town Square and reached the Charles IV statue. There I joined the Charles Bridge & Prague Castle Free Tour 🔗 at 5:30 PM.
After finishing the tour at Vyhlídka u Černé věže, I walked down the Old Castle Stairs and headed towards the river where saw I the Monument to fallen soldiers during World War II.
It was already dark by then, I saw the Prague Castle and the Petrin Tower all lit up at night.
I crossed the Mánes Bridge and walked back to the train station via the Old Town Square. I went to Burger King there for a quick bite.
After a nice afternoon and evening in Prague it was time for me to continue my journey onward to Kraków. Based on seat61.com I had decided to take the overnight train, a time-effective option which saved a hotel bill and also got me to my next destination. I booked it for €33 on the Czech Railways website.
| Train / Service | Depart | From | Arrive | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EN 443 | 22:19 | Praha hl.n. | 06:38 | Kraków Glowny |
I boarded the train and got to my compartment and waited for my other two cabin mates to arrive. I had been assigned the lower berth. The compartment could be set up to have up to 3 berths and had a small wash basin and mirror. It had some storage place for luggage and also a small rack to hang up clothes. There was a toilet and shower at one end of the coach.
Only one more person had got assigned to this compartment so we both had a little more room to ourselves. The train left on time and the coach attendant offered to make up the middle berth but we didn’t want to sleep right away so we told him we would do that by ourselves. My cabin mate was working in Prague and going home to his family in Kraków for the weekend. After chatting for a while we setup the middle berths and called it a night as our train made its way to Kraków in Poland.
🍽️ Burger King