Czech Republic

Czech Republic - Visitors have been pouring in and revelling in the accessibility of this top tourist destination since things changed with a thump in 1989. Veteran travellers, meanwhile, are often heard lamenting about not having Prague to themselves anymore. But the Czech Republic is still all things to all people. While Prague literally shakes with excitement, almost everything outside the crazy town is still off the beaten tourist track and unspoiled. Who could complain?

Environment - Adjoining Austria, Germany, Poland and the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic consists of Bohemia in the west and Moravia in the east. Within Moravia is a small southern part of the historical region called Silesia, the rest of which is in present-day Poland. Prague, the capital of both the Czech Republic and Bohemia, sits aside the Vltava River about 30 km above its junction with the Labe River. The Czech Republic has a beautiful and diverse landscape with plenty of mountains, gentle highlands, lowlands, caves, canyons, broad fields, bogs, lakes, ponds and dams. Unfortunately, the further north you go, the worse the appalling air pollution and high-altitude acid-rain damage gets, the belated pay-back for unregulated industrialisation since the 19th century.

Culture - The Czech are a plain-spoken, even-tempered people, revealing a spectrum of cultural, religious and political influences that is surprisingly broad for such a small country - German to Polish and Hungarian, liberal to deeply traditional, global-thinking to fiercely nationalistic. The largest church is the Roman Catholic Church, though in 1991 fewer than 40% of Czechs called themselves Catholics, and even fewer attend church regularly. The next largest church is the Hussite Church and there are numerous other Protestant denominations, the largest being the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren. Prague has the largest Jewish community in the republic, with about 6000 members; smaller enclaves are in Ostrava and Brno.

Events - Practically every day is a saint's day in the Czech Republic, and 'special days', festivals and public holidays are widely acknowledged. On 30 April in Prague, the Czech version of Walpurgisnacht, Paleni Carodejnic (Burning of the Witches) is a pre-Christian festival for warding off evil. Politically incorrect witch burning is now replaced by all-night, bonfire parties on Kampa Island and suburban backyards. High culture follows for the remainder of the year with the Prazske jaro (Prague Spring) International Music Festival in April and May, the Prague International Book Fair also in May and the Mozart Festival in September. The Christmas-New Year season closes the year quietly for most of the Czech Republic but Prague is overcome with tourist revelry during a fast and furious holiday season.

Attractions: 

Kutna Hora - It's hard to imagine today, but in its time this town about 65 km east-south-east of Prague was Bohemia's most important after Prague. This was due to the rich veins of silver below the town itself, and the silver groschen minted here was the hard currency of central Europe at the time. Today the town is a fraction of its old self, but is still dressed up in enough magnificent architectural monuments for it to have been added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1996. With a pastel-hued square dotted with cafés, medieval alleys with facades from Gothic to Cubist, and a cathedral to rival St Vitus, comparisons with Prague are hard to resist. Kutna Hora is certainly as densely picturesque as Prague, and blessed with warmer people and lower prices.

Krivoklat - is a drowsy village beside the Rakovnicky potok, a tributary of the Berounka River. Half the pleasure of going to Krivoklat is getting there - by train up the wooded Berounka valley, dotted with bungalows and hemmed in by limestone bluffs. Krivoklat Castle was built in the late 13th century as a royal hunting lodge, and contains an exemplary late-Gothic chapel, impressive halls and the requisite prison and torture chambers. There's no hunting in Krivoklat anymore, as much of the upper Berounka basin, one of Bohemia's most pristine forests, is now the Krivoklat Protected Landscape Region and a UNESCO 'biosphere preservation' area. 

Moravian Karst - If it's picture-postcard views you're after, the Moravian Karst is a beautiful heavily wooded hilly area north of Brno, carved with canyons and honeycombed with some 400 caves, created by the underground Punkva River. At Punkevni, groups of 75 people are admitted to the caves every 20 minutes. You walk one km through the deepest caves, admiring the stalactites and stalagmites, ending up at the foot of the Macocha Abyss. There you board a small boat for a 400-metre ride down the Punkva River out of the cave. Other caves to be visited in this area include Katerinska, Balcarka and Sloupsko-Sosuvske. Traces of prehistoric humans have been found in the caves. 

Moravske Slovacko Region - For more folk art than you can imagine, visit Moravske Slovacko, one of central Europe's richest surviving repositories of traditional folk culture, and one of the most delightful places to stay in the republic. The region's special flavour arises not only from a mild climate (incidentally, perfect for the production of the republic's best wine!) but also from the character and temperament of the people - friendly, easy-going and full of life. 

Sumava - For large, tranquil forests, largely unpolluted and undamaged by acid rain, you can't go past the Sumava Mountains, stretching for about 125 km along the border with Austria and Germany. Although only one small patch, the Boubin Virgin Forest, is regarded as completely untouched, the Sumava's pristine state still makes it a unique asset. The only wildlife left behind by past hunting are birds, though deer have been re-introduced. Wildflowers abound throughout the range. 

Telc - This charming 13th-century town in South Moravia was originally founded as a settlement around a Romanesque church. During its rule by the lords of Hradec, from 1339 until the end of their line in 1604, a castle and ponds were built, and after a huge fire in 1530 most of the town's houses were rebuilt in Renaissance style. This architectural unity probably contributed to UNESCO's decision to add the little town (population 6000) to its world heritage list.

Mikulov - Picturesque but totally underrated, Mikulov and its castle sit precariously on a hill in the centre of the flat wine-growing region of Palava, a UNESCO-designated biospheric reservation. One of South Moravia's highlights, Mikulov has some very impressive monuments, but it should come as no surprise that Mikulov is most popular for its excellent white wines. It's very close to the border with Austria and is a perfect stop-off to or from Vienna. 

Zlata Koruna - At little Zlata Koruna above the Vlata you'll find one of the country's best preserved Gothic structures - a Cistercian Monastery, founded in 1263 by Premysl Otakar II to demonstrate his power in the region. The village's main square is actually built inside the monastery. Originally called the Saintly Crown of Thorns, in later wealthier days the monastery was renamed the Gold Crown. In 1420 it was damaged by the Hussites, and later restored. The Monastery Cathedral, completed at the end of the 13th century, is clearly Gothic despite its facelift. 

Activities - The Czech Republic's rolling hills and low mountains are perfect for hearty hiking, especially in the Sumava of western and southern Bohemia and the Krkonose mountains in eastern Bohemia. Climbers should head to the Sandstone Rocks of the Labe in northern Bohemia and cavers should check out the Moravian Karst area north of Brno. The prime boating river is the scenic but unfortunately polluted Sazava.

Downhill skiing is plentiful and popular in the Czech Republic though facilities are not up to Western European standards and queues are long. Hired gear is generally of poor quality, so it's best to bring your own equipment. The country's best downhill skiing can be found at Spindleruv mlyn in the Krkonose between January and early April: Sumava has the best cross-country skiing trails.

Getting There & Away - Scheduled international flights arrive only at the capital, Prague, which is connected worldwide by at least two dozen international carriers, including CSA (Ceske aerolinie), the old state-run airline. Buying tickets in the republic won't save you much money, so if you're only going to the one destination, take advantage of the lower cost of a return (round-trip) ticket bought at home. Alternatively, consider arriving by train, as it's the easiest (if not the cheapest) way to get from Western Europe to the Czech Republic. There are some 18 rail crossings into the republic. By road, visitors can enter the republic at over 30 points, and the list is growing all the time.

Getting Around - Internal flights are available within the Czech Republic, with regular connections between Prague-Ostrava and Prague-Brno. Czech Railways provides clean, efficient train service to almost every part of the country, though express buses are often faster and more convenient than the train. Buses are more expensive, but, by European standards, both are cheap. Car, motorbike and bicycle are ideal ways to see the republic, and, in Prague, feet, trams and the metro are the best ways to get around.