SUPERCOOL PRAGUE
It’s the capital of the Czech Republic and the capital of cool: we put Prague’s best spots to the freezer test
BY CHARLIE DAWSON
Prague may be a historically interesting and beautiful city, but there’s nothing traditional about its scene. This is the home of the world’s only cubist streetlamp, where sculpture babies climb up the side of its TV tower and where Angelina flew Brad over to join her on the Wanted set and dined at Svatá Kláva, a restaurant in a converted cave.
This winter its so-right-now status was confirmed with the opening of the latest Buddha Bar Hotel (www.buddha-bar-hotel.cz). Already newsworthy in New York, Paris, Dubai and Beirut, it’s the kind of opulent den you bunk down in knowing that Madonna, Sharon Stone, George Clooney, Kate Moss and David Beckham have already signed the visitor’s book. The roll-top baths even have flaming Oriental dragons on their sides to remind you that you’re a legend.
So, with everything going for it and when every hour is beer and strudel o’clock, here are the best places to chill out…
HOT AIR, COOL RIDE
A tethered balloon ride over the city
A short stroll from Prague’s iconic Charles Bridge, and next to the Kafka museum, there’s no better way to look cool than 600m in the air, dangling in a swing seat from beneath a hot air balloon… as long as you can conceal your shaking hands, that is. Two buckles and a harness doesn’t seem a whole heap of reassuring, but as adrenalin kicks go, you can’t beat the moment the balloon reaches its peak and jolts to a halt without warning. There’s a small CB radio if you crack, to plead for a return to solid ground, but otherwise the view of the river snaking through the city is a dynamite one and you can bet none of your mates will have the same pics on their digital camera.
Tel: +420 602 803200, www.baloncentrum.cz
COOL RATING: A “BRRRR” MINUS 3
1st Place Freeze!
STRATOSPHERIC!
Ski high at the Hilton’s Cloud 9
If trad tipples are your thing, the Old Town is full of cavernous dens to down a pint. But the fashionable polecats of the Czech Republic are getting noticed at recently opened Cloud 9 bar at the ver-ry top of the main Hilton (there’s also a boutique Hilton in the Old Town). The approach to the bar on the eighth floor is a corridor of light installations that frame you in neon every third step. Once inside, the leather booths and sleek edges make great perches on which to drink London-class cocktails for Prague prices. Ice-cool customers will go for the Charisma – a communist-red mix of melon liqueur with a chilli kick for the equivalent of £6.50 – and grab an upholstered throne chair by the window edge. Thursday to Sunday are funky house DJ sets from names that not only control the decks but the switch to the variable mood lighting too. Madonna’s bro hired it to launch his tell-tale book and we’re sure other celebs (or celebrity siblings!) will follow soon.
1 Pobrezní, tel: +420 224 842999, www.cloud9.cz
COOL RATING: A CHILLED-OUT MINUS 10
COFFEE CATS
Pose with a latte at Café Louvre
Prague is really about rugging up for a stroll around the streets and then taking pit stops in cafés to watch the animated Czechs in conversation.
After the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989, Prague kicked communism and embraced tourism. The country hasn’t, however, followed the West with our anti-smoking laws, so Café Louvre and others are still operating in a veil of smoke but, if you don’t mind that, it’s the best place to sample an authentic cherry strudel while the girl to your right reads Kafka under the art deco chandeliers.
Dating back to 1902, Café Louvre is still the right-on place to go with friends. Voted Best Prague Café 2008 in the Prague Post’s Best of Prague Readers’ Survey, it opens at 8am to start serving pastries and cakes worth the calories. Though busy, there was no pressure to move when, after three hours, two lattes and two beers, my friend and I were still recounting how scared we were on the balloon ride.
If you run out of things to say, or tire of looking at the huge black and white framed prints of bohemian beauties (like the semi-naked 1930s starlet draped over a sofa), there are five billiard tables to move to. In 1910 you could have challenged Einstein to a game and bet whether E=mc2.
22 Národní, tel: +420 224 930949, www.cafelouvre.cz
COOL RATING: A THERMAL-UNDIE REQUIRING MINUS 7
GOING UP THE WALL
The new Boulder Bar
If there are two things the Czechs love to a fault it’s beer and climbing walls, so it’s a surprise that it’s taken till now to combine the two. Luckily, scenesters can now head from the city centre by tram to Holesovice – the former industrial area that’s home to skate parks, sports centres and the giant metronome that marks the passing of your holiday – to add a little activity to their trip. This recently revamped space is nothing like a sports hall and more like a futuristic training camp for Spidermen. It has 300m2 worth of climbing wall, from a curved surface, to a tight corner, to a brilliant room for kids where they can clamber into a panda’s belly and make some baby steps up the wall too. Training sessions are available for beginners and expert “rockstars” will find challenging climbs and a shop to buy equipment. If it all sounds like hard work, then the funky bar is a good place to watch the wall through a big glass viewing window and play some table football instead.
11 Uvýstavište, www.boulder.cz
COOL RATING: A FROST-BITTEN MINUS 4
SWEET EATS
Get closer to Gordon Ramsay
Cool tourists heading to Prague should book a table at Gordon Ramsay’s glam but affordable Maze restaurant, which turned a year old in December (but do it as soon as you book your flight: there’s a waiting list). The interior is film-set chic with glass, marble and mirrors offering sleek, sharp edges to perch your elbow on.
If you’ve walked around the Old Town and up the steep incline to the famed castle, you may have worked up an appetite for the marathon tasting menu, otherwise there’s a regular menu using ingredients from local suppliers and world-class produce like meat flown over from Texas. Like all the poshest places, there are taster treats from the chef in between courses that act like prizes in a pass the palatable-parcel game. We unwrapped sorbet and marscapone scoops in six flavours, including a mango and coconut that had us pointing our spoons at the remains and nodding approvingly. Not the kind of girl to go orgasmic over pudding, I did roll my eyes over the signature chocolate and orange fondant dessert, which broke at first hack and oozed a rich lava that I was too stuffed to eat but too greedy to leave.
To top it off, guests are invited to tour the kitchen, which we did. There, the enthusiastic sous chef let me flatter his dishes like the groupie I’d become and signed my menu to take home. If you rocked up in December, he told me, you might have found yourself being fed by the main man himself, when he visited for the restaurant’s birthday. But he’ll be back…
7 V Celnici, tel: +420 221 822100, www.hilton.co.uk/ pragueoldtown
COOL RATING: A FAMOUS AND FREEZING MINUS 6
WARNING! ICE!
Be retro-rad in a convertible Skoda
When you think of posing, you may be drawn to a Posche or Ferrari but when in Prague, a tour in a Skoda Felicia is just as cool. The classic Czech car from the 60s is cute as a button and, for post-modern cool kids, ironic (Skoda means “pity” in Czech – how’s that for irony?). There are pick-up points across the city, but odds are you’ll find driver Robert Dzyden behind the Old Town Square, parked up behind the Astronomical Clock.
The sexy two-seater is yours for 900CZK (€36) for a 90-minute tour of the city. Expect a hilarious commentary on wheel clamping, policemen and tourist mentality, not a history lesson. And for those who still think the Skoda is a joke…
How do you double the value of a Skoda?
Fill up the petrol tank.
What do you call a Skoda with a sun roof?
A skip.
www..3veterani.cz
COOL RATING: A COLD WAR KITSCH MINUS 1
