Hotel Michael - Prague, Czech Republic     

we arrived at Prague airport and got excellent instructions from Travel Information on how to find the hotel with public transport, which was easy. It is a short walk from the tram stop to the hotel. Just follow the signs. We were blessed with what one shop keeper told us was "miracle weather". Beautiful warm sunny days. Reception when checking in was friendly but offered no information on the hotel or sights. There is no information in the room about anything. There was a number to ring for room service, but no menu was available. Asked for a coffee in the bar after we checked in, but was told to "just wait". His attitude stunk on this first occasion but slowly came around . The red haired waiter I'm talking about could do with some lessons in customer service as he rarely smiled. The other men who served (looked like mangaement) were great. One girl in the breakfast room wase friendly but I don't think the other girls could speak Czech or English,(maybe Russian I think) so were hard to communicate with. Free internet was great as we had our laptop. Breakfast as previously reported was pretty basic but was ok. Cereals, toast, cakes, mini hotdogs that were called sausages and scrambled eggs. Endless cups of coffee and tea until 10am. Dinner meals were very Czech with lots of meat and light on vegies/salads. Will someone buy them another cd please? The Beach Boys were on constant rotation. Noise between rooms was minimal but the bit of noise from the hallway was ordinary. The cleaners forgot to clean our room one day which was funny as we came back from our daily outing at 8pm. We told reception and were advised that they were still working. We just asked for clean towels and told them to forget it. It was ok but don't know if we'll go back again

This is not an easy hotel to find if you are arriving at the secondary Prague station (Hols) to the north of the city. Forget the cabs until you work out what is a reasonable fare for the distance. We took the advice of the TI guy (outside the station to the right) who said the cabs were driven by crooks and tried the trams instead. Unfortunately the city maps don't encompass a wide enough area and this hotel lies to the south and just off the map! We were told to get a no. 17 tram from a nearby station - look for the tall chimney stack and head about 400 metres in that direction. This tram will take you to Cherny Kun station which is the nearest to this hotel. As a bonus it takes you on a sightseeing journey through the centre of the city via one of the many bridges crossing the river and near to the Charles Bridge before depositing you some 30mins. later sort of near the hotel. If you have a keen eye you will see a rather optimistic sign as you approach the Cherny Kun station. It is visible from the left side of the tram and says "Hotel Michael 250 metres left". I took 750 big steps to the hotel from the centre of the pedestrian overpass where this sign hangs!! A number 3 tram will get you here if you are coming from the main Prague station. Walk down the steps at end of overpass heading to the right and past a pub on the corner. Keep walking up the road about 200 metres and keeping the little tennis court and the trees on your left. Eventually you will see a "Hotel Michael" roadside sign on the right telling you it is straight ahead (do not follow the road around the sharp left hand bend). You have now covered about 500 metres from the station. The next sign on the right is another 100 metres or so along this road and you follow this to the left and another 200 metres up this pretty suburban street is your hotel. Its new, only 2 or 3 years old and for the price is hard to beat. Most staff are helpful and have good enough english. If you don't tip the bar staff expect the cold shoulder next time. Rooms are clean and the bathrooms and showers are quite interesting. The beds are great and in typical European fashion, two singles bolted together make for one king size bed. Very comfotable and no sag. Perhaps they are set too close to the outside wall given the nature of the architectural design and invite the unwary to do a little more damage than just bump their head. I only saw two rooms and both had this layout problem. Be warned. The food for both breakfast and dinner was more than satisfactory. Some people seem hard to please in this regard. Location for my money is perfect - its located adjacent to a leafy park with real birds singing all day. Its a brisk 10 min walk to the tram station and another 15 mins to the city action. A 3 day pass cost about 330 kuna (get it from the TI office) - unlimited trips and remember to validate your ticket on first ride. Trams 3 or 17 run every 5 mins. Iggy