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MONEY
US$1 ≈ 23 Kc
The Czech crown (Koruna ceska, Kc) was made fully convertible in 1996. Banknotes come in denominations of 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1 000, 2 000 and 5 000 Kc; coins are of 10, 20 and 50 hellers and one, two, five, 10, 20 and 50 Kc.
The Komercni, CS, CSOB or Zivnostenska banks are usually efficient about changing travelers cheques for a standart 2% commission. There is a large network of bankomaty (ATMs) throughout the country. Most accept Visa, Visa Plus, Visa Electron, Maestro and MasterCard, Cirrus, Euro and EC cards. Many hotels, restaurants and shops accept major credit cards.
There is no longer a black market; anyone who approaches you offering such a deal is a thief.
Costs
Food, transportation and admission fees are cheap; it’s accommodation that is costly, particularly as foreigners pay up to double the local price for some good hotel rooms. You could get away with spending US$15 a day in summer by camping or staying in cheap hostels. In a private home or a better hostel, count on US$25 to US$30. Costs drop dramatically outside Prague.
ACCOMMODATION
There are several hundred camping grounds in the Czech Republic, which are usually open from May to September. Most have a small snack bar, and many have small cabins for rent. Camping on public land is prohibited.
Most hotels in the Czech Republic are affiliated with Hostelling International (HI). In July and August many student dormitories become temporary hostels and in recent years a number of such dormitories in Prague have been converted into year-round hostels.
Private rooms are widely available – look for ‘privat’ or ‘zimmer frei’ signs. Many tourist offices and travel agencies can book them.
Hotels are usually rated rom one to five starts; three-star hotels charge about 1 200 / 1 300 Kc for singles/doubles, two-star hotels about 400/600 Kc or 600/1000 Kc with private bath (about 50% higher in Prague). Some hotels will not rent rooms until 2 pm during the high season.
FOOD & DRINKS
The cheapest places to eat are jidelna (buffet) and samoobsluha (self-service restaurants). As a general rule a restaurant calling itself restaurance is usually cheaper than a ‘restaurant’. You can be sure of getting a good feed at viharna (wine restaurant).
Always insist on seeing a Jidelni listek (menu) before ordering – if staff refuse to show you a written menu, walk out. The main menu categories are predkrmy (hors d'oeuvres), polevky (soups), student jidlo (cold dishes), tuple jidlo (warm dishes), masitd jidla (meat dishes), ryby (fish), zelenina (vegetables), saldty (salads), ovoce (fruit), zdkusky (desserts) and ndpoje (drinks).
Czechs love meat dishes with sauerkraut and knedlfky - flat circular dumplings made from bramborove (potato) or houskove (bread). Vegetarian dishes include smazeny syr (fried cheese) or knedliky s vejci (scrambled eggs with dumplings).
Tipping is optional, but it's common to round the bill up to the next 10 Kc or 20 Kc as you're paying. Never leave coins worth less than 1 Kc (it's insulting).
One of the first words of Czech you'll learn is pivo (beer); the most famous Czech brands are Budvar and Plzensky Prazdroj. South Moravia produces good bile vino (white wine), but cervene vino (red wine) is just average.
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