Cesky Krumlov with Kids: One Day trip from Prague to Cesky Krumlov
You can thoroughly enjoy roaming around Cesky Krumlov with kids on a one day trip from Prague to Cesky Krumlov. Till the time you can keep them well fed on the Chimney cakes (the traditional Trdelník) and ice creams. These are abundantly available in all nooks and crannies of both Prague and Cesky Krumlov.
Cesky Krumlov roughly translates to Czech river/Moat (river meandering around an island or settlement). It is a picture perfect medieval town right out of a beautiful history book.. the cobbles pathways, well preserved buildings and small handicraft shops will take you back almost 5-6 centuries without a time machine.
How to reach?
Many tour operators run one day tour from Prague to Cesky Krumlov too. Another option could be a one day trip from Prague to Cesky Krumlov, on way to some other place from Prague. We were headed to Salzburg from Prague and decided to do this enroute.
Parking and Amenities
P1 parking is an ideal parking spot if you plan to start sightseeing from the old town and onwards to the castle. Most of the 2hrs walking tours start at the town square of old town. There are free and clean washrooms in this parking and a restaurant too right in the middle. Town square is about 10mins walk from this parking. Town Square is from where almost all of the walking tours of Cesky Krumlov begin.
What to see?
If you are on a one day tour from Prague to Cesky Krumlov, best part is to just soak in the place. Roaming around Cesky Krumlov with kids can be a very enriching experience as they get the medieval feel and you can get them engrossed in the stories of olden times. The entire island is a UNESCO world heritage site so do spend some time just waking around this historical wonder and if you are interested, dipping your feet in river Vltava that goes around this picture perfect island.
You can take a free walking tour and they will broadly cover most of the places from outside. If you are a fan of Baroque architecture, you should definitely take one of the Cesky Krumlov theatre tours (the last one is at 3pm). Usually there are 3 tours every day except Monday when the castle and the theatre are both closed from the inside. This is the oldest baroque theatre in the whole world which is fully functional and still in existence. The main castle tower provides a good viewing platform after you climb about 100 steps.
What and where to eat?
In this one day tour from Prague to Cesky Krumlov, make sure to try out the Czech delicacies.
Basically traditional gingerbread cookies, Trdelnik (also called Chimney Cake and is believed to have originated in Hungary) with Nutella, nuts and Ice-cream and of course the famous Kolaches.
I recommend trying those in Prague instead of here.
For lunch, we had some awesome pizza at Pizzeria Latran..highly recommended to have that wonderful pizzeria feel of a family run restaurant with pictures of the family and their family tree adorning the walls.
Keep in mind
If you are travelling with an infant or a young kid and hence carrying a stroller, I would recommend getting a stroller with large wheels as the small wheels will keep getting stuck in the cobbled pathways and will be a mess to move it around.
The castle and castle museum are closed on Monday. Ideally if you have some flexibility in your itinerary, work around this so you can at least take a tour of the theatre from inside.
Cesky Krumlov is super touristy so don’t bother buying any souvenirs from here and instead get it from Prague. Check out the top 5 souvenirs to buy from Prague which are actually Czech and not just found here.
