Paris - how to save money

Paris is one of the world's most expensive cities for the traveller, but there's a lot of things you can do that are free. I must admit I enjoyed strolling along the left bank of the Seine, and visiting the parks. Paris is a great city for strolling around like Owen Wilson in one of my favourite films, Midnight in Paris. 

One must see thing that you should pay for is the Moulon Rouge, which was amazing. I recommend getting up early, buying your ticket from the ticket machines under the Louvre, and getting in before the rush to see the Mona Lisa. But there are still a number of things to see that are free as this article points out:

Top ten free things to do in Paris 

Paris is one of the world's most beautiful cities – and one of the most expensive. So, from the walkway over the city to galleries and fashion shows, we pick the city's best free activities 

• Is there anything we've missed? Tell us your favourite free things to do in Paris in the comments below

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• • Will Coldwell
  • theguardian.com, Tuesday 25 March 2014 17.00 AEST

Make the most of free first Sundays

If you get your timing right, you can visit some of the most popular museums and monuments in Paris for free, thanks to the free first Sundays programme. Among those included are tourist magnets such as the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay, as well smaller quirky spots such as the Albert-Kahn musée et jardins (a homage to gardens around the world) and the Musée de l'Assistance Publique, which celebrates the history of Paris hospitals. The free Sundays programme offers the perfect opportunity to poke your nose into some of the places you may not have considered visiting with a door tax.
• en.parisinfo.com

Parc de la Villette free open air cinema

Make the most of a summer evening in Paris and catch a free film at the open-air cinema at the Parc de la Villette. The programme runs during July and August and usually follows a particular theme. This year it's "Tous en scène'" or "Everybody on stage" and includes films such as Where the Wild Things Are, Be Kind Rewind and The Killing. It's a fantastic communal event and if you're averse to perching on the grass, you can always upgrade to a deckchair for €7.
• 19th arr, villette.com/fr

Stroll through the Jardin du Luxembourg

Photograph: Alamy

It's easy to spend an entire day wandering around this sweeping city park, which is the second largest in Paris and is the garden of the French senate. The beautifully landscaped garden, which was built in the 17th century, contains hundreds of statues, monuments and fountains – including the first model of the Statue of Liberty by Frédéric Bartholdi – which you'll stumble across as you make your way through the well kept flora. Only a short walk from many of Paris's main attractions, the park is the perfect place for any sightseer to put their feet up, read a book and enjoy a picnic.
• Rue de Médicis-Rue de Vaugirard, 6th arrondissement, senat.fr/jardin

Check out the Love Wall

Photograph: Alibi Productions/Alamy

If your stomach turns at the thought of slushy, romantic photo opportunities, then the Love Wall in Montmartre may not be for you. Still, Paris being the city of love, it's no surprise that this mural that features "I Love You" scrawled in hundreds of different languages, draws countless visitors looking for an opportunity to capture a smoochy holiday snap. The wall is the brainchild of Frederic Baron, who began collecting I love yous in 1992 before teaming up with artist and calligrapher Claire Kito who drew the mural. It's not far from the gleaming white Sacré-Coeur Basilica, an iconic Parisian attraction that can also be visited for free.
• Place des Abbesses , 18th arr, lesjetaime.com

Visit the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

View over Paris from Notre-Dame. Photograph: Sylvain Sonnet/Getty Images

One of the most popular attractions in Paris, Notre Dame cuts a dominating figure on the Île de la Cité in the middle of the Seine. The spindly gothic buttresses and magnificent stained glass windows make it as much a treat to see from the inside as out. Meanwhile, in the square and bridges around the cathedral you'll find assorted buskers, from full live bands to human statues, which always draw a crowd.
• Place Jean-Paul II, 4th arr, notredamedeparis.fr. Open daily 8am-6.45pm (7.15pm on weekends)

Explore the Père Lachaise cemetery

Woman kissing the grave of Oscar Wilde at Père Lachaise. Photograph: Peter Horree/Alamy

Behind a looming stone entrance in the 20th arrondissement lies Paris's largest cemetery, with over 100 acres of graves, tombs and memorials and 69,000 ornate (and often over-the-top) tombs of curious. It is the most visited cemetery in the world, thanks to its impressive roll call of those laid to rest here, including Georges Rodenbach, whose tomb features a bronze figure breaking out of the grave, and Oscar Wilde's, which used to be kissed by visitors with red lipstick. Jim Morrison of The Doors is also buried there; his grave is a humble stone marker that draws thousands of fans each year.
• 16 rue du Repos, 20th arr, +33 1 43 70 70 33, pere-lachaise.com. From November 6-March 15, Mon-Fri 8am-5.30pm, Sat 8.30am-5.30pm, Sun and public holidays 9am-5.30pm. From March 16-November 5 the cemetery remains open half an hour later

Admire the sculptures at Atelier Brancusi

Photograph: Marko Kudjerski/Wikimedia Commons

While a visit to the Pompidou Centre's main museum and exhibitions will cost you at least €10, the studio of Constantin Brancusi, in the same square, is free to visit. The revolutionary sculptor, who died in 1957, left his workshop and all its contents to the state and the Pompidou Centre had the studio taken apart and reconstructed in front of it in a modern pavilion. Visitors can get an impression of the space in which Brancusi worked, as well as see some of the work that helped redefine modern sculpture.
• Place Georges Pompidou, 4th arr, +33 1 44 78 12 33,centrepompidou.fr. Open daily 2pm-6pm, closed Tuesday

Walk La Promenade Plantée

Photograph: Alamy

Opened in 1993, six years before New York's similar High Line project, La Promenade Plantee is a tree-lined walkway on an old elevated railway line in east Paris. The 4.5km trail is a wonderful way to explore the city, taking you up and down staircases, across viaducts, above the streets and offering the occasional chance to wave back at the lucky Parisians whose apartments overlook it. The walkway also runs over the Viaduc des Arts, a bridge in which the arches are now occupied by galleries.
• 12th arrondissemen, promenade-plantee.org

Have a late night picnic at the Square du Vert-Galant

Photograph: Alamy

If you want to get a taste of the real Midnight in Paris, bohemian vibe, make your way down to the Square du Vert-Galant with a bottle of wine in the evening. The cosy park is situated on the western tip of the Île de la Cité and can be reached by taking the stairs down from Pont Neuf. In the summer, the park is dotted with people relaxing on the grass, enjoying the view and watching the boats sail past on either side of the island. It's not uncommon to see sparkling tea lights floating downstream with them too, adding that extra touch of Parisian magic. 
• Pont Neuf, Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, 1st arr

Check out a fashion show at Galeries Lafayette

Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters

Getting a seat for Paris Fashion Week might be beyond the means of most visitors, but it's possible to get a taste of la mode every Friday afternoon at the Galeries Lafayette department store. The free shows involve professional models strutting the runway and displaying the store's fashion collection. It's still worth booking ahead to get a seat, and to confirm a show will be taking place, so contact the store in advance to get yourself a ticket.
• 40, Boulevard Haussmann, 9th arr, +33 0142 823025 or fashionshow@galerieslafayette.com, galerieslafayette.com

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• France's best food and antique 

Dubai aims to be the world's most visited city

I'll be stopping at Dubai, United Arab Emirates on the trip to Europe (in only 8 weeks).  Recent travel news is that Dubai aims to be the world's most visited city. If your travelling between Europe and Asia why not break up the long flight with a stop over at Dubai?

Dubai plans to become world's most visited city

Date

May 9, 2014

• Comme1

Lizzie Porter

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-essentials/travel-news/dubai-plans-to-become-worlds-most-visited-city-20140509-37z77.html#ixzz31IZE6D2D

High ambition: Dubai is already home to the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa skyscraper. Photo: Dubai Tourism

Dubai has set out plans to overtake London and become the world’s most visited city, attracting 20 million tourists by 2020.

The plans would require the Gulf emirate attempt to attract three million more visitors per year than London, which this week announced its best international visitor numbers since 1961, of 16.8 million in 2013. 

The London figures, from the Office for National Statistics’s latest Travel Trends survey, suggest that the capital is the world’s most visited city, with arrivals increasing nine per cent on 2012 and tourism spending doubling in the past 10 years, to £11 (A$19.87) million.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said: “These record-breaking figures are a tribute to the outstanding mix of culture, art, music and sport to be found here and more is planned.”

However, the “world’s most visited city” crown is a difficult one to hold, given that statistics gathering methods vary between countries. At the beginning of the year, a disagreement broke out between tourism officials in Paris and London, as both claimed to hold the title.

After the release of record quarterly visitor arrivals figures for London for 2013, Le Figaro, the right-wing French newspaper published an article titled “London dethrones Paris.”

The then-candidate for the Mayor of Paris (subsequently elected), Anne Hidalgo, weighed in, saying: “London aggressively sells itself, often in a way that goes beyond the truth."

Paris attracted 15.7 million tourists in 2012, an increase of 0.2 per cent from 2011, according to official figures from the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The measure of greatest visitor arrival numbers depends on the statistical methods used to gather data, meaning that definite like-for-like comparisons between cities in different countries cannot be made.

The ONS figures for London are, however, supported by other surveys, including the latest MasterCard Global Destination Index.

Dubai welcomed 11 million visitors in 2013, including 758,657 from the UK, who may have been attracted by the increasing strength of the pound against the Emirati dirham.

Dubai hopes to increase the overall figure to 20 million by the end of the decade, to coincide with the Expo 2020, an international architecture and technology trade fair that is expected to bring £$23 (A$41.56) billion into the emirate.

After feeling the effects of the global financial crisis, in which its construction sector suffered badly, Dubai is going full steam ahead with its ambitious growth plans, with tourist attractions and infrastructure a particular focus.

Mohammad Bin Rashid City, a multi-billion dollar tourism, retail and arts centre, will include a park ready to accommodate 35 million visitors, the largest area for arts galleries in the Middle East and North Africa, and the “Mall of the World”, the world’s largest shopping mall. Accommodation capacity is also on the rise.

In the next two years, another 141 hotels and serviced apartments will open. Bluewaters Island, a £963 million (A$1.74 billion) reclaimed land development, will be home to "The Dubai Eye", the world’s largest Ferris wheel, while the Dubai Water Canal, adding six kilometres to the waterfront, will see the arrival 450 new restaurants and a wide array of luxurious marinas for yachts. MBR District One will contain a 350,000 sq m water park and Dubai Adventure Studios, expected for completion this year, will have five theme parks.

Dubai’s outlandish building projects have not always run smoothly however. Construction of The World, an artificial archipelago of 300 islands, began in 2003 but was put on hold when the 2008 financial crisis hit. As of late last year, only two of the islands had been developed.  

The Telegraph, London

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-essentials/travel-news/dubai-plans-to-become-worlds-most-visited-city-20140509-37z77.html#ixzz31IYNbA2N

Movies that inspire travel

What movies inspire your travel?

 I must admit I've been to a few places that I've seen in films. For example I went to the diner in Santa Monica that was in one of my favourite films, Heat. I went to the court house in New York and walked down them like in the introduction to the television show, Law and Order. I know, tragic right. Some people go to Salzburg in Austria, because of the Sound of Music.

Lee Tulloch from the Canberra Times has her interesting take on the subject:

The movies that inspired my travels

Date

January 11, 2014

Lee Tulloch

Luxe Nomad

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/the-movies-that-inspired-my-travels-20140108-30gj3.html#ixzz31BzsdhYx

When actor Peter O'Toole died before Christmas, television was suddenly awash with scenes of him of striding through the desert in floating robes, golden-haired and pale-eyed, in Lawrence of Arabia.

It set me thinking about how much of my wanderlust has been inspired by cinema. I didn't travel overseas until I was about 23, so I had lots of years of watching movies to formulate my impressions.

The romance of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa in Lawrence of Arabia stuck with me for years after I first saw it. Later, I was enthralled by the sexy Bertolucci film version of Paul Bowles' The Sheltering Sky, in which Deborah Winger is kidnapped by a Berber chief and taken to his lair for various pornographic acts. While it took decades before I got to Arabia or Morocco, and Berber chieftains were by then in short supply, I was delighted to find that vast tracts of Oman, in particular, remained not unlike they might have been in T. E. Lawrence's day.

The Manhattan of Breakfast At Tiffany's can still be recognised today.

Judging by my childhood taste, Austria (The Sound of Music) and London (Mary Poppins) would have been high on my travel bucket list, but it was New York that won my heart. Why? Because I'd regularly escape from high school sports to watch old Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies on midday television and the idealised version of New York they waltzed through seemed to me the most marvellous place on earth.

Of course, Fred and Ging weren't really dancing in New York. It was a Hollywood set. But a couple of my favourite New York movies, Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Sweet Smell of Success, were shot in a real Manhattan that's still recognisable today. Woody Allen's elegiac Manhattan tipped the odds that it would be New York, not London, which would be my home.

Paris for me is forever Stanley Donen's Funny Face, a 1957 musical starring Fred Astaire as a fashion photographer and Audrey Hepburn as his model and muse. To this day, I can't arrive in Paris without singing (to myself) one of the film's catchiest tunes, Bonjour Paree!. Vincente Minnelli's gorgeous Gigi and Truffaut's magical Jules et Jim are two more reasons why I hot-footed it to Paris on my first overseas trip.

I can thank Federico Fellini for my desire to visit Rome and dance in the Trevi Fountain in a strapless gown. (Been to Rome, haven't got in the fountain yet.) I made a pilgrimage to Verona because I'd never forgotten Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, which I saw five times in one week when I was a teen. Hitchcock's Vertigo inspired me to visit San Francisco, and Godard's Contempt Capri.

To Catch a Thief got me dreaming about riding a sports car along the Corniche, the high road between Nice and Menton. Cabaret made me hanker after Weimar Republic Berlin. David Lean's A Passage to India exposed me to the beauty of India and his Doctor Zhivago to stunning vistas of revolutionary Russia, while Out of Africa had me longing to ride through the East African veldt in a linen dress and boots, just like Meryl Streep.

I fell in love with the idea of Bucharest after watching the 1980s TV series Fortunes of War, starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, which was set in Bucharest on the eve of World War II. The thrilling drama of spies and foreign correspondents made me long to visit this intriguing city. When I finally got there in 2005, I found it physically different from the Bucharest I'd seen on screen. I discovered then that Fortunes of War was in fact filmed in Budapest, so I went on to Budapest and loved it too.

The superior Bette Davis tear-jerker Now Voyager, about a repressed spinster who finds love and sophistication on a world tour, is full of stock images of places like Rio, but it was the first film that made me think I would like to go on a cruise, even if Paul Henreid wasn't there to light me a cigarette.

On the downside, movies have sometimes put me off destinations I might otherwise enjoy. Midnight Express turned me off Turkey for years, even though I wasn't intending to peddle any drugs while I was there. I probably wouldn't be in a rush to go to Fargo, North Dakota, either, after the Coen brothers' film.

But that's crazy, of course. Movies are fiction and you have to go and see the world for yourself.

What movies have inspired your travels? Post a comment.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/the-movies-that-inspired-my-travels-20140108-30gj3.html#ixzz31Bxpz9sw

First time Europe

Europe can be a little daunting, because there's just so much to see. Ben Groundwater from the Canberra Times has some good tips:

Europe for beginners: what you need to know

Date

October 30, 2013

• 140

The Backpacker

Ben Groundwater is Fairfax's globetrotter on a shoe-string. 

Follow Ben on Twitter @bengroundwater

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/europe-for-beginners-what-you-need-to-know-20131029-2we34.html#ixzz3174GnCMB

There a reason why Rome's Colosseum and other famous European sites are so popular - they're amazing. Photo: AP

Step one: slow down. Take your time.

It's tempting, when you plan that big first trip to Europe, to try to do everything, to fit every single highlight into a whirlwind tour around perhaps the planet's most diverse continent. You want to eat pasta in Rome, and stand on top of the Eiffel Tower, and smoke a joint in Amsterdam, and party in Dubrovnik, and, and...

You can't do it all. Unless you've got years up your sleeve, you're going to have to do some culling. That's one of the keys to enjoying your first stint.

I got an email a few weeks ago from a guy who's about to set off on his first overseas adventure. His question – "Got any tips for a first-time visitor to Europe?" – sounded like a perfect topic. So here we go.

First, the culling. Europe is an incredibly diverse continent full of bucket-list, postcard locations, and you can't do them all. If you even attempt to do them all you'll spend more time on buses, trains and planes that you will actually seeing things.

So here's a tip: choose a top five, your must-dos for that first OS adventure. Maybe it's drinking in the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, or eating tapas in Barcelona, or visiting the Tate Modern in London. Whatever it is, mark those down and plan your trip around them. The between bits will start to fall into place.

Then you have to figure out how you're getting around. Gnarled old travel dudes like me will tell you to forget about tours and go independent, but that's not necessarily the case. Think about what's right for you. People might sneer at the drunken tour passengers, but the drunken tour passengers are having a ball.

Maybe start off with a short tour, a 10-dayer, to find your feet in Europe and meet some people. If you fancy the idea of an organised tour like a Contiki or a Topdeck, go for it. If you'd rather a bit more freedom, think about something like Busabout – your transfers and accommodation are organised, but you have far more spare time to explore.

Prefer to go independent? It's easy enough in Europe. Book hostels ahead using sites like HostelBookers and HostelWorld. Book train tickets online. Book budget flights well in advance. And remember that using intercity buses is often much cheaper than trains or planes.

Don't avoid the clichés. The Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower and Charles Bridge are all extremely popular with tourists for a reason: they're amazing. Don't feel you have to get off the beaten track just for the sake of it. If the big-ticket items appeal to you, then go and see them.

By the same token, don't do everything the guidebook tells you. It might say the Louvre is an absolute must-do on a trip to Paris, but maybe you'd have a better day searching for Blek le Rat pieces on alley walls.

Travel in the shoulder seasons. July, August and September are mental in Europe, when you'll be sharing every single experience with millions and millions of your closest friends. Accommodation will be booked out, or expensive. Trains will be full.

Think about going in autumn or spring. Or better yet, if you don't mind the cold, go in winter. You'll feel like you have the place to yourself.

Another thing to consider when you're timing your trip, however, is festivals. Europe does a mean festival, from Oktoberfest to San Fermin to La Tomatina to Biennale to Glastonbury to Exit to Tomorrowland. Get along to any one of those and your holiday just became a lot more memorable.

Be wary of scams. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That hot Eastern European girl isn't necessarily talking to you because you're so charming. Those guys aren't befriending you because you seem like such a cool Aussie. Go with your instincts.

Try to get to at least one of Budapest, Krakow or Lisbon. They're all amazing, and underrated. (Although when planning this, take the "do what you want" paragraphs into account.)

Learn at least a tiny bit of the local language. Even if it's just asking, "Do you speak English?" This very small amount of effort will get you a long way.

Pack light. You don't need three pairs of jeans in a European summer. You don't need a big tub of laundry detergent. You don't need special "travel" clothes with extra zips bought from some rip-off store.

You do, however, need a towel. And at least one set of decent clothes to wear when you decide to go for that fancy dinner and don't want to look like a backpacker for a night.

Lash out on a few amazing experiences that are out of your price range. Budget travel will make your trip last longer but if you plan for one expensive dinner, or a night in a big hotel, or gondola ride in Venice, or high tea in London, or anything similar, you'll never forget it.

And on that note, my last tip is probably the most important: take lots of money. Lots of money. As much as you can possibly save. And then some more. Don't be the people drinking in the hostel lounge at night because they can't afford to go out. You didn't come all this way to not see the sights.

Take a few more months to save before you go. Be stingy at home so you can lash out when you're away.

And most of all: have fun.

What are your tips for people planning their first trip to Europe? Post your comments below. Are you yet to go to Europe? Post your questions too and let's see if our community of travellers can't answer them.

Email: b.groundwater@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Instagram: instagram.com/bengroundwater

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/europe-for-beginners-what-you-need-to-know-20131029-2we34.html#ixzz3173ZTEiw

To get you in the mood for my upcoming trip to Prague in the Czech Republic in July here's an article on the 'twenty reasons to visit' the great city. The best thing about Prague is that the Czech Republic is not on the Euro, so it's cheap in other words. We have secured a two bedroom apartment with WiFi and most importantly Apple TV for $90 a night through Airbnb.

On my last trip there was a real vibe to the city and I knew I would be coming back there again. Prague is easy to get to, and we will be flying direct from Dubai. If you want to save money consider visiting Eastern Europe as Rome, Paris and London can be expensive.

Twenty reasons to visit Prague

Date

March 9, 2014

David Whitley

Canberra Times Online (sourced 7th May, 2014)

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/twenty-reasons-to-visit-prague-20140306-348nl.html#ixzz311wwKZJF

Perspective: The Dancing House, an example of contemporary architecture in Prague. Photo: Getty Images

1 PRAGUE CASTLE

It's the largest castle in the world, but don't expect a Disney-esque fairytale affair with turrets and drawbridges. Prague Castle is essentially a small town on a hill overlooking the city, although there are some tremendous stand-alone buildings within it. The highlight is probably the Vladislav Hall inside the Old Royal Palace - the gigantic banqueting hall has a wow-inducing vaulted ceiling and was once used for indoor jousting.

See hrad.cz.

Guards! Guards! The ceremonial changing of the guard at the vast Prague Castle. Photo: Getty Images

2 THE GOLDEN LANE

Also within the castle complex is this gorgeous narrow alley, where the houses have been restored to show what they were once used for. So there's a tavern, a fortune teller/, a goldsmith and a film historian's hidey-hole that shows wonderful archive footage of the city projected against the wall of the living room. It's a good spot for shopping, too - different houses sell hand-painted glass, old books, pottery and handmade wooden toys.

See praguewelcome.cz/en.

We call it home: The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the grand Rudolfinium, in the city's old town hall. Photo: Alamy

3 FRANZ KAFKA

The Golden Lane's most famous former resident is notoriously uncheery author Franz Kafka. But the best place to get to grips with his nightmarish visions of bureaucracy and inner torment is the Kafka Museum. It takes a bold approach - far more about atmospherics than clarity. But there's enough explanation among the cunning use of sound and film set-esque furnishing to give an impression of a troubled, rather unlikeable man. And one whose works were always somewhat semi-biographical.

See kafkamuseum.cz.

Lennon, not Lenin: In Prague's Mala Strana is this graffiti wall devoted to the memory of John Lennon.Photo: Alamy

4 DAVID CERNY

Outside the Kafka Museum is an art installation that always attracts giggling photographers. It features two statues with rotating hips, relieving themselves into a pool in the shape of the Czech Republic. It's a typical piece of irreverence from David Cerny, an artist responsible for numerous head-turning efforts in Prague, such as the freaky babies crawling up the Zizkov TV tower and the man dangling from a pole above Husova Street in the old town.

See davidcerny.cz.

5 MALA STRANA

The area in the shadow of the castle on the western bank of the Vltava River is one of swoonsome charm, irrespective of the tourist hordes that tramp through it. Mala Strana is a district of handsome former palaces, pretty churches and cobbled streets where excellent bars and restaurants can be found hiding in mediaeval cellars. The embassies and government offices bring just enough local life to stop it become a preserved relic.

See praguewelcome.cz/en.

6 THE GOLDEN WELL

A strong contender for the title of the most romantic urban hotel in the world, The Golden Well in Mala Strana harks back to the 16th century. Up a quiet cobbled lane, it still has original earth walls and wooden ceilings. The massive king beds, spa baths and free personalised iPads for the duration are all part of making guests feel special. The rooftop restaurant and terrace has stellar city views.

See goldenwell.cz.

7 HOTEL-HOSTEL HYBRIDS

Prague's new trend for hotel-hostel hybrids should provide an agreeably lower cost alternative. The Mosaic House is a great example - a choice between stylish dorms and four-star private rooms. But the Fusion is the really striking option - it goes for high design throughout, with what must be some of the most impressive dorm rooms in the world for those picking the low-cost option.

See mosaichouse.com; fusionhotels.com.

8 ARCHITECTURE 101

Prague does a fabulous job of acting as an introductory course to architecture - most styles are represented here. The spindly gothic adornments of St Vitus' Cathedral sit alongside the Romanesque Basilica of St George inside the castle, while neoclassical theatres, baroque churches and painted renaissance houses stud the old and new towns. There are some modern-day stars too - such as Frank Gehry's fabulously whimsical Dancing Building opposite the Jirasek Bridge.

See praguewelcome.cz/en.

9 ART NOUVEAU

Of all the architectural styles on Prague's checklist, art nouveau has the most impressive representation. Look up as you're walking around and you'll not have to go too far to see decorative flowers and fruits. Hotel Europa and Hotel Central are magnificent examples, but the masterpiece is undoubtedly attention-monopolising Municipal House on Republic Square.

See praguewelcome.cz/en.

10 MUSEUM OF COMMUNISM

There's an undeniable pro-Western slant to it, but the Museum of Communism does an excellent job of explaining Czech history behind the Iron Curtain after World War II. There's a strong focus on everyday life under the communist regime - often mundane, regularly unnecessarily hard - but it's the video of footage of the Velvet Revolution that sends the hairs on the back of the neck up. Nobody died during the anti-communist protests that swept Czechoslovakia in 1989, but it took extraordinary bravery from hundreds of thousands of people to make change happen. With delicious irony, the museum sits right next to a McDonald's in the most brazenly commercial part of town.

See muzeumkomunismu.cz.

11 CLUBBING IN A NUCLEAR BUNKER

When communism fell, plenty of Cold War relics became unnecessary. These included the 350-odd underground bunkers dotted across the city for people to escape to in the event of a nuclear attack. One of them - the labyrinthine Bunkr Parukarka - has been attacked with the spray cans and turned into a rather cool underground bar and club complex. The good news? It's far enough underground for noise not to affect the neighbours - DJs can turn it up and keep going all night.

See parukarka.eu.

12 THE PRAGUE SPRING FESTIVAL

For musical entertainment of a more refined and elegant nature, Prague has long been a great city in which to catch classical music. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra calls the Rudolfinium in the old town home, but the performances spread across the city between mid-May and early June. That's when the Prague Spring Festival - one of the greatest cultural events on the planet - comes to town. Bring your tux or ball gown.

See festival.cz.

13 JEWISH HERITAGE

The Josefov area on the northern fringe of the old town was historically the Jewish quarter, and the Jewish Museum is spread over six monuments within the area. It was set up in 1906 to protect valuable artefacts during slum clearances, and the collection increased during World War II as the Nazis brought in items from around the country. The oft-repeated statement that the Nazis were planning to turn the area into a museum of an extinct race has no documentary evidence, however. It's well worth taking a guided tour to gain a better understanding. The Old Jewish Cemetery is hugely atmospheric, and the Old-New Synagogue is the oldest working synagogue in Europe.

See jewishmuseum.cz.

14 BEER

The Czechs drink more beer than any other nationality, with brands such as Staropramen, Pilsner Urquell and (the original) Budweiser becoming global bywords for quality lager. Beer's often cheaper to buy than water in Prague, but there are increasing moves to quality over quantity. Microbreweries such as Pivovarsky Dum and U Medvidku sell their own concoctions on the premises, while the cunningly named Prague Beer Museum is the best bar for beers sourced from around the country.

See gastroinfo.cz/pivodum; umedvidku.cz; praguebeermuseum.com.

15 PORK AND DUMPLINGS

All that beer is often used to wash down tremendously stodgy food. And while Prague's dining scene is far more diverse than stereotypes may have you believe, the most memorable dining experience is likely to be tearing into a large mountain of pig. Pork knees and pork knuckles are almost ubiquitous in pubs and restaurants. And any salad is purely tokenistic - the correct accompaniment is heavy, chewy dumplings. But you didn't come here to diet, did you?

See praguewelcome.cz/en.

16 MUZEUM MINIATUR

Bless Anatoly Konenko, a man whose work is simultaneously pathetically pointless and heroically impressive. He has devoted his life to making bizarrely tiny artworks - such as a model of the Eiffel Tower inside a wild cherry stone, or the Lord's Prayer written on a human hair - and Muzeum Miniatur is where he displays them. A few weirdly enjoyable minutes looking through microscopes is the least you can do to salute a man who spent seven-and-a-half years putting golden horseshoes on a flea.

See praguewelcome.cz/en.

17 KGB MUSEUM

Completing the duo of weird museums run by highly eccentric Russians is this cluttered collection of KGB memorabilia. It includes uniforms, trick cigarette cases that are actually guns, and a copy of Lenin's death mask. But it's the experience of being taken through it by the hyperactive Andrey that counts. He leaps around the floor swinging axes, foists AK47s on everyone for photo opportunities and babbles away about gangs of female snipers with infectious - if not always comprehensible - enthusiasm.

See kgbmuzeum.com/en.

18 ICE HOCKEY

In most of Europe, football is the main sport. But if you want to see Czech passions inflamed, head into a pub with TV screens when the national team is playing an ice hockey match. Better still, head to the Tipsport Arena to watch all-conquering local team Sparta Praha administer a thrashing - hopefully complete with token senseless violence - to their visitors.

See hcsparta.cz.

19 KUTNA HORA

About an hour by bus or train out of the city, Kutna Hora is perfect day-trip territory. A former silver mining town - and once almost as important as Prague - it is happily packed with weirdness. The Silver Museum includes tours of the old mining tunnels, while the Sedlec Ossuary is for the more morbid - a chapel made from the bones and skulls of thousands of deceased monks.

See kutnahora.cz.

20 KARLOVY VARY

Perhaps even more disturbing - the parade of portly Central European men in tiny Speedos is a horror to turn even the sternest stomach - is the spa town formerly known as Karlsbad. Its heyday was in the 19th century, and many of the grand old buildings remain. The star is the Grandhotel Pupp - which doubled as the casino in Bond flick Casino Royale - while geysers and glass museums provide thermal bath respite for wrinkly skin.

See pupp.cz.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/twenty-reasons-to-visit-prague-20140306-348nl.html#ixzz311vu8SrN