Grand Hotel Praha

The Grand Hotel Praha is in a building that goes back to the 14th century, on the King's road and directly opposite the Old Town Hall and its Astronomical Clock. The Historic rooms keep their original ceilings from the 16th century, which in this building makes them the recent work.

We spent two nights there between Christmas and New Year, in Prague to meet friends, and asked of it what a city break asks of a hotel: somewhere to sleep between the sightseeing and the party. It did the sleeping very well. The room had a four-poster, as comfortable as it looked, and blackout blinds that kept the December morning out until we were ready for it. After a party with friends, that is a great deal of bed to come home to, and we were glad of every inch. It was good value, too, which a four-poster on Old Town Square is under no obligation to be.

We used none of the rest of the hotel, and there is more of it than a bedroom. On the first floor, Café Mozart serves its buffet breakfast with the clock in view, and on Thursday and Saturday evenings lays on dinner to piano music, with a bottle of wine for two in the price. Up under the roof, one room leaves its timber trusses bare, great dark beams crossing over the bed. One bathroom is green marble, floor and walls, with an inlaid wooden chest by the window.

We would send anyone who plans a great deal of sightseeing, or a great deal of partying, and wants a proper night's sleep in between. For the sightseeing, the address does most of the work. Charles Bridge is about seven minutes on foot and the Jewish Quarter five; Prague Castle, at about twenty, settles a morning's walk before anyone has opened a map. Further out, the concierge arranges day trips to Karlovy Vary or Kutná Hora, and a jazz dinner cruise on the Vltava.

Only the main building, the one with reception, has a lift. The older second building is reached by stairs, and guests put up there have found the climb, and the layout of a building this old, hard going. The hotel takes children only from five; for families who qualify there is a Family Room with Kitchen, and babysitting.

Breakfast at Café Mozart finishes at half past ten, and with blinds that good, the clock across the square is the one to keep an eye on.