East

If you are in Krakow at the weekend, make sure to check out one of the many flea markets in the city as soon as you get up, for example Unitarg flea market! If flea markets aren’t your thing, grab breakfast at Bunkier Café before checking out the contemporary art on display at the »Kunstbunker« gallery attached to the cafe. Modern art, primarily from the last two decades, is also on display at the Museum for Contemporary Art, located in the former enamelware factory that belonged to Oskar Schindler.  If you are more interested in the European art from the 13^th to 18^th Centuries, then the Czartoryski Museum is for you. Afterwards, enjoy a meal at Smakolyki, popular with students and located immediately opposite the University, or enjoy a snack at Massolit Books & Café. If you have time, consider taking a tour to »Wieliczk« Salt Mine and marvel at its salt sculptures and chapels. Back in Krakow, enjoy a meal at  Lody Tradycyjne bracia Hodurek or make your way to Andrus Food Truck, where you will find not one but several food trucks to choose from. Krakow offers a fantastic nightlife: for example, go on the hunt for a hidden cocktail bar (Metrum Restobistro, Sababa, Z Ust do Ust), hit up a jazz club (Alchemia, Harris Piano Jazz Bar) or chat with other travel enthusiasts at Artefakt Café.

There are several trains every day from Krakow to you next destination: Brünn (fastest travel time: 6 hours, 22 minutes).

Start your day with breakfast at either Café Momenta or Café Podnebi. Then make your way to Villa Tugendhat, built between 1929 and 1930 in accordance with plans by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and considered a milestone of modern architecture! If you are looking for more architecture after that, check out Galerie Architektury or the Nový Dům housing development, established in 1928 as a Werkbund housing project. Art enthusiasts should head to Fait Gallery, with its focus on Czech and central European art from the 20^th and 21^st centuries, or visit one of the many exhibitions at Moravská Galerie. Another interesting place to visit is 10-Z, a nuclear fallout shelter that was top secret in the days of communism. After all these sights, why not enjoy a little shopping tour: Place Store, Je Tu Milo,  Restart and Step Shop are perfect places to find unique souvenirs by Czech and Slovakian designers. After that, enjoy dinner at  Skog or Záhrada before stopping off at one of the city’s many bars and pubs (Alterna, Music Lab, Bar, který neexistuje, Metro Music Bar) for a beer or glass of local wine. If you’re in Brünn for longer than one or two days, definitely take a trip to Moravian Karst, a nature reserve with impressive caves and gorges.

Take one of the direct trains that leave once or twice every hour and continue to your next destination, Prague (fastest travel time: 2 hours, 33 minutes).

After a delicious breakfast at Globe Café pass by Czech Design – and maybe pick up a souvenir from the Czech capital. Then make your way to the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art or the Pragovka Art District, both home to a number of interesting modern art exhibitions. The many different sites of the National Gallery are also well worth a visit. For example, how about an exhibition of First Czech Republic art at Veletržní palác, a building worth a visit for its design alone? If you’re interested in architecture, head to Villa Müller or Villa Winternitz or go for a walk in Baba Werkbund housing project with its 33 functionalist villas. Are you a fan of photography? Make sure to pay a visit to the Museum of Arts and Crafts or Atelier Josefa Sudka, where you’ll find regular exhibitions of the work of photographer Sudka and other photographers. Afterwards, grab lunch at Mrtvá ryba, a very popular restaurant with students. Then head over to browse new and used books in various languages at Shakespeare and Sons or admire contemporary Czech design at Pasáž Českého Designu. In the evening, try vegetarian or vegan cuisine at Lehká hlava or Maitrea or take a picnic to Riegrovy Sady Park and watch the sun sink behind Prague Castle from there. After that, take your pick: in the summer, can go straight to the Vitava on the Rašínovo nábřeží embankment, enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of Náplavka, take in a view of the city from Stalin Bar, chat with local artists at Kavárna Mlýnská if you’re lucky or test one bar after another in Krymská, e.g. Cafe v Lese.

There is a direct train every two hours from Prague’s main station to the next stop on your journey: Dresden (travel time: 2 hours, 17 minutes).

There is a Flea market every Saturday on Albertbrücke Bridge on the Elbe River – so if you happen to be in Dresden at the weekend, don’t miss it! Otherwise, treat yourself to breakfast at Rauschenbach Deli. Afterwards, you might visit the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery) or head to Kunsthofpassage. The latter was established more than 20 years ago with the idea of rejuvenating dilapidated courtyards and is now a lively place full of cafés, small shops and ateliers. For all beer drinkers: in the »Hof der Elemente« courtyard, Hopfenkult serves more than 300 craft beers from all over the world. After this, allow yourself to be fascinated by a Yadegar Asisi panorama at Panometer Dresden or pass by the Pfunds-Molkerei, the »most beautiful milk shop in the world«. Visit the Kunsthaus Raskolnikoff and then enjoy dinner at the gallery’s own restaurant. To finish off the day, why not take a short journey through time: experience that GDR atmosphere at Wohnzimmer, Hebeda’s or Ost-Pol. If you have the time, you could take a day trip to Saxon Switzerland and perhaps pay a visit to Basteibrücke Bridge or the Königsstein Fortress.

There are trains every hour from Dresden to Weimar (fastest travel time: 2 hours, 27 minutes). You have now reached the end of your journey – and are about to start experiencing the next exciting highlights!