Hotel - Archibald At The Charles Bridge, Prague

It's been months since our trip to Prague, and until now I've not written a thing about it. The main problem is that Prague is SO PRETTY that I took way too many pictures, making it quite a difficult task to sort through them all and hard to know where to begin with posting! 

Purely for the reason that these are the first batch of photos I managed to get organised, let me tell you about our lovely hotel, Archibald at the Charles Bridge.

I know some people have a very organised way of selecting a hotel for a city break, taking location, amenities and other factors into consideration. I'm not that organised - on this occasion I was just browsing through the expedia listings (filtered: cheapest first), until I found one that felt right. Hotel Archibald At The Charles Bridge just felt right.

Without really knowing what I was hoping for in a Prague hotel, I knew where I didn't want to be. Prague can be a bit of a party town, and much as I like to see folk have a good time, I didn't want my quiet little weekend trip away being besiged by raucus stag groups. I fact, I didn't want to be around to many people at all, if I could help it! (I'm an unsociable madam!) Though, of course, I still wanted a good central location, within walking distance to the places I wanted to visit. (Yes, I will have the moon on a stick too please!) 

The location of the hotel couldn't have been more perfect. Situated in Mala Strana, Prague's 'lesser town', in a pleasant little square, it manages to offer a calm oasis from the hustle and bustle of some of the more popular tourist areas on the other side of the river while still being only a matter of meters away from one of the cities most famous sites, the beautiful Charles Bridge. 

We were also within easy walking distance of Prague Castle, Old Town Square and any number of other attractions. 

The hotel's proximity to the bridge was sort of a given considering the name ('at the Charles Bridge' also seperates it from the other Archibald hotel near Wenceslas Square), but it was still a treat to discover our river-and-bridge view from the room. Even if the bridge is obscured a wee bit by that there tree! Being so close meant it was easy as pie to make an early morning, pre-breakfast visit to the famous landmark - the only time you might see it without swarms of people, and definitely worth getting up for! 

By focusing so much on the great location, I don't mean to do a disservice to how lovely the room was. I love hotel beds, with their crisp, white sheets - I can never get them so perfect at home! Sleeping in this huge bed under those striking beams, to be gently woken by the sun peering in through the high windows, inviting me to take in that lush view - it was the perfect way to spend my nights in Prague! 

We didn't spend a lot of time in the room otherwise, not with so much to see, but it was a nice cosy space, with plenty of room for luggage and lounging! 

There was a well-stocked mini-bar and a TV in the room, but we didn't actaully use either at any point. The shower was lovely though, as were trhe nice fluffy towels! 

Breakfast was inlcluded in our booking, and a good buffet breakfast is usually one of my favourite parts of  a hotel stay. Unfortunately I think our heavy Czech evening meals meant I was never hungry enough in the mornings to get truly stuck in, but I'm never too full for tea and toast so it wasn't completely wasted on me!

There was plenty of variety for th hungry though, from hot dishes, fruit, cereal, and pastries. I did 'force' myself to try a couple of the baked goods over the course of a few mornings... I mean, jam donuts for breakfast? How could I not! 

The only criticism I could muster is that the orange juice wasn't,.. well, it wasn't really orange juice, if you know what I mean. But the tea was fine I so I was happy! 

The breakfast room was also open as a restaurant in the evenings, and I've heard the food is great, but we only ate there for breakfast. 

Despite not utilising the hotel to its full capabilities, I feel very confident in recommending Hotel Archibald to anyone looking for a quiet little getaway in the middle of a noisy city!