Hotel Archives - From Texas to Beyond

When David and I travel, we normally stay in a place in walking distance to the attractions we want to see, or at least close to public transportation. In our strategy, we want a clean and nice accommodation, but we do not want to spend our money on a fancy hotel. We want to be out experiencing the destination. But on this trip, we were spending a night in 7 destinations and wanted to splurge on a nicer hotel in one of the locations. David did lots of research and we chose to stay at Allegro Hotel in Ljubljana, Slovenia for an upscale treat. We made a great choice!

Inside Allegro Hotel

When Rebekah and I travel, we look for a cheap but comfortable hotel near the town’s center. We do not like to pay a lot of money for a really nice hotel room, especially when we want to leave that room as much as possible to experience the culture surrounding us. To make the most of our time in Prague, we also valued staying in the heart of the city, with convenient access to our points of interest. Hotel Hastal Prague Old Town was the perfect fit!

View of the Square from our Room

Location: Hotel Hastal is located just outside the Jewish Quarter in Prague’s Old Town. The great location makes it easy to access all of Prague’s sights, especially if you take advantage of the subway and above-ground tram system. A tram stop is a short five minute walk east of the hotel. If you walk five minutes to the west, you will be standing in the Old Town Square, featuring the Tyn Church and the Old Town Hall Tower with its popular Astronomical Clock.

Our Double Room

The Bathroom

The Room: The hotel is not fancy, but is very comfortable and clean with a family-run feeling. Art Nouveau prints by Czech artist Alfons Mucha decorate the hallways and rooms. Our room provided plenty of space along with a double bed, desk, chair and closet. The room also included a small TV and a safe. The bathroom was spacious with a corner shower. The large double window overlooked a mostly quiet small square and church.

The Breakfast: A delicious breakfast of hot and cold food is included with the room. The buffet features eggs, sausage, meats, cheeses, breads, yogurts, cereals, and jams. Each day, a different coffee cake is served as well. The options do not rotate much from day to day, so plan accordingly for a long visit. As an added bonus, a coffee machine and tea are available 24 hours a day. This was a great perk, and added to the overall value of our room! We caffeinated up one afternoon before taking to the streets again for a concert at the Municipal House.

The Cost: Our double room cost us only 80 Euros (about $110 at the time) per night. We found the cheapest rate by emailing the hotel and booking directly with them. A credit card number was required to hold the room, but only cash (USD, Euros, or Crowns) was accepted at checkout. Since we knew ahead of time that Hotel Hastal would accept US Dollars, we avoided an ATM/exchange fees by bringing the required USD with us from home. Overall, the payment process was very easy.

Other Noteworthy Items: The staff was incredibly helpful and kind. They even arranged a private car to pick us up at the airport since we were arriving at midnight and were not familiar with the city and public transportation. The transportation cost (29 Euros) was added to our hotel tab. This was great because we had not figured out currency yet. A bar serving Staropramen beer, a Czech beer staple, shares the breakfast room. Although the hotel bar sells some of Prague’s least expensive brews, we were not able to partake due to relatively early closing times.