Recommended hotel in central Prague (Hotel Raffaello (Prague, Czech Republic))

Member Name: worst_trip

Product:	Hotel Raffaello (Prague, Czech Republic)
Date:	26/05/09 (10 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good location, clean, comfortable rooms

Disadvantages: Sited on a fairly busy street

The three of us (me, my partner and the sprog) stayed at the Hotel Raffaello for four nights in May this year (2009) and can happily recommend it. It's a good I think 3 or 4 star hotel about 5-10 minutes walk from Wenceslas 'Square' - the central shopping area in Prague, and has a tram and underground stop just round the corner, so very good for local travel links. The hotel is sited on a fairly busy city centre street, but we could hear no traffic noise whatsoever from our room (which faced the back courtyard of the hotel). It is possible to walke to the old town from the Raffaello (a 15 to 20 minute walk), but the traffic is quite heavy in daytimes and a better option might be to take the tram or subway (on the spot fines of 30 Euros operate if your ticket isn't valid operate on both transport systems, and as we found out, ignorance of the rather opaque rules governing ticket validity doesn't count as an excuse!)

The hotel may have been recently refurbished - it has recently come under new management of I think an Itallian hotel chain - and the interiors of the rooms and communal areas are nicely decorated throughout. The (double)rooms aren't enormous but are quite big enough, and incorporate TV and minibar / fridge (no tea or coffee making facilities so take a travel kettle if that's an issue) and a (free use) programmable safe in the wardrobe, which is handy. The bathrooms are nicely fitted out (although the overbath showers have no screen or curtains but are supposed to be like that) and are cleaned to a high standard daily. Part of our hotel 'deal' included a buffet breakfast; this is served in a buffet style set up in the communal dining room downstairs. There was a good range of items on offer, e.g. wide selection of different types of roll / bread and a few Czech pastries; cereals; fruit; yoghurt; chilled juice; sliced cold meat / cheese; and a small selection of 'hot breakfast' items in the buffet - scrambled egg, bacon or sausage. If the filter coffee tended to be a bit weak this was the only slightly negative point - it was pretty good brekky in general.

The hotel staff in reception were very helpful - perhaps not always entirely accurate in the info they gave us (but then we were trying to go on a fairly obscure day trip from the city) but they did the best they could do.

This is a really good, higher-end-budget to lower-end or mid- mid-range hotel, fairly centrally located in Prague, that offers easy booking over the internet or via various 'hotel deal' sites (e.g. hotelworld, bookings.com - that kind of thing) and good communications (at the time we visited the phone numbers listed on their site didn't go through, but they were very prompt in answering alternative emailed queries). It's an excellent choice for a shorter or longer stay.

Summary: Excellent option for a break in Prague