Penzion Karlštejn

For the price, this pension was a really good deal. Breakfast was self-service and tasty, and the restaurant serves good food without costing much. It’s about a 40 minutes drive from Charles Bridge in Prague, which felt reasonable to me. The only small downside was that the beds creaked a bit when we moved, but it wasn’t loud enough to bother me.

Our room was large, almost like a suite, with a living room, bedroom, and kitchen. It was on the ground floor, though actually about half a meter below ground level, so the room was dark. The kitchen was equipped, parking was ample, the staff were friendly, and the food was decent, though there wasn’t much choice. The shower cabin was broken, and nobody cleaned the room or replaced our towels. There were lots of flying ants, and they kept hitting us in bed so we couldn’t sleep. There was also an unpleasant smell inside, probably from the spray used against the ants.

The rooms were very hot, dirty, oddly laid out, and smelled of old frying oil coming up from the pub downstairs. In the upper rooms, the windows slope into the roof, with no blinds and no way to close the curtains to block the light. When we asked about it, the staff were unfriendly and sent us to the boss, who also wasn’t interested in helping. Breakfast was a joke. Scrambled eggs were the only hot food, with one kind of cold cheese, ham and salami, a few cucumbers and tomatoes, some bakery items, and cereal. Nothing to write home about. Bring your own food if you stay here. The staff weren’t very friendly either. I smiled when an American customer came in and asked to order something, and the waiter answered “Ne,” meaning “NO” :) The one good thing is the location, though the hotel is right across a busy road from the main train station, which they don’t show you. All in all, stay somewhere else.

We enjoyed our stay. The rooms are simple but really clean, and the service was good. The breakfast buffet was better than I expected. It gets quite warm in summer, though, and there’s no air conditioning.