Plzen, Czech Republic

[morrisobrien]

Thinking of going here in August (god willing) for a 3 day stay.Never been before.Any suggestions where to go Railwise ?

 

[SeanG]

Depends what you wish to do, but it isn't far to Germany if you wish to make use of the 9 Euro ticket offer

 

[dutchflyer]

Town, of course overly famous for its brewery (and also has quite a large transportation factory) was European culture capital a few yrs ago and has been nicely revamped (frankly, it was dull and grey-the tipical east-Europe communist common face).
Your question is not overly clear to me, but as also seat61.com suggests: it is possible to find quite cheap tickets from most towns in Deutschland on the site of cd.cz, then set VIA CHEB (train from Nürnberg-get there still by ICE). Germans misuse this even to score cheap tickets to N only-and forget the rest of trip.And well, yes, its 1/6 and so today here in Germany the use of these 9€/month/local transport has started-and I did too-mostly choosing long buslines and trams.

 

[Bald Rick]

If you’re in the area, I recommend a visit to the small town of Dobrany, about a 10 minute train ride to the south west, and specifically the Hotel Modrá Hvezda. It has its own micro brewery with some stupendous beers.

 

[30907]

Depends what your tastes are:

The route south* to Zelezna Ruda in the mountains on the Bavarian border is diesel from Klatovy with 2-3 loco-hauled trains, including a seasonal one with the equivalent of Mk1s. This also gives access to a network of bus routes in the Sumava (Bohemian Forest).

There are also a couple of loco-hauled stoppers to Domazlice which seems to be a nice town (it's on the route to Munich and the fasts are worked by modern ALEX diesels). There is a delightful but slow branch line north from there towards Marianske Laszne (on the Cheb line) which still has some railbus workings.

(*via Dobrany, see Bald Rick's post)

 

[Jamesrob637]

Pilsner Urquell brewery of course, but Prague is only an hour away if memory serves me right.

 

[D6130]

If you’re in the area, I recommend a visit to the small town of Dobrany, about a 10 minute train ride to the south west, and specifically the Hotel Modrá Hvezda. It has its own micro brewery with some stupendous beers.

I wholeheartedly second this....and should you be tempted to over-indulge they have nice rooms at very economical prices!

 

[70014IronDuke]

Town, of course overly famous for its brewery (and also has quite a large transportation factory) was European culture capital a few yrs ago and has been nicely revamped (frankly, it was dull and grey-the tipical east-Europe communist common face).

Plzen was my first experience of hard-core Warsaw Pactism - at around 05.30 on a December morning in 1973! It certainly felt grey at that time! I don't know when it was done up for the Euro Cap Culture, but I was there in the August of 2007 or 2008, and the central square is better than Prague. Or rather, the square is as good as Prague, but without the tourists! In fact, it was largely deserted at 09.00 in the morning.

I would recommend taking the Plzner Brewery visit even if you don't like beer - it's a fascinating mixture of social history and bio-chemistry (and yes, you get a small cup of natural beer at the end).

 

[Zamracene749]

If you enjoy riding older trains, the two hourly R services towards Ceske Budejovice and Brno are loco hauled, for now, by elderly class 242 with compartment stock. Get yourself into the often empty 1st class portion, get the window down and enjoy trains like they used to be while you still can! Some of the smaller branch lines nearby are really pretty too, around Klatovy, Domazlice etc There are many modern units working local services, plus a couple of Czech Pendolinos on the Prague to Cheb runs. The remaining Cheb to Prague runs are worked with smart brand new 'InterJet' sets, well worth a ride. The city has a good tram network with a mix of old and new vehicles, lots of great beer and one of Czech's only dedicated cider bars!

 

[morrisobrien]

Thank you all for the information.

 

[D6130]

If you have the time and the weather is fine, it's well worth paying the small fee to climb the tower of the big church in the main square. The view across the city and surrounding countryside is stupendous!