Polarsteps Travel Editor Nicky Evans took the night train from the Netherlands to Prague, then worked her way around some of Czechia's other cities by train. She shares the highlights from her trip, and the stops she recommends on a Prague-plus itinerary.

First stop: Prague

After a night being lulled by the rocking and squeaking of the night train from Amsterdam, I pulled into Prague just in time for lunch. For anyone else traveling on the same route, here's my top tip: bypass the usual fast-food chains and head to the station's lofty Foyer Cafe for reviving coffee, elegant sandwiches, and skinny slices of layered honey cake in Art Nouveau surrounds. Lunch here was just what I needed to brace myself for the crush of Prague's crowds…

Prague was founded in the 9th century, and by the 14th century it had become the booming capital of the Holy Roman Empire, with an established Jewish Quarter whose synagogues and cemetery can still be explored. Today, the palaces and religious buildings of Prague’s enormous castle complex are the big-ticket attraction of ‘The City of 100 Spires’.

However, the city is crammed with culture, from the arresting street art of David Černý, Prague’s home-grown provocateur, to the museum dedicated to author Franz Kafka (who was also born in the city), plus neo-classical galleries, photography museums, and pretty parks and gardens.

If following hundreds of people around is not your idea of a good time, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy the Czech capital. I spent a few hours pounding Prague's busy streets and climbing its famous towers for sweeping bird’s-eye views of the capital. But I also took a tram ride away from the city's epicenter to visit DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, and found I had its exhibitions more or less to myself.

My recommendations in the Czech capital

• Short on time? Sign up for a free walking tour of the city to get a condensed history (don’t forget to tip!).

• Seek out hidden beauty free of charge: pop into the central post office to admire its dome and Art Nouveau murals, and see David Černý’s ‘Horse’ (a statue of St Wenceslas sitting on an upside-down, dead horse) in the Lucerna Arcade.

• Make a pitstop at one of the islands on the Vltava river, such as Střelecký Ostrov, which offers an open-air bar with live music, a break from the crowds, and alternative city views.

• If you’re staying for more than a day, explore neighborhoods such as Vršovice, Karlín, and Žižkov to experience the capital through a local lens.

On to Olomouc

After a full-on, high-sensory day of sightseeing in the capital, I was up early and back at Prague station for the next chapter of my Czech adventure: a two-hour journey eastward from the heart of Bohemia over to Moravia. I was ready for a change of pace, and in Olomouc, I got it.

Once one of the region’s key cities, Olomouc is absolutely bursting with churches, monuments, and grand historic buildings whose various architectural styles create a symphony of stone. What you won’t find here are the throngs of tourists that are part of the Prague experience. Instead, the laid-back streets of its pedestrianized center are refreshingly selfie-stick free — although the word about this under-the-radar treasure is slowly getting out.

Olomouc’s golden age spanned many centuries — it was an important administrative and religious seat of power in the Middle Ages, and its position at the heart of Moravia’s river and road networks made it a prosperous center for trade, leading to its strategic fortification in the 18th century. All that to say… in this small city, you’ll see a lot of impressively well-preserved Baroque and Renaissance buildings, pass museums hiding religious relics and glittering ceremonial artifacts, and find 30 churches.

Everything you see is designed to impress — in its heyday, Olomouc prided itself on being the most prestigious city in the region, and decorated its squares with ornate fountains and the 32-meter Holy Trinity Column to crush the competition and maintain its status.

But Olomouc isn’t stuck in the past. I was surprised by the city’s varied and upmarket dining scene, and loved how its cake-filled cafes, hip bakeries, and elegant, wine-forward restaurants are tucked into its centuries-old buildings, repurposed churches, and cobbled courtyards.

One eye-catching addition to the city is on its outskirts. Telegraph Pulse, a former factory, now houses a cultural hub. Inside, there's an art gallery, a seasonal restaurant with a weekly changing menu (plus more matcha-based drinks than the average TikTok feed), a co-working space, and a rooftop party venue.  

During my tour, my guide Stefan kept insisting that Olomouc is the perfect city, blending the beauty and history of Prague with the Moravian feel of Brno, but on a smaller scale. Since my next stop would be Brno, it was time to find out for myself how it compares…

My recommendations in Olomouc

• Duck into Palacký University’s arts faculty to admire the fresco-filled Baroque staircase.

• Invest in a 48-hour Olomouc Card to visit loads of historic buildings, churches, and viewpoints for the price of one single entry.

• Like Art Nouveau? Wander around Vila Primavesi, a national cultural monument.

• Check out the city’s astronomical clock — it looks like Prague’s, but the Catholic saints were replaced by communist heroes in the 1950s.

Bring on Brno

Brno, the historic capital of Moravia, is just an hour away from Olomouc, and the train whisked me there early the next morning. The two cities are wildly different in size — Brno is Czechia’s second-largest city after Prague. Like Olomouc, Brno’s squares are filled with lavish municipal monuments, from fountains representing courage, strength, and temperance, to a bullet-shaped, black-granite astronomical clock.

This clock is different to Czechia's traditional astronomical clocks in more than just looks. It strikes ‘midday’ at 11am, which was key to the defeat of the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War, so the story goes. At 11am, it releases a single glass marble — you can try to catch this spherical souvenir, but be sure to elbow your way in early!

It's not just Brno's clock that's shrouded in legend. There's the bare-bottomed gargoyle added to the Church of St James by its sculptor as a cheeky middle finger to a rival church whose spire wasn’t built quite so high. And the Old City Hall, which not only has a stuffed crocodile dangling from its entrance (apparently a ‘dragon’ that once terrorized citizens) but also features one twisted turret as part of its decoration, courtesy of another sculptor who decided to take revenge for his late payment… 

One of the must-sees in Brno is Villa Tugendhat, the UNESCO-listed home built with a limitless budget by Greta Tugendhat, the daughter of a wealthy textiles magnate. It was constructed in 1928, but as one of Europe’s preeminent examples of modernism, it feels curiously up to date — not surprising since it features a basement ‘technical floor’ that allowed the house to be air-conditioned and facilitated the automatic opening of its huge windows.

To see the villa’s opulent but minimalist interiors, you’ll need to book a 60- or 90-minute guided tour at least three months in advance — it’s that popular. You'll learn about the lives of the Tugendhat family, plus what happened to the house after they had to leave it. 

What I loved about Brno was its underground and overground contrasts. I descended to the city’s eerily lit ossuary, then climbed the double-helix staircase to the tower of the Church of St James next door to see its colorfully lit rafters, ring its giant bell, and get views of the city.

Similarly, I recommend climbing the hill to Spilberk Castle to learn about its past as a jail for political prisoners (from 1783 to 1855) and to enjoy panoramas of Brno from the grounds. While you’re there, visit the water tanks below ground, which have only recently been opened to the public as an eerie and echoey tourist attraction. 

My recommendations in Brno

• Dedicate a night to enjoying the city’s fun cocktail scene. Brno is proudly the birthplace of one of the world’s top bartenders (Alex Kratena), and its streets hide spunky speakeasies and classic bars shaking and stirring high-concept cocktails.

• Book a meal at a pivovar (brewpub) to share a wheel of beers, and enjoy chargrilled dishes and Moravian wines at restaurants like Long Story Short.

• Use Brno as a base for day trips! Both the UNESCO-listed Lednice Castle and the cave network of the Moravian Karst are easily reachable by train and bus. 

Another advantage of Brno is that it's close and well-connected to the Czech–Austrian border. This meant that, rather than retracing my rail journey back to Prague, I could take the train to Vienna, the Austrian capital, instead, and catch another sleeper train home from there.

My 5-day itinerary

Day 1: Amsterdam to Prague (European Sleeper; 12–13hr; seats, shared compartments, and private cabins available) 

Day 2: Prague to Olomouc (2hr 10min)

Day 3: Olomouc to Brno (1hr)

Day 4: Brno to Lednice (day trip; train + bus 1hr 10 min each way) 

Day 5: Brno to Vienna (2hr 10 min)

Vienna to Amsterdam (Nightjet; 14 hr; seats, shared couchettes, private cabins, and single-sleeper pods available)

Psst! Add extra days to this itinerary to delve into Vienna’s grandeur and sights.

Sleeping on the go

There’s nothing like leaving a destination at the end of one day and waking up in an entirely new place — that’s one of the hackiest things about train travel. So I was excited to test out two of the flagship sleeper-train routes that have become part of Europe's renewed rail revival in recent years.

I left Amsterdam on the European Sleeper, which connects Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany with Prague three nights per week. And I returned on the brand-new Nightjet, which has been running between Amsterdam and Vienna every night since May 2025. 

Both trains have their quirks and charms. The European Sleeper uses refurbished former Deutsche Bahn carriages that sleep up to six to a compartment — not exactly luxurious, but a terrific budget option (and you get breakfast thrown in with these tickets, too). Plus, the last part of the rail route, from Dresden to Prague, is an especially scenic stretch. 

The Nightjet feels more modern, with compact single-sleeper pods that give you a little extra privacy (if you're willing to splash out on them). Each compartment has small comforts like a reading light, a charging point, and a fold-out table for breakfast, which is brought to your bed. There’s a knack to sleeping on any moving train, but the extra comforts can make all the difference.

Whichever service you choose, earplugs and a sleep mask will be your friends. And remember to travel light! If your bag doesn’t fit underneath the seat of the European Sleeper (or in your designated Nightjet locker), you’ll be sharing your bed with it…

Images: Nicky Evans