Slapy - perfect escape from Prague for a weekend!

The only condition: sunny weather (it is becoming a rare blessing here!)

A 45 minute car or bus ride from Prague, a beautiful reservoir where you can swim, rent boats and windsurf. There are many nice bed & breakfasts and hotels around if you want to make a weekend out of the trip. There are camping areas as well, so you can even bring your own tents. Wooden cottages that can host up to 4 people are ideal if you want to go with friends and not to spend much for accommodation. At that time we we were there it was 575 Kc (~25 Euro) per night per bungalow, and that is about 6 euro per person at Autocamp Skalice! You only pay 40kc to park your car. The main beach area has changing rooms, a bar and fast food places. Food at those fast food places are not of good quality though. So you can consider to bring your own food. Or you can do what Czechs do; bring sausages and cook them on a fire! There are campfire areas as well.

Recommendation: We stayed at Autocamp Skalice. Their website says;

We invite you to visit Skalice campsite situated 35 km south of Prague, on the left bank of Lake Slapy. One of the advantages of this campsite is its close proximity to many historic Czech monuments - the castels Karlštejn, Orlík, Zvíkov, Dobříš, Příbram and Konopiště - as well as Prague. Of further interest is a 45 km boat excursion around Lake Slapy.

Services offered:
• cottages with accommodations for four people (bedsheets included)
• electric hook-ups for mobile homes and campers • campsites for tents
• a group kitchen with electric stoves and cold boxes
• restaurant services offering breakfast, lunch and dinner
• food and basic toiletries sold
• rental boats, bicycles, table tennis and badminton
• fishing Open from May 1 to September 30 We look forward to your visit and wish you a pleasant stay at Skalice

Contact phone: (mobile) +420 606 487 465

Prices: http://www.chatky.cz/e/cenik.htm

Reservation: You better make it in advance.

How to get there:

By bus: Not recommended but it's the cheapest way. Buses leave from Smichovske Nadrazi in Andel, Praha-5. Take yellow metro line to Smichovske Nadrazi station, get out of metro station to find bus stops in front of the train station. Then take bus to Buš - then walk about 1,5 km until the camping area. Buš is one of the villages around so there you must ask how to get to "Autocamp Skalice" by foot - it is near Vltava river. This walking part can become a pain on a sunny day, especially if you have heavy bags to carry.

By car: Use your GPS or road map. Here's the basic map - http://www.chatky.cz/mapa.htm

Slapy web-site (for Czech speakers) - www.slapy.cz

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I always wonder that there are so many great places around and inside Prague that are hidden from the tourists' and foreigners' eyes, but that are the top destinations and hang out places for the Czechs. It is a bit disappointing, as well, to explore such places nearby after long stay here. So the suggestion is to have more local friends anywhere you go in order not to miss to explore such hidden places of the locals.

We went there as a huge group of 20+ people and had a great weekend there. It was Andre's birthday party, and Alice - as a caring girlfriend - decided to organize such a trip for our AIESEC-bond friends in Prague. We drove there on Cedric's car, and it took about 40 mins only. Ride was great itself, it goes along Vltava river for most part of the trip. Also you gotta see how beautiful Czech countryside is in summer!

There are tonns of things you could do in Slapy. Swim in a dam (though you have the feeling of a lake), sail on paddle boats or row boats, relax on the beach, enjoy the campfire at night, go for hiking, play ball games, admire the morning fog over the lake... short and sweet things enough for relaxing weekend. Swimming, paddling and playing football during the day, watching Euro Cup game (where Russia trashed Netherlands) in the evening, and lighting up a campfire and surrounding it at nite and smoking shisha, and watching the morning fog over the lake... that was a great weekend!

More photos will be added once I get them. Always use your own camera!

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