When we are discussing where to go for a weekend, one of the main criteria is – how long would it take to drive there? At the moment, the maximum acceptable time is about two hours. That’s how long our youngest child, not even two-years old, can sleep in the car. Peace and quiet. So now you can basically more or less predict, which places we did or would travel to – just draw a circle around Pardubice with a 2-hour drive radius.
One of the lucky places that actually fit into our travel areal was Špindlerův Mlýn – a tiny village up in the mountains of Krkonoše region. Obviously, it’s more popular during the winter season for all the skiing and snowboarding fans, but even in summer there’re enough visitors coming here for hiking or just a breath of fresh mountain air, so it doesn’t feel deserted at all. However, the prices for accommodation are pleasantly lower than in high season ;)
We stayed in an apartment in Monika Pension. It’s located a bit higher than the central streets, but we easily walked around the town even with the kids – it is really small. I found it really convenient booking apartments instead of hotel rooms, now that there’re four of us (there were five of us on this trip, as my sister came visiting us all the way from Shanghai). You can get a one or two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and it would still be cheaper than a larger family room or two rooms in a hotel. Just have a look around on booking.com, for example.
As our kids were too small for hiking, we just walked around Špindlerův Mlýn, enjoying the views of the mountains and pretty houses, but there’re plenty of hiking routes in that area, so you can easily turn this trip into a more sporty activity.
We ate out in several local restaurants, mainly Czech cuisine. Normally, I rather like local food, but I found that it was quite plain and unimpressive here. I guess, with such a quick visitors’ turnover, the restaurants don’t really care whether the clients would feel like coming back – there will be many more new ones tomorrow.
Main languages spoken here by local staff in restaurants and hotels are Czech and German, only some people that we met spoke English. A man working in a pension where we stayed spoke Russian as well, which was better than his English, although worse than his German :)
In my opinion, a weekend is enough for a family with small kids, but if your children are older and ready for some more adventures in the wild wild Czech mountains, there’re plenty of activities to keep them occupied for a longer stay.
tinyexpats.com 
[…] Mlýn the Krkonoše Mountains (in English – Giant Mountains), you can read about that trip here. It was really beautiful there, but the slopes were too steep for small kids to roam around freely […]
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Špindlerův Mlýn looks wonderful – postcard perfect but shame the food wasn’t up to scratch. I can see why you would only want to drive 2 hours – totally makes sense. I am for apartments now, too. I find having our own space is so much more relaxing. #citytripping
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True – so used to apartments, hard to go back to booking hotels :)
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We’re definitely apartment people too, it’s just so much more convenient for cooking etc. My kids are older so I’d have dragged them on a walk or two :-) Great to find your blog by the way and read about your relocation adventures. #citytripping
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Thank you and likewise :))
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I do miss the days where my daughter could be guaranteed to drop off whenever we drove somewhere! But a great plan to make the most of it – and I agree, with kids it’s much easier in an apartment. Thanks for joining up with #citytripping
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I will be missing those daily naps for sure :) Thank you for hosting the linkup!
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Lovely looking place.
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We have been using Airbnb for holidays and also for booking somewhere for a week after we moved out of our house before coming here to South Africa – so far we have found it to be excellent. Reay good value and, like you say, so much better to have separate bedrooms, a living area and a good kitchen. I prefer to have the option to self-cater, even if it just means getting a take-away. It certainly saves on the money and I also get fed up of eating out after a few days. Anyway this looks like a lovely spot but like others say, shame about the food :)
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Totally agree – always great to have a kitchen, especially with the kids! I was told the food might have been crap as it was off season. Oh well. We enjoyed the stay anyways :)
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What a picturesque place. I wonder what the skiing is like there in the winter….I’ve never thought of the Czech Republic as a being a big ski destination. Glad you had a good time – shame about the food. Thanks for linking to #citytripping x
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There’re lots of Czechs and Germans there skiing in winter. The season is quite short, but much cheaper than in Germany or Switzerland. Thank you for hosting the linkup ;)
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Yes, I bet it’s cheaper! You’re welcome x
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