Ella and I recently returned from a 10-day trip to three different European countries. Our final stop was the Czech Republic, and it may have been my favorite of the three!  We spent three nights in Prague for $0. Here’s how we did Prague on Points and Miles!

 

Getting There

We were traveling from Vienna, so we decided to take the train to Prague. The train ride lasted about 4 hours, and time passed quickly as we enjoyed the beautiful scenery. 

I purchased our tickets through the Trainline website. Our tickets arrived via email and we simply had to show the QR code to the person scanning tickets on board. My favorite resource for train travel in Europe is The Man in Seat 61. You can find all the info you need about this route (including seating options, train line companies, and more) on his site.

I splurged on first-class seats for us—when your hotel nights are free, it’s fun to splurge on some additional comfort! For two one-way tickets in first class, I paid $304 total ($152 each). Seats in standard class were around $95 each (you can also find them for much cheaper if you’re willing to travel early in the morning or later at night). I did not redeem points or miles for these tickets, but I could have used the Capital One purchase eraser to “erase” the cost with my miles if my goal was to get this trip as close to free as possible.

 

Accommodation—Nights 1 and 2

We spent our first two nights at the Andaz Prague. The Andaz Prague is a category 6 Hyatt property, so award nights cost between 21,000-29,000 points/night. I redeemed a category 1-7 free night award for our first night (that I earned as a Milestone Reward), and 21,000 points for our second night.

I also considered staying at the Lindner Hotel Prague Castle. It’s a Category 1 Hyatt property, so award nights start at just 3,500 points/per night! But I decided I’d rather be more centrally located in Prague as we only had a few nights, so I ultimately went with the Andaz. The Lindner has mostly positive reviews if you’d prefer to save your points.

I cannot say enough good things about the Andaz. It was probably my favorite property of the entire trip. It opened in 2022, so it’s new and beautiful, and the location is unbeatable.

I booked a standard king room, but thanks to my Globalist status, we were upgraded to a premium suite at check-in. The Wintergarden Suite was breathtaking, and I had several pinch-me moments when I couldn’t believe that we were staying in such a gorgeous suite for free. 

 

 

 

The tram stops outside the Andaz, making getting around via public transportation very easy. We also walked pretty much everywhere and adored the cobblestone streets and architecture.

 

 

The Andaz also offers a unique complimentary happy hour each evening in their bar/lounge, Mez. They bring over a few scents, you smell them and choose one, and they make you a cocktail based on your chosen scent. We went both nights of our stay and enjoyed the drinks (and they were free)!

 

 

The Andaz Prague offers breakfast in their main restaurant, ZEM (they have a la carte or buffet options), or via room service. Both breakfast in the restaurant and room service are included for Globalists. We opted to have room service one morning and breakfast at ZEM our second morning (there are more options at the restaurant). We thought the food was excellent. 

 

 

The night we arrived, we also had dinner at ZEM, and it was fabulous. It serves Czech/Japanese fusion cuisine, and we enjoyed gyoza, shrimp yakitori, and truffle potatoes.

 

 

Accommodation—Night 3

Of course, we had to take a page from Pam’s book and hotel hop for our last night. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6 am (!) the following morning, so we wanted to be close to the airport. We took an Uber from the Andaz Prague to the Courtyard Prague Airport. 

I redeemed 24,000 Marriott points for our one-night stay in a two-twin room. The hotel is just a short walk to the airport, which made our early morning wake-up a little less painful. 

 

 

Getting Home

For our flights home, I flew from Prague to Houston, and Ella flew from Prague to Chicago. I booked my flight on KLM for 20,000 Flying Blue miles + $154.40 in taxes and fees. I transferred the miles from American Express to Flying Blue (all four major banks transfer to Flying Blue).

Ella’s flight from Prague to Chicago was also on KLM, but was available to book via Virgin Atlantic for only 16,000 miles (instead of 20,000 via KLM). When booking, there was a 30% transfer bonus from Capital One to Virgin Atlantic. We transferred 12,400 Capital One miles to Virgin Atlantic (which became 16,120 miles with the transfer bonus) and paid $196.50 in taxes and fees. We were on the same flight for the Prague to Amsterdam leg, then went our separate ways in Amsterdam.

 

Upgrading to Business Class

At check-in, we each had the option to pay cash to upgrade to business class via the KLM app on the Amsterdam to Chicago/Houston flight. We both took it! Ella’s upgrade was around $700 (the flight from AMS to ORD is 9 hours). My upgrade was around $1,000 (the flight from AMS to IAH is 11 hours). I am typically willing to pay up to $100/hour to upgrade to business class for long-haul flights, and after that 3:30 am wake-up call, it was so nice to relax in business class on the long flight home!

We also both received the famous KLM Delft houses that they hand out in business class (I’m not going to lie, this was a huge motivator for the upgrade). 

 

 

Things to Do In/Around Prague

Here are some of our favorite things we did during our short stay in the Czech Republic:

• Grand City Scrooser Tour (booked via Airbnb experiences). We saw beautiful views from all around the city!

 

 

• Dinner at Field. You definitely need a reservation! This is a Michelin-starred restaurant and the best meal of the entire trip.

 

 

• Day trip to Český Krumlov. This was our favorite day of the entire trip. We organized the private day trip through the Andaz concierge. It was a two-hour drive from the Andaz. This was one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen!

 

 

Bottom Line

My trip to Prague on points and miles is one I will never forget.  I loved Prague even more than I thought I would, and I can’t wait to return!

 

Related Posts

• Visiting Prague on Points & Miles
• KLM Business Class Review