Czech Republic Tours with Flights from €1,473

Start with how these trips are built, because it shapes everything else. Only a rare few stay inside the Czech Republic; the great majority are Central-Europe circuits, and the archetype is Prague-Vienna-Budapest. Wingbuddy runs exactly this as a 10-day trip at around €1,545, and it's the one most first-timers should be eyeing: two or three nights in each capital, coach transfers between them, guided city walks, and the three great Habsburg-era cities in a single sweep.

That shape exists because the Czech Republic is landlocked, with no coastline and no river cruise to anchor it the way the Danube anchors its neighbours. Prague is genuinely one of Europe's best-preserved old cities, but two and a half days covers its headline sights at a comfortable pace, so operators pair it with Vienna (90 minutes by road or rail) and Budapest beyond. The result is an overland route, almost always by coach, occasionally by train.

If you want the wider loop, Europamundo's 6-day Imperial Capitals at around €712 is the budget take on the same idea, and G Adventures' 14-day Best of Eastern Europe at around €3,127 stretches the circuit east into Poland and the Balkans. Cosmos runs a 15-day Central Europe trip at around €2,915 for travellers who want the full sweep. The pattern holds across all of them: Prague leads, the route runs on.

Prague rewards a slow wander far more than a checklist, though the checklist is real enough. Old Town Square is the centre of gravity: the Astronomical Clock (the Orloj) runs its hourly procession of apostles, the Gothic Týn Church frames the square, and the Jan Hus monument holds the middle. Give it a morning, then circle back at night when the crowds thin and the facades glow.

Charles Bridge is the city's connective tissue — a 14th-century stone span lined with baroque statues, linking the Old Town to the Lesser Town below the castle. Cross it early, before 8am, if you want it without the buskers and portrait artists. On the far side, Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle complex in the world by area, and St Vitus Cathedral inside it is the most stirring interior in the city. Set aside half a day; the climb up through the Lesser Town is part of the pleasure.

Beyond the postcard core, the Jewish Quarter (Josefov) holds six synagogues and the haunting Old Jewish Cemetery, while the views from Petrín Hill or the Letná beer garden lay the whole red-roofed sweep out in front of you. Most circuit tours give Prague two nights, enough for the headline sights but not the neighbourhoods — so if Prague is the part you most want, hunt out the rare Czech-focused departures that hold here three nights instead of two.

Two Czech towns earn their place on a longer itinerary. Cesky Krumlov is the obvious one: a tiny medieval town in South Bohemia cradled in a loop of the Vltava, with a castle and a round painted tower lording it over a tangle of cobbled lanes. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and looks almost theatrical — plenty of travellers rate it ahead of Prague for sheer prettiness. It sits about three hours south of Prague by road, which is why it turns up mainly on the longer or Czech-focused tours rather than the tight three-capital circuits. If your itinerary offers it as an add-on day, take it.

Kutná Hora is the other, an hour east of Prague and so an easy half-day. Its draw is the Sedlec Ossuary, a small chapel decorated with the bones of tens of thousands of people — chandelier of human skeletons and all. Macabre and unforgettable, with the town's Gothic Church of St Barbara, a silver-mining-era cathedral, as the gentler counterweight.

Both are worth knowing about precisely because the standard Prague-Vienna-Budapest circuit skips them. If you'd rather go deeper into the Czech Republic than wider across Central Europe, seek out the smaller crop of Czech-focused tours — Intrepid Travel and G Adventures run them now and then — and check Cesky Krumlov is on the map before you book.

May, June and September are the kindest months for a Czech circuit: daytime highs of 18-24°C, long daylight, and the cities lively but not overrun. July and August turn warm (often 25-30°C) and crowded, with Prague's Old Town Square genuinely packed at midday — go early and late, and expect tour prices at their peak. April and October are pleasant shoulders with thinner crowds and softer prices, though April can be wet and October cool.

The winter exception is the headline. Prague's Christmas markets are world-famous, and deservedly so: the Old Town Square market sets a towering tree against the Týn Church, with wooden stalls of svarák (mulled wine), trdelník (spit-roasted pastry) and Czech crafts. The Wenceslas Square market adds a second hub a short walk away. They run late November through early January and turn the December circuit into a different kind of trip — colder (often around 0°C, sometimes below), dark by 4pm, but atmospheric in a way the summer crowds never quite manage. Vienna and Budapest run their own celebrated markets along the same route, so a December Prague-Vienna-Budapest tour is effectively a three-city Christmas-market crawl.

If the markets are your reason to go, book the December dates early — this is the one time of year demand for the region really spikes, and the best-value departures are gone by autumn.

Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) is the natural way in and the start of most circuits.

From the US, you'll connect through a European hub — there's no nonstop to Prague from most cities. From the East Coast (New York, Boston, Washington) it's 9-12 hours total via London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Munich, with round-trips around US$600-$1,050 in the shoulders and US$1,050-$1,550 at summer peak; from the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco) it's 14-17 hours and US$850-$1,450. Fly United, American or Delta to their European partners, or Lufthansa, KLM, Air France and British Airways onward.

From Australia it's a real long-haul: 22-26 hours via a Gulf hub (Emirates through Dubai, Qatar through Doha, Etihad through Abu Dhabi) or an Asian one (Singapore Airlines). From Sydney or Melbourne, reckon A$1,800-$2,600 in the shoulders and A$2,600-$3,400 over the December-January peak. The one-stop Gulf routings are the smooth way to do it.

From Canada, Toronto and Montreal connect in 10-13 hours via London, Frankfurt or Vienna on Air Canada and partners, with round-trips around C$850-$1,450 in the shoulders. From the UK and Europe it's the simple leg: low-cost carriers (Ryanair, Wizz Air, easyJet) run €40-€120 return from Dublin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid or the Nordic capitals in shoulder season and €120-€220 at summer and December peak; full-service lines (Lufthansa, KLM, Air France) sit a little higher with a checked bag. Flight time is roughly 2-2.5 hours from the UK and Ireland, 1-2 hours from mainland Europe.

Here's where the bundle earns its keep. The classic Prague-Vienna-Budapest circuit doesn't end where it starts — it finishes in Budapest, or sometimes Vienna. That makes an open-jaw flight (into Prague PRG, out of Budapest BUD or Vienna VIE) the smart move. You skip a full backtracking day to Prague at the end, and an open-jaw pair usually prices within €30-€60 of a Prague round-trip. Both Budapest and Vienna are major hubs with frequent connections home, so the return leg is rarely the costly part.

When you bundle on Multiday.tours, the live Kiwi flight price from your chosen origin airport shows alongside the tour, in your own currency — including the open-jaw option where the tour ends in a different city — so you can weigh the true all-in cost before committing to either booking. These are approximate fares, not live schedules; the bundle prices your real flight.