Cesky Krumlov · Backpacking

The guided interior routes need a timed slot and a guide. The castle museum and tower are self-guided and open daily 09:00-16:30 from September to the end of October, then Tuesday to Sunday 09:00-15:30 until 20 December, which is the cheapest way to get up the painted tower.

Terraced, free and open 07:00-19:00 daily from 1 May to 30 September and 07:00-17:00 through October. They close for the winter on 1 November, which removes the town's best free hour from the itinerary for half the year.

Horni 152, Tuesday to Sunday 09:00-12:00 and 12:30-17:00. Sixty crowns for adults, thirty reduced, a hundred for a family - and its ceramic model of the town around 1800 explains the street plan faster than any walking tour.

The train means changing at Ceske Budejovice onto a slow branch line, so the practical approach from Prague is the coach, which sets you down at the bus station on the edge of the old town and leaves you a short walk downhill. Beds and restaurant tables are easiest to get outside July and August.

The Regional Museum is 60 Kc, the gardens and the lanes are free, and the graphite mine - the one big-ticket item outside the castle - is 250 Kc, or 650 Kc for a family. Do the tower, the museum and the gardens and you have spent under 300 Kc on sights; the bed and the dinner are what push a Krumlov day over a Brno one.