Prague

💡Stamp the ticket as you board — it covers tram, metro and funicular

Buy it from the machine on the platform or on the app, then validate it in the little yellow box on your way in. There are thirty and ninety-minute tickets: ninety crosses the city with room to spare.

💡In restaurants in the centre, watch what lands on your table

The bread, nuts and dip that turn up unasked all get charged for, and you can simply hand them back. Read the menu before you sit down, too: on the main square the same dish is triple the price.

💡Beer costs less than water, and that isn't a figure of speech

Half a litre of Czech beer is cheaper than a bottle of water in the same bar. Away from the main square, dinner with a beer comes to less than a set lunch back home.

💡Don't change money at the exchange booths on the street

Czechia pays in crowns, and the offices in the centre advertise zero commission with a dreadful rate. Take money out of a bank ATM and pay by card: it will ask whether you want to pay in euros, and the answer is no.

💡You can see all of Prague before nine in the morning

The centre is small and by mid-morning it is full of tour groups. Get up early two days running and you will have the bridge, the square and the castle nearly to yourself; then nap like everyone else.