Day trips from Prague: Kutná Hora, Český Krumlov and Bohemia

Prague sits in the geographical centre of Bohemia, and the territory surrounding it rewards treatment as a base rather than a destination in itself. Within ninety minutes to two hours of the city centre lie some of Central Europe's most distinctive historic towns — visited by a fraction of the people who crowd the Charles Bridge, and in most cases more rewarding for it.

Kutná Hora, ninety minutes from Prague by direct train, is a UNESCO World Heritage town built on the silver mining wealth of medieval Bohemia. The cathedral of Saint Barbara — a Gothic masterpiece begun in 1388, its flying buttresses and tent-roof towers spreading across a hillside above the town — is one of the finest Gothic buildings in Central Europe and is visited by a small fraction of the people who queue at Prague's astronomical clock. The Sedlec Ossuary, fifteen minutes' walk from the town centre, is the building most people arrive for: a small chapel whose interior is decorated entirely with the bones of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, arranged into chandeliers, coats of arms and garlands of skulls by a nineteenth-century woodcarver. It is extraordinary and genuinely strange in equal measure.

Český Krumlov, three hours south by direct bus from Prague's Florenc terminal, is the most visually complete medieval town in the Czech Republic. The town wraps around a river bend in the South Bohemian hills; the castle above it, the second-largest in the country, contains a Baroque theatre with original stage machinery still operational. The town itself is small enough to walk entirely in an afternoon, which means day-trippers arrive and depart on the same coach and the evenings belong largely to guests staying the night — the strong recommendation. Overnight in Český Krumlov, after the coaches have left, is one of the better decisions available in Central Europe travel.

Karlovy Vary, ninety minutes west by direct train, occupies a different register entirely. The spa town was built over the nineteenth century as a retreat for European aristocracy taking the colonnaded spring waters. The architecture is Austro-Hungarian imperial; the walking circuit along the Teplá river through covered colonnades is unlike anything else in the Czech Republic. The tradition of carrying an ornate spa cup and drinking the mineral spring water — which is hot and tastes distinctly of iron and sulphur, for the record — has a sincere absurdity that makes it worth doing once. Karlovy Vary also hosts one of Central Europe's better international film festivals, typically in early July, which gives it a time-specific reason to visit that most Czech towns cannot offer.

The practical logistics: Prague's bus terminal at Florenc and the main train station Hlavní nádraží connect to all three destinations. Student Agency coaches to Český Krumlov and Karlovy Vary are comfortable, reliable and cheap — advance booking is recommended for weekends. For Kutná Hora, the direct train from Masarykovo nádraží is the better option. Any of the three works as a day trip from Prague, but all three reward an overnight stay if the schedule allows — and the Bohemian countryside between them, of rolling hills, carp ponds and river valleys, is worth a car rental for anyone wanting the version of the Czech Republic the Old Town queue does not prepare you for.