Hotel Hastal Prague Old Town****

Hotel Hastal Prague Old Town
Hotel Hastal is located just outside the Jewish Quarter in Prague’s Old Town. The great location makes it easy to access all of Prague’s sights, especially if you take advantage of the subway and tram system. A tram stop is a short five minute walk from the hotel. If you walk five minutes in the opposite direction, you will find the Old Town Square, featuring the Tyn Church and the Old Town Hall Tower with its popular Astronomical Clock.
The hotel is not fancy, but is very comfortable and clean. Art Nouveau works from Alfons Mucha decorate the hallways and the rooms. Our room provided plenty of space along with a double bed, desk with a chair and closet. The room also included a small TV and a safe. The bathroom was spacious with a corner shower. The large double window overlooked a mostly quiet small square and church.
A delicious breakfast of hot and cold food is included with the room. The breakfast buffet includes eggs, sausage, meats, cheeses, breads, yogurts, cereals, and jams. The options do not rotate, so plan accordingly for long visits. A coffee machine and tea are available 24 hours a day, a very nice perk! We caffeinated up one afternoon before taking to the streets again for a concert.
A double room starts at 80 Euros (about $ 110) per night. We emailed the hotel, booking directly with them. A credit card number was required to hold the room, but only cash (USD, Euros, or Crowns) are accepted at checkout.
For Rick Steves followers, Rick recommends this hotel in his 2014 Prague & the Czech Republic Guidebook.

I read about this hotel is Rick Steves’ write-​up of places to stay in Prague. Based on that and the previous reviews, I went ahead and booked my 3 night stay. I did a Google Street View drive-​by (which includes a little inside navigation as well– very cool), so I kind of knew where to go and what to look for when I got there. While I was checking in with the friendly front desk clerk, the manager came up to me and personally greeted me and thanked me for coming. There is a nice large, wide stairway, but a handy elevator as well, which I was not expecting based many prior stays at smaller independent hotels throughout Europe. Not having to lug my bags up to the 3^rd floor was nice. The room seemed freshly renovated with delightful colors and wonderful European down bedding. Sure, the room is small by American standards, but by European standards it was exactly what I was expecting. There was a small flat screen TV, nice small desk, an armoire to store clothes, and a safe (but it was not bolted down, so I don’t know what purpose it would serve except to serve as a nice handy place to store all your valuables for someone to walk away with). The soap and shampoo provided could have been a little larger for my taste, but they provided fresh ones every day. Europeans don’t always provide a small washcloth with the assortment of towels, so bring your own if you need it. Air Conditioning is available, but you have to call to the front desk to have it activated remotely. I didn’t need it with an open window to the courtyard below. Wi-​fi (wi-​lan) worked great. Fast enough to download my favorite podcast and they have several repeaters for the various floors. The breakfast was one of the best ones I’ve ever had with a breakfast-​included hotel. Scrambled eggs, small sliced Czech-​style hot dogs, cereals, juices, teas, great coffee, breads, sliced meats, sliced cheeses, steamed vegetables, etc. A very nice lay-​out. I loved the automatic coffee/​espresso machine out in the lobby. Every time I came back to the hotel, I had it make me a nice fresh cup of espresso. Quality was way better than I was expecting from an automated machine. Loved that touch! Parking is a problem in any old-​town European city. If you have to bring a car, the hotel has an arrangement with a shopping center a short walk away where you can park your car in the underground garage. Again, this is one of the nicest garages I’ve ever been in. The Europeans really know how to make an underground concrete parking garage look very nice and pleasant. It cost me about a hundred dollars to park for 3 nights, so be aware that parking in a very dense European city is not cheap. When they give you directions to the parking garage, be careful that you do NOT inadvertently drive down into the garage marked «Palladium”– that is the garage for the mall across the street and they don’t have an arrangement with them. It’s east to get confused, so pay close attention to the driving directions given to you by the front desk clerk. Upon check-​out, I was again approached by the manager, thanking me very much for my stay. I must say, I have NEVER seen such friendly and grateful hotel management. They really strive hard to make sure your stay is pleasant. It seems they prefer that you pay in cash upon departing, which may be inconvenient. I don’t really understand why. Regardless, definitely stay here. You won’t regret it!