2-Day Hluboka and Cesky Krumlov Tour from Prague

I would like to copy/paste most of the email my friend and I sent to both Grey Line and Viator (who be booked through) regarding this tour we went on in July 2017. We did not entirely remember the guide's name but it was something along the lines of Julie or Julia. We want to stress that we enjoyed the places we went to see - but due to our guide, our experience was severely marred. We did get a bit of a refund but we wanted our experience to be known by others. Here comes our letter: -- To whom it may concern, We are writing to you fresh from a two day tour to Cesky Krumlov and Budejovice/Hluboka as advertised here and on Viator. I would like to highlight several concerns I have had on this trip. The itinerary for the two day tour has, on paper, been lovely. However, the whole experience has been marred by one of your team. It is with deep regret that we have to inform you of the inappropriate, prejudiced and racist conduct and language that we have witnessed today. Your representative Julie has made her views on the EU, Muslims, the Chinese and the Turkish alarmingly clear throughout the day and her commentary has been incredibly biased and has made all of the customers today deeply uncomfortable [have asked everyone in the party]. When correcting her on facts on our countries, she could not have been more rude or unpleasant, and saying “oh really” in a condescending tone. Let’s start from the beginning. When the tour officially started at the Grey Line Office we noticed that Julie mentioned that we would not be joining the tour. She said “Our two friends will be dropped off as Hluboká nad Vltavou first and then we go to Cesky Krumlov. When we went to the front of the coach to tell her that we are supposed to be dropped off after the tour, she kept almost shouting “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t have money for you for the castle” and could not have expressed her feelings of our “inconvenience” more. She repeatedly told us that this would “take up time” and that it “was a bother” and would turn her head or sigh loudly and roll her eyes when we tried telling her that was the itinerary we had. We had to call the company ourselves to sort this out because she wouldn’t listen and the company had to call her directly. After arguing (or what it seemed like to us) with the office, she came to our seats to inform us we would continue with them on the tour but that we had to pay for the castle ourselves and that the driver picking us up the day after would pay us back that fee. She took us to Cesky Budejovice first after repeatedly stating “I don’t know why we are going there, it is nothing nice, nice square that’s it, waste of time”. This attitude of hers diminished our enjoyment of that part of the tour. She repeatedly told us to stay with her or else we would get left behind and kept saying we were running late for lunch. At lunch at Eggenberg in Cesky Krumlov, everything was pretty busy as it was around 13:00. She seemed rather rude to the waitresses, didn’t really translate much of what was said (only “there is beef, beef, pork, fish” and such). My friend and I were thinking of trout when we were told that it would take 30 minutes and Julie almost flipped out. She put her head in her hands and asked us to pick something else that “would not take so long to cook”. My friend and I were a bit put off by the way she asked us to do this (as she did it a bit rudely) but understood why It had to be done and changed what we ordered. The lunch took long time to make, which was understandable as the place was really busy. When we got our meals she told us we would have 30 minutes to eat and to please “hurry”. We ate as we could and 15 minutes later she was freaking out about there being no time and ushered us out of the restaurant. In other words, she promised at least 30 minutes of eating but we could only eat for 15-20 minutes. Some of us hadn’t even finished half of their meal! During our wait for lunch, I overheard her talking to a family in our group, where she sounded very prejudiced. She took us out of the restaurant to walk through to the castle. We (my friend and I and the guide) went to buy our tickets and Julie made sure we got the receipt for them. She then took us to the panoramic viewpoints before she took us back to do the castle tour. The tour itself was very interesting and we had fun! We were not looking forward to it ending. We met Julie outside where she graciously allowed people to use the bathroom before she took us to the baroque gardens and back down through the castle to walk through the town itself. We did not get any free time to ourselves to explore the town. We had to follow her and not get lost. During our walk around she came to us to ask us to give the driver a tip, but frankly she bullied us to give him a tip. We were thankful for his driving but to nowhere that extent after all the trouble we had been through – so we left a few coins with him. She thankfully did not ask for a tip herself – something we would’ve flat out refused to do. The ride to Hluboka nad Vltavou itself went well. They got us to the village but stopped the minibus down the hill by where the church and information centre is. They then told us we needed to walk to the accommodation ourselves with our two full suitcases and backpacks. This is because they told us that the “bus could not go up the hill”. We said okay and didn’t mind (really) to get to walk a bit but then we realised we needed to take the suitcases up a really steep hill. We would have appreciated some help but they just drove away straight after. We became even more confused when a larger FULLSIZE coach drove down past us down the hill. My friend and I took our suitcases up the hill, both pulled them and pushed them before we arrived at the hotel. When we got in there seemed to be a bit of trouble with finding our reservation – we told them it was under Viator or maybe our names but she could not find it. We called the company and handed over the phone where everything was settled nicely and they found our reservation. The hotel itself was really nice and we were very happy to be there in such beautiful surroundings next to Hluboka castle. The staff were nice and accommodating. Now, when they dropped us by the church/information centre, Julie stated clearly that we were to be there at that place by 5:00 ready to be picked up. On the day we were to be picked up, the hotel staff told us the driver would meet us outside at 5:30. We asked if that was still at the bottom of the hill, but she did not know. So we left the hotel early, just in case, and sat down by our drop-off point an hour early. At 5:30 we spotted an unmarked van driving up the hill, thinking it might be our guide. And it was. The company had to call us to ask us where we were and he came back down the hill and was obviously very distressed on our behalf. When we explained our situation, he promptly reimbursed us the money for the castle and encouraged us to contact Grey Line and Viator in regards to the previous guide and an unsatisfactory tour. Peter was friendly, communicative and clearly loves his job. We have found his name mentioned several times in the reviews for this tour and we wished we could’ve had him as our guide. Peter felt so bad for us that he very kindly even drove us to our next accommodation, which we greatly appreciated. We are concerned that Julie/Julia will continue to guide and that she might damage the reputation of Grey Line, as she has with our experience. Yours faithfully -- I want to stress that we really did enjoy all the places we visited on the trip but the guide did marr our experience of them. This can be a great tour if you go with the right guide! If you do decide on this tour, I would recommend requesting Peter as he was very friendly and informative!

Cesky Krumlov is nice and beautiful. However, most people take this trip as a day tour. Of the 9 people that went with me from Prague, I was the only person left behind at Hluboka in Hotel Stekl. There is no program on Day 2. I am to wait till 5pm for this next day's day tour guests to finish the same 1 day tour and travel back to Prague along with them. As a solo traveller, I didn't enjoy the hotel at all. I was given a room at the attic, and I was the only occupant on that floor. I asked for a different room to be placed near to other people there were only very few other guests at the hotel to begin with, but not granted. The corridor leading to the room only gets lit up when the sensor detects a movement along the corridor so it's pitch dark when u exit the lift or from the room. The room itself is also poorly lit. I was a little spooked out being in the hotel. Decided to book a taxi on my own and left that very night without staying and went back to Prague. I would suggest to book this tour as a day trip, unless you like to stay in a very quiet hotel converted from the annexes of an old castle.

This was an amazing experience. The stay is Stekl Hotel, which is within the Hluboka Castle tour was an unforgettably romantic experience. Even though the castles are closed during the month on March, there are short tours available for one wing of the Hluboka Castle and there is a museum within the Cesky Krumlov castle. In the morning one can wake up early and walk around Hluboka Castle in complete solitude! Cesky Krumlov is a beautiful historic town and well worth going to. I would also recommend the little shop on Dlouha street which sells genuine hand made souvenirs made by Czech artists. The tour guide, Petr, was first class. His knowledge is exceptional, he is happy to answer any questions and is very flexible and knows all the special places. You can trust his recommendations as he has over 20 years of experience. He made sure I made the maximum opportunity during my stay there. The tour will run even if you are the only booker, which was my case, and it was a fantastic experience. Highly recommended, I cannot praise it enough - any time of the year. Will be less tourists around in the winter months. The South Bohemian countryside is gorgeous.