If you love Vietnamese food, you should check out the so-called little Hanoi aka Sapa, situated in Prague.

TTTM Sapa, located in the south surround of Prague called Písnice, is a wholesale market where you can buy a lot of stuff (the majority of the items sold comes from Asia of course). Actually it’s like a town in a town with different amenities for the Vietnamese community: restaurants and bistros (including bubble tea places) beauty salons, a school, a temple etc.

I’m a big fan of Sapa especially because of the food. I like the Vietnamese groceries, where you can buy different ingredients for Asian cuisine that you can not buy anywhere else (or they are way to expensive) – various vegetables and fruits, herbs, sauces, frozen prawns, alive crabs, strange looking meat, tea, rice, tofu and much more…

Besides checking the shops you should definitely eat there. The criteria of a good place to eat is simple: eat where local people eat. Places which are oriented in one type of food are usually the strike home. My favorite place is a tiny place named Hai Há – the have the best bún chả- it is rich and savory.

P.S. if you go to Sapa by bus, you can take bus 113 from metro station Kacerov (C line) – that is the best way. A second option is the bus 198 from Smichovske nadrazi metro station (B line). 

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Sapa | Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants (Vietnamese) | Bún chả CZK 90.00
Libušská 319/126 | Praha 4
09:00 – 20:00 daily

I discovered Merrygorando just a while ago while walking to Papelote shop (check the Papirnictvi Papelote article) to buy myself a nice notebook. At  first sight th Merrygorando shop appeared like another shop with T-shirts, but when I went inside and especially after a talk with the shop assistant I learned more about the concept and idea. On my second visit I bought nice T-shirt and presents for children of my friends.

Merrygorando concept store offers eco-friendly furniture, original lamps, T-shirts, fashion accessories, bags and toys, all under the brand Merrygorando. The offer is completed by pieces from Thai and Japanese designers. The designers of Merrygorando claim that they are creating the products with respect to our planet and they are very often using recycled and natural materials.

This attitude is best recognized on the funny toys that shine with beautiful colours and remind me of early Star Track fantasies of alien organisms. These are made in Thailand by designer Thongsuk Mongkhon who also cooperates with Merrygorando. The furniture is mostly made in Czech Republic and the motto of it is ‘fresh design of quality products for reasonable price’. I also admired the very original and merry watches that are surprisingly also made from recycled materials!

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Merrygorando | Shopping | T-shirt CZK 350.00
Vojtěšská 12 | Praha 1
Mon – Fri 12:00 – 20:00, Sat 12:00 – 16:00

Do you see the ties on the picture? This is what second-hand looks like. You can imagine any type of clothing, ties, shirts, trousers, T-shirts, dresses, and in this second-hand store you will always find many of those, so you will be amazed. This second-hand store offers the vintage clothes you can also find in the center of the city, but for a lower price.

The lower price is balanced by the effort you have to invest in searching. As I mentioned there are many pieces of one type of clothing. And not all of them are really tempting. But I found a wonderful shirt from the 50′s, a dress from the 70′s and let’s not speak about the 80′s and 90′s, because I found a jacket even Vanilla Ice would not be ashamed of.

The second-hand is located out of the center and I suggest you save some time to visit it. The connection can be found on this website – the final station is ‘Stare Namesti’. While walking to the shop you will pass a prison (who passes prison on a tourist visit??). The price is per piece or per kilogram and I suggest to negotiate when the piece is a little broken.

This spot is really for second-hand lovers. I like to relax here – I am being  honest, because I had two beers in Kulovy Blesk (check the Kulovy Blesk article) and I wished I had time to visit the shop right away.

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Ruzyňský second-hand | Shopping
Kralupská 2/47 | Praha 6 | +420235301251
Mon – Fri 09:00 – 18:00, Sat – Sun 09:00 – 15:00

The farmers’ market craze hit Prague in the spring 2010. It started with one or two test runs, with reserved support from the local city administration. But as soon as the maddening crowd started lining up for Czech-grown veggies, home-baked pastries and gluten-free sausages, every city district wanted to have a market of their own. Now, there are over thirty markets happening on different days all over Prague.

This was a long-time coming. After the fall of communism, and the fast economic growth of the country, informal markets fell out of favor. People flocked to supermarkets and hypermarkets. Recent years, though, have seen a reverse trend. Many city dwellers, frustrated with getting Spanish tomatoes and EU-sourced honey, even in the corner stores, have started seeking out locally grown and organic produce along with a nicer shopping experience.

Now, the Jiřák market looks similar to the food markets in West European cities that have a much longer history. Except, that the proportion of fresh produce to other products is much lower most of the year. Vegetables, fruit, dairy products and meat all come from Czech farms, and the vendors are surprisingly eager to tell you where their farm is located and even invite you to visit. In addition, there are always one or two fish stands, and you can find hand-made ceramics, Moravian wine, jams, pastries, the lot.

In the summer months, there is often live music, grilled meat and beer on tap, giving it a somewhat Czech beer garden feel.

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Jiřák Farmers’ Market | Shopping, Snacks, Festivals & events
nam. Jiřího z Poděbrad | Praha 3
Wed & Fri – Sat 08:00 – 18:00

If you want to bring home some real Czech made design, simply piece of well done work, visit the stationery shop Papelote. They call themselves ‘new’ but they truly represent the workmanship of the centuries. Papelote is a shop where you will find things manufactured mostly from paper. It sounds boring, but you would be surprised.

I love the way Papelote was founded, how it works now and what this manufacturer has achieved. And most of all I love the designs and products, which are both usable and beautiful. Papelote was first of all a dissertation of a graphic designer and illustrator Katerina Sachova, and later was developed into a living project and shop. Papelote works with paper and offers many kinds of notebooks, planners, cases and last but not least its famous binders. To have the gift unique, you can wrap it in the original wrapping paper. All products you will bring home are Czech made and from ecological materials.

Just as an interesting fact I wanted to mention that Papelote was awarded as Store of the Year on Czech Grand Design Awards 2011.

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Papírnictví Papelote | Art & culture, Shopping | Pencil Binder CZK 89.00
Vojtěšská 9 | Praha 1 | +420774719113
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 19:00, Sat 12:00 – 18:00

Julius FashionShop was on my way home for some time and I usually could not resist to pop inside and to look for some fashion rarity. I know I will always choose some original piece from the wide offer of accessories, or clothes from young Czech or foreign designers. The shop opened in 2008 and the owner Julia, who is present in the shop during the week, can help you while deciding which top fits you better or what would be a real catch from our Prague visit.

Although Jullius Fashion Shop is rather tiny, it concentrates a lot of things – clothes for men and women, bags and purses, brooches, earrings and other jewelery. My recent favorite is a selection of jewelery by Jara design, whose designs are mostly made from steel, porcelain and glass.

A tip for little present, always original, is a notebook or diary with a design from Tarakan. Simply get inspired and be sure, that dressed in any piece from Julius, you will be sticking out from the crowd.

If you’re not able to visit Julius FashionShop, you can order some present (of course for yourself!:-) in the e-shop. They ship worldwide after you both agree on the shipping price.

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Julius FashionShop | Shopping | Top YaxiTaxi CZK 1500.00
Ostrovní 20 | Praha 1
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 19:00, Sat 11:00 – 18:00

As you enter the front space of Dobra Trafika on Korunni you find yourself in a normal cafe combined with a trafika – or a newspaper and tobacco shop. But when you enter the main room in the back, you actual feel like you’re in someone’s living room. And it has to be noted, that this someone collects random old furniture, likes to play boardgames and used to smoke.

The backroom is filled with random chairs, a big comfy couch, an old armchair that you have to fall into at least once, and similarly haphazard objects on the walls. One of my favorite things about Dobra Trafika has always been the backyard, which, although small, is quiet and peaceful for great summer-time conversations and real Vinohrady courtyard feel. Recently, they made a kind of wooden shed extension of the cafe, taking up half of the yard, so you can sit there even if it’s raining or not so warm out.

The cafe has an absurdly long list of exotic teas and coffees (they even have a shop selling them separately two doors down) and serves up small and curious snacks like half a pita bread filled with apple and cinnamon or banana. There are also books sold at the front.

This place is great to come and just relax, feeling slightly cut off from the world in the quiet back room or the yard. The service is usually not that speedy, but in a place like this, it really doesn’t have to be.

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Dobrá trafika | Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks | Cappuccino CZK 35
Korunní 42 | Praha 2 | +420737907635
Mon – Fri 06:30 – 23:00, Sat 07:30 – 23:00, Sun 09:00 – 23:00

We are living in an age of globalization and it is more and more difficult to find locally produced consumer goods. That is one of the reasons, why I like Botas – a brand of Czech sneakers. 

Botas is originally a Czechoslovak shoe-making company (named Botana at the beginning) which started to specialize on sport shoes under the brand Botas in the sixties. The model Classis, which was born in 1966 was reborn few years ago thanks to two young designers. The guys took the model of the original shoe and redesigned it, adding a modern cool look and some new elements to it. The company bought their idea and this is how a new era of Botas started. 

The easiest way where to buy Botas sneakers (and some other interesting design stuff) is at their concept store Botas 66, located in a small narrow street. Like the shoes, the design of the shop itself is modern and unique and the staff is friendly.  

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Botas concept store | Shopping | Shoes CZK 1099
Konviktská 30 | Praha 1
11:00 – 20:00 daily

Just a few steps from Charles bridge, lies a store for all who seek out English-language books. Although Shakespeare and Sons has shed its other Prague location in Krymská street, the Old Town shop is still one of the best places to get both variety and good prices. Even by the sheer number of books on their shelves, neither Big Ben Bookshop nor the Globe come close.

In the best tradition of New York’s Strand book store, Shakespeare has an element of ordered chaos. The top floor seems to be meticulously arranged by category, but as one heads downstairs to the basement, the boxes of used books, French-language books, sci-fi reveal the intellectual entropy beneath the surface. There are special gems to be found among the used copies, but Shakespeare is also a good place to get the more obscure new English-language titles that haven’t or won’t make it to the English sections of giants like Neoluxor. One can roam undisturbed among the hushed and dimly lit bookshelves for hours.

It’s also not a bad place if you’re looking for some serious Pragensia and are not satisfied with the five touristy books on offer everywhere else. You can get quality history books on Prague and lots of Czech literature in translation here as well.

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Shakespeare and Sons | Shopping | Average book CZK 250
U Lužického semináře 10 | Praha 1 | +420257531894
11:00-19:00 daily

You will not only find bars and cafés at Újezd. On the corner, there is also a shop you might not have seen before. In Czech, this kind of shop is called „vetešnictví” (literally „junk-shop”) and they were quite popular some hundred year ago. There are not many left these days and that makes this one even more special (I bet it has been there for at least a century)

In this shop you can get just about anything. Old postcards, sewing machines, musical instruments, books, maps, dishes, coffee pots, beer bottles – to start with. Everyone will probably find their sort of thing and won’t leave bare-handed. The prices are naturally very low, although perhaps if you start speaking some other language than Czech, you might get a mark-up.

When you come in, it feels like another world. Most of all in winter, when it is freezing outside, it is a great place to wait for a tram to come… The room is very dark and crowded with all kinds of stuff. I would recommend visiting on a cold winter day, it is particularly nice to go and see this warm and dark place, then. Oh, and if you are really broke, you can sell some stuff too…

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Vetešnictví na Újezdě | Shopping
Vítězná 16 | Praha 1 | +420257310611
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 16:00