Traditional Czech food consists of hearty meat dishes with clear influences from neighbouring Austria and Hungary. There is a wide selection of restaurants, beer taverns and wine cellars. 

National specialities:
• Svičkova (beef tenderloin with a sour cream sauce) is the national dish, typically served with cranberries and dumplings.
• Polevka (soup) is a common starter and comes in a variety of flavours including garlic (česnečka) and onion (cibulačka).
• Bramborák (a potato fritter flavoured with garlic and herbs).
• Kapr (carp) is the national fish, traditionally served at Christmas. 

National drinks:
• Pivo (beer, both pale lager, or pilsner, and dark ales, or černý pivo).
• Vino (wine, red, white and sparkling, from Bohemia and Moravia).
• Becherovka (herbal bitters from Karlovy Vary).
• Slivovice (plum brandy).
• Merunkovice (apricot brandy). 

Legal drinking age: 18.

Tipping: It is customary to tip 10-15% for good service in a restaurant.

Prague has a diverse nightlife scene with everything from theatre, ballet and opera to lap dancing bars and casinos, and a seemingly infinite range of cafes, bars, jazz joints and nightclubs. The city-centre districts of Starě Město and Malá Strana are crammed with pubs, clubs and music venues mostly aimed at the tourist market, while the area around Wenceslas Square has a concentration of sports bars and strip clubs - stay clear of this part of town if you want to avoid drunken stag parties.

The up-and-coming suburbs of Vinohrady, just east of Prague city centre, and Holešovice, to the north, have lots of cool cafes and hip cocktail bars, and are also home to some of the city's top clubs, including Radost FX (website: www.radostfx.cz) and the Cross Club (website: www.crossclub.cz). The website www.prague.tv has extensive nightlife listings.

Brno, the Czech Republic's second city, also has a varied nightlife and has its own opera and ballet venue in the Janáček Theatre. Spa resorts such as Karlovy Vary support a lively cultural scene, with a regular programme of classical concerts, and a stylish casino.

Souvenirs include Bohemian glass and crystal, pottery, porcelain, wooden folk carvings, hand-embroidered clothing, and food items. There are a number of excellent shops specialising in glass and crystal, while various associations of regional artists and craftspeople run their own retail outlets (pay in local currency).

Other special purchases include pottery (particularly from Kolovec and Strážnice); china ornaments and geyserstone carvings from Karlovy Vary; delicate lace and needle embroidery from many Moravian towns; and blood-red garnets and semi-precious stones from Bohemia.

Shopping hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1800. Some stores, especially in smaller towns and rural areas, close at 1200 on Saturdays, while others in larger towns and cities also open 1000-1600 on Sundays. Supermarkets and food shops in large towns and cities are open from 0700 and often stay open until late.