Just got back from a trip to the Czech Republic, Prague plus some countryside, and I’m honestly trying to understand if what we experienced is cultural or if we were just unlucky.
Almost everywhere we went, restaurants, taxis, hotels, people felt very cold. Not warm, not friendly, sometimes borderline rude. Very abrupt, no smiles, kind of transactional. At first I thought it was just Prague being overwhelmed with tourists, which I get, but we felt the same vibe in smaller towns too.
Restaurants stood out the most. Service often felt unpleasant start to finish, but then at the end we’d be directly asked how much we wanted to tip, like “10% or 15%?” That felt uncomfortable, especially after unfriendly service.
I’ve traveled a lot around Europe, including places with reputations for bluntness, but this felt different. Less direct, more cold.
Not trying to bash at all, just genuinely curious. Is this normal Czech communication style? Is tourism fatigue that bad right now? Or did we just have a run of bad experiences?
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