Short, snappy, in-the-know - and often cheeky - reviews set Prague 360 apart from the rest of the pack of city-specific Internet sites. That, along with the sheer breadth and depth of venues covered - is impressive. That it also offers panoramas of all these venues is icing on the cake and further differentiates the site.
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The site layout is simple, featuring a Flash-based interactive map of Prague on the left half of the screen and the review and panorama on the right. Select the section you are interested in from the top line menu - landmarks, cafes, bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants, shops, or WiFi hotspots - and the appropriate overlay of labels marking the locations appears on the map. Click on one of the locations and the review and panorama pop up in the right window.
The default QTVR images are somewhat small but load quickly and are detailed enough to give a good sense of the venue. Also, many of the entries offer fullscreen panos, in particular the Landmark section, which has 200 panos available in fullscreen, and the site is adding more all the time. All entries include the street address, operating hours, and telephone number.
Landmarks range from the well known Charles Bridge (“This is what really makes Prague a special place in the world. It's something most cities have never had, and this one is still here, somehow. From 1357 until 1741, this was the only way to cross the river in Prague. … They say it's built from mortar and eggs. … Today the most pickpockets per square meter in Prague are to be found on this bridge, as well as some interesting musicians playing wine glasses and other odd instruments. Be sure to come here at sunrise, when there are only birds and photographers”) and the offbeat, such as David Cerny's Pissing Men (“Quite a lovely sculpture for the rude age we live in. The pelvises of the two men pivot to the left and right, by the way.”), to those spots that only a local would be aware of, like the University of Industrial Art (“The end-of-semester exhibition of this school is not to be missed! Here you can find the products of the very freshest and most gifted brains and eyes of the Czech painting, sculpture, glass-making, animation, architecture, and ceramics.”).
La Bodeguita del Medio bar will appeal to “stinky cigar fans” while sitting outdoors sipping on a real mojito. (“A perfect spot for watching tribes of vomit-stained English bachelor parties or cute German high school field trips. The food is above average, and there is occasionally live music.”) While Musketyr restaurant “has that feeling that you've stepped into the eighteenth century but that all the feces which would normally be splattered all over the ground and even your own boots has magically disappeared; in its place is a polished but squeaky floor and a waitress who will stir your blood with immoral but thrilling thoughts. The meat here is pretty tasty, too.”
Other useful information directs the visitor to Kaaba, the only café that is actually open at 8am, when people want coffee the most, and free WiFi hotspots such as Kava, where “they sure don't have the best coffee in town, and it is quite overpriced to boot, however, it all becomes worthwhile when the drop dead beautiful waitress hands you a folded piece of paper with this week’s WEP code. Its free, you can surf as long as you keep refilling your mug, or buying some of their other so called cuisine.”
The site clearly aims to give unbiased yet entertaining reviews. “You don't want to read a restaurant review by someone who tells the restaurant that they're coming to make a review about it,” says Jeffrey Martin, an American living in Prague for the past six years who, together with partner Adam Trachtman, launched Prague 360 in February 2006 after working on the site for a year. “Most importantly, people can smell that a mile away, and don't respect it.”
A case in point is the Club section, which features some of the worst reviews on the site. (Duplex is described as a “slimy club for gelled polyester mobsters and their ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ dates … if you take enough pills you might be able to forget everything else”.) Martin explains “most clubs in Prague are vacuum cleaners for the endless supply of Western cash from young German, British, Italian, and American boy-students who still have the idea that they'll be seduced by some Slavic beauty queen just by being there. I'd like to dissuade the more enlightened tourists of Prague from going to these places and finding a more appropriate place to dance the night away, if given the opportunity!”
Martin found building a VR business in Prague difficult, citing some common problems found the world over - lack of awareness of the technology and low quality existing sites. The pair have found it rewarding, however, and are concentrating on building traffic, sales, and expanding the team. The goal is “to make it not only a valuable resource for prospective travelers but also a great daily VR log of one of the world’s most beautiful cities. … There are too many Prague ‘parasite’ websites that try to make money from clicks and give you no information at all,” says Martin.
One area that could use improvement is the map navigation. There is a multitude of listed venues, and even with the zoom function, orienting oneself to the busy layout of the city is tricky. Martin says they are working on a better map navigation system, as well as adding transportation routes. “The public transportation is extremely effective, reasonable, and well-maintained in Prague; it might even be the one thing that works most efficiently in all of the Czech Republic, in fact,” he says.
If a visit to Prague is in your future, Prague 360 is a must-visit site; if you’re not planning on visiting Prague anytime soon, check out the site for its entertaining reviews.
