Kids in Prague

Equinoxe Bowling Centre with Kids Lane, Prague 5

Sports and Fitness on 10 August 2011 by Karen

image

You will find this 6-lane, family-friendly bowling venue on the top floor of Novy Smichov Shopping Centre in Andel. Kids barriers are available on 2 of these lanes.

We have been here on a number of occasions with both of our boys, aged 8 and 4, and have always enjoyed ourselves. There are no specific kids bowling balls available but most young kids can use bowling ball no: 6, which weighing just under 3kg, is the smallest one available. Robbie used this ball and was more than able to throw it down the lane without too much trouble. Four-year-old Albie always bowled together with me, and we managed with both no: 6 as well as no: 8 (about 3.5kg).

imageimage

I often see young families (Czech and Expat) bowling here together and the staff are always quite friendly and accommodating. The place usually fills up after lunch (around 1pm) and since there is a bar, the place (unfortunately) tends to fill up with smoke a bit.

imageimage

During our last visit, we arrived on Saturday morning right on opening time at 11am and it was totally customer and smoke-free. One disadvantage at coming so early however, was that the machines programmed to lift and lower the pins, and keep the balls moving back up the lanes, kept breaking down a lot. The technician explained that the more people there are using the lanes, the better, as everything tends to works in synch. At any rate, while our lane was being fixed, the boys were able to spend some time playing on some of the Harley - Davidson rides located right next to the billiard tables.

image

Due to the wait, we only got charged for 1 game instead of 2, even though it did not take that long to fix up our lane. I have to say, that despite the slightly smoky air in the afternoons, the overall atmosphere is a bit more exciting when there are more people around. It also makes us sound a lot less noisy!

image

No food is served at this establishment, but there are plenty of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available. On the same floor however, there is a fairly large food court offering Chinese, Lebanese, Italian and Czech cuisine, as well as the usual fast food chain options.

We often find ourselves going to ‘Česky Svět’, Czech Restaurant, which is kid friendly and serves very nice, creamy ‘Svickova’. All of the food is mainly Czech but they also offer soups, pastas, risottos and vegetarian dishes. There is no kids’ menu as such, but several of the dishes such as Svickova, Spaghetti and Schnitzels can be ordered as half-portions for the kids. The menu is available in English, and contains coloured photographs of several of the dishes, to help in your selection. High chairs are available and so are a few toys, colouring pencils and paper. The restaurant also has kids’ cutlery and special Cappy fruit juices just for kids. Adjacent to the restaurant are childrens’ toilets with special, small basins as well as a baby change table.

image

If your kids have been extra good, you might want to reward them with a ride on the lovely Carousel which is right next to Equinoxe Bowling Centre. The newly refurbished Indoor Playground (Detsky Koutek) can be found on the 1st floor and if you’d prefer to go outside and play, then Sacre Coeur Outdoor Playground is less than a five minute walk away. You can also combine your visit with Sunday Brunch at the Movenpick Hotel which is also nearby.

imageimage

OPEN: 11.00 to 01:00

ADDRESS: Novy Smichov Shopping Centre, Plzenska 8, Prague 5;  tel: 257 213 307

DIRECTIONS: Easily reached by car or public transportation. You can park underneath in the huge car park at Novy Smichov Shopping Mall. The first 3 hours are free, on weekends the first 5 hours are free. By Metro: take the yellow B line to station ANDEL. By Tram: Take 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 20 or 34 to tram stop ANDEL.

PRICE LIST: Sun - Thu: 11.00-15.00 (190 CZK); 15.00-19.00 (290 CZK); 19.00-01.00 (390 CZK);Student discounts are available between: 11.00-15.00 (190 CZK);Fri - Sat: 11.00-19.00 (290 CZK); 19.00-01.00 (430 CZK); The prices quoated are for one lane for one hour.Credit cards are not accepted.

FURTHER INFORMATION: http://www.equinoxe.cz (Czech only)