Weekend Pass, The Augustine, Prague

PRAGUE has 100 spires, and every one is a church. With a population that is three-quarters atheist, the city's religious leaders of the city have never given up the battle for the citizens' souls.

One of the most beautiful churches is St Thomas's, which is linked via a courtyard to the Augustine hotel. The former St Thomas's monastery was recently converted, along with six other buildings dating from between the 13th and 17th centuries, and is located on the picturesque cobbled streets of the Mala Strana district, underneath the castle complex that dominates the skyline. It retains an ecclesiastic feel, with the conversion of friars' cells into spacious, airy rooms featuring vaulted ceilings, beams and original doors, spaced out like beads on a rosary along long, peaceful corridors .

How do I get there?

Fly with Jet2 (www.jet2.com) from Edinburgh, with return fares this month from around 130, plus taxes and charges. Prague Ruzyne international airport is a 30-minute drive from the hotel.

What's the food like?

Heavenly. There is nothing austere about the dishes served up in the Monastery Restaurant, housed in a glass-covered courtyard. Executive chef Richard Fuchs follows the seasons with Czech specialities and European brasserie fare, and my starter of roasted pheasant with bacon, mash and leeks and main course of pumpkin risotto with seared scallops were divine.

Then there is the Brewery Bar, in the cellars that once housed the monastery brewery, where the menu includes roasted goose with cumin and apple, braised red cabbage and bread and potato dumplings, and where the Czech prime minister had dined the day before our visit.

Bed test

All 101 bedrooms and 16 suites are different: some green with purple accents, others grey with orange. Mine majored in heavy linens, velvet cushions and paisley-patterned throws. Cleanliness is next to godliness, and the en-suite bathroom was as big as the room itself and a paradise of marble, fluffy towels and bubbles that would make both communists and clerics foam at the mouth. If you really want a night to remember, the three-storey suite in the monastery's tower has amazing 360-degree views for which you needn't even get out of bed.

Out and about

The location can't be bettered. Step out of the front door and you're in the thick of Prague and its multiple tourist attractions. The Castle, Lennon Wall, Charles Bridge, the Astronomical Clock and tower in the Old Town Square, the Jewish Quarter, Museum of Communism, Municipal House and Wenceslas Square are all a short walk away, and you'll be able to cover most of it on foot. Should you wish to explore further, the tram system is cheap and efficient, and there is a multitude of art nouveau, art deco and just plain arty cafs and bars in which to rest your feet and watch the world, the tourists and the big grey Vltava river slide by. Restaurant Mlynec (wow.zatisigroup.eu), beside the Charles Bridge, is a must if you're feeling flush, and manager Thomas Vetrovec revels in serving up the best of Czech and Thai cuisine, celebrating the evolution of native cookery from the days when he says only dishes found in the Communist Party's state cook book could be found in restaurants.

Little extras

The stalactite-studded Basement Bar in the Augustine cellar is the place to sample St Thomas beer, formerly brewed by the friars from 1352 and now made specially for the hotel by a family-run micro brewery outside Prague. Upstairs, on the ground floor in Tom's Bar, the original baroque frescoes on the ceiling can be enjoyed every time you tip your head back to swallow, and the proximity of the stunning church next door means there's no excuse not to nip along for mass in the morning, performed by the remaining monks, and repent the excesses of the night before. Even the most confirmed atheist couldn't fail to be fascinated by the skeleton of the martyr Saint Just, resting in a glass case in his faded velvet garb. And for further spiritual healing there's the spa and gym, where treatments include being scrubbed with hops and then wrapped in towels soaked in beer, just in case you haven't quite had your fill.

The bottom line

Accommodation starts from around 199 a night for a double room, and includes breakfast.

Letenska 12/33, Mala Strana, 118 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic (00 800 7666 6667, www.theaugustine.com)