Prague to Bergen and Venice: Two Routes Worth Building a Trip Around
Smartwings' new winter connections open up Norway's fjords and Italian charm for Czech-based groups — and the itinerary potential is spectacular.
There are routes, and then there are routes. The kind that make a destination planner sit up straight, reach for a notepad, and start thinking in itineraries. Smartwings has just handed Prague two of those in one announcement, and the winter season will never look the same.
From October 2026, the Czech carrier will operate new direct services from Prague to both Venice (from 22 October, four times weekly) and Bergen (from 26 October, twice weekly). For incentive houses and group travel buyers working with Central European clients — or inbound groups routing through Prague — this is genuinely exciting news dressed up as a flight schedule update.
Bergen: Norway's Fjord Capital Is Now Within Easy Reach
Let's start in the north, where the scenery is so aggressively beautiful that even seasoned travellers find themselves gripping a railing and going suspiciously quiet.
Bergen is the gateway to Norway's fjord country — a UNESCO-listed landscape of cliffs, waterfalls and mirror-still water that makes every group photo look professionally composed. The city itself is charming and human-scaled, with a historic Bryggen wharf, an excellent food scene, and the kind of atmosphere that makes delegates feel they've discovered something rather than simply been taken somewhere.
For incentive programmes, this opens up extraordinary possibilities: private fjord cruises, exclusive lodge stays deep in the Hardangerfjord, and RIB boat adventures that make team-building actually enjoyable. Winter in this part of Norway also brings a genuine chance of Northern Lights sightings — and few things bond a group quite like standing in the dark together, staring upward, saying nothing.
📩 Get in touch with our Norway DMC team
Venice: Still Incomparable, Even in Winter
Venice in winter is a different city entirely — and for group travel purposes, that's almost entirely a compliment. The crowds thin, the light goes cinematic, and the city reveals itself as something genuinely ethereal rather than merely extremely popular.
Four weekly Prague–Venice connections open up possibilities that seasonal summer schedules don't easily accommodate. Private gondola experiences, exclusive use of a palazzo for a gala dinner, art world access during the post-Biennale season, tailor-made Murano glass experiences, and the kind of quiet canal-side morning that delegates will describe in performance reviews for years — Venice delivers a specific kind of magic that no other European city replicates.
📩 Get in touch with our Venice DMC team
Why Prague Itself Deserves a Mention
These routes also work in reverse. Both Bergen and Venice have groups looking for Central European city breaks, and Prague — golden, affordable by Western standards, and extraordinarily beautiful — is a superb incentive destination in its own right. A two-city programme combining Prague with either destination is a genuinely compelling pitch.
📩 Get in touch with our Prague DMC team
The Details That Make the Difference
New routes create access. DMCs create experiences. Whether your group is chasing Northern Lights from a glass-roofed lodge or sipping Aperol in a private Venetian courtyard, the difference between good and unforgettable lies in the local knowledge behind every arrangement.
Intrigued by what a Bergen or Venice incentive program could look like? Contact our DMC partners in Norway or Italy and let's build something worth the flight.
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