Prague (Czech: Praha) http://www.prague-info.cz is the capital city and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is one of the larger cities of Central Europe and has served as the capital of the historic region of Bohemia for centuries.

Get in

By plane

Ruzyně International Airport, (IATA: PRG), +420 220 111 111, +420 296 661 111 http://www.prg.aero/. Located 20km northwest of the city centre, it generally takes about 30 minutes to reach the city centre by car. The airport is served by a number of airlines:

• Wizz Air http://www.wizzair.com is a low cost airline with a significant base in Prague operating to European destinations including Liverpool, London, Barcelona, Milan and Paris amongst others.
• Czech Airlines (ČSA) http://www.czechairlines.com/ is the national carrier operating to many European and international destinations, including London, Paris, or numerous other European and some Asian destinations.
• easyJet http://www.easyjet.com/ operates low cost services to European destinations.
• BMIbaby http://www.bmibaby.com/ low cost services from the UK only.
• Jet2.com http://www.jet2.com/ low cost services from Manchester, Leeds/Bradford & Edinburgh
• SmartWings to Europe & Turkey.
• Swiss International http://www.swiss.com/ flies to Zurich, Basel and Geneva.
• Aer Lingus from the Irish cities of Dublin & Cork.
• Norwegian http://www.norwegian.com/ from Scandinavia.
• Delta Air Lines http://www.delta.com/ Atlanta and other destinations in the United States.
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines http://www.klm.com 5 direct flights per day from Amsterdam.
• British Airways http://www.ba.com has about 3 direct flights to London Heathrow daily.
• Brussels Airlines http://www.brusselsairlines.com offers 3 flights a day to Brussels.
• Lufthansa http://www.lufthansa.com offers 6 flights a day from Frankfurt and 4 from Munich.
• TAP http://www.flytap.com offers daily direct flights from Lisbon and Oporto..

Getting into the city from the airport

• By bus: The cheapest way to get to the city is by bus, but be sure to have some Czech Crowns ready. Buy a ticket from the kiosk in the arrivals hall or the vending machine, next to the bus stop, for 26 CZK (13 CZK extra for a larger piece of luggage). You can also buy the ticket from the driver, but it is more expensive. No machines or drivers accept foreign currencies. Take bus 119 to its terminus (Dejvická) and go downstairs to the metro. Your ticket will continue to be valid in the metro. Alternately, bus 100 takes you to subway station Zličín (metro B). Remember to validate your ticket as soon as you get on the bus by sticking it into a yellow machine with green glowing arrow. If you fail to do so and an inspector catches you, you'll be fined 700 CZK. Tickets are also available from the DPP kiosk in the arrivals area of Terminal 1. 24-hour, 3-day and 5-day tickets are also available here.

• Airport Express (bus operated by Czech Railways): These buses leave the airport every 30 minutes; the first one at 5:46AM while the last one at 9:16PM at a price of 50 CZK per person (or less, if bought as a part of railway ticket further into Czech Republic). Tickets are available from the driver. They will take you to the railway and subway station Dejvická and Masarykovo nádraží. The last stop will be Prague's main train station ("Hlavní nádraží" which is commonly abbreviated in Czech as "Praha hl.n."). From there the bus operates back to the airport. Schedule: http://jizdnirady.idnes.cz/praha/spojeni/?f=Terminal+1&t=Hlavni+nadrazi&direct=True&lng=E

• Cedaz bus: http://www.cedaz.cz/ These buses operate from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. every half hour. They will take you past the subway station Dejvická (metro A) and into the city centre to the Náměstí Republiky (metro B). Fares are 120 CZK per person. The easiest way to get to your hotel, however, is to use the company's shared-ride transfer service. They will take you direct to the door of your hotel, delivering groups of 1-4 passengers for 480 CZK or 980 CZK for 5-8 passengers. The drivers can be clearly seen straight outside the doors of the terminal building, just be sure to check that they have the correct identification.

• By shuttle: Various companies run shuttle services to the hotel and back. They can be found at the airport arrival halls. They usually charge around 600 CZK for trip and in general are a bit cheaper than the taxis.

• By taxi: The most comfortable method to reach the city will cost around 500 to 700 CZK with AAA. AAA http://www.aaa-taxi.cz has an exclusive contract with Prague airport to have a fleet of taxis waiting. For a bargain, call one of their competitors such as Profi Taxi http://www.profitaxi.cz/, Taxi Praha http://taxi-praha.cz/, Halo Taxi http://www.halotaxi.cz/eng/index.php and others or choose any cab standing on parkings or soliciting inside the terminal building, but then check the price before you enter the car.

By train

All international trains arrive at Praha hlavní nádraží (the central station, abbreviated to Praha hl.n.) which has connections with Metro Line C.

The park in front of the main train station is a haunt for some of the city's undesirable elements and should be avoided after dark. If you do have to come through on foot, it's best to avoid coming through the park and approach from the Southeast along Washingtonova. As you get to the corner of the park there's a police station, so the likelihood of running into problems from this direction is minimalised. The station is currently undergoing a major refurbishment, alas the 70s style will be lost, but the toilets might be cleaned up once in a while. Beware of the taxi drivers operating from the (official-looking) taxi rank alongside Praha hl.n.; they will attempt to charge a fixed price of CZK1760 (~USD100) for a trip within the city center zone, or more than this if you want to travel further.

Eurocity trains connect Prague to Berlin, Vienna and Budapest. It is a very comfortable way of travel, but not as quick as in other countries - Eurocity has average speed about 120 km/h as the Czech railway network is not suitable for higher speeds. From Berlin, a train reaches Prague in just under five hours, from Vienna in 4-4.5 hours and from Budapest in 6.5 hours. The train line from Berlin to Prague passes through the Erzgebirge mountains, and for a couple of hours the passengers are treated to a series of beautiful alpine river valleys, surrounded by rocky escarpments and mountains. Between Nuremberg to Prague, there is a direct express bus service run by the German and Chech railway companies, which only takes 3:45 hours (while the trains take 5 hours or more).

Since 2005, faster Super City Pendolino http://www.scpendolino.cz/ trains operate from Ostrava (3.5 hours), Olomouc (just over two hours), and Vienna (4 hours) to Prague. Reservation is necessary on these trains. If you come to Prague by SC Pendolino, you can use Airport Express to Prague Airport without any additional fee. These buses operate every 30 minutes (5:15AM to 9:45PM). Without a SC Pendolino ticket, you will have to pay 45 CZK to the driver.

Train connections from western countries such as France and the United Kingdom are complicated and slow because of the layout of German railways, which lead mainly from north to south, with no direct connections from east to west. The route with the fewest connections is Prague-Berlin-Paris, but you can shave a few hours off your route if you're willing to transfer several times; eg. Prague-Nurnberg-Stuttgart-Paris can be done in 12 hours. Trains from within Germany can be best scheduled through the 'Deutsche Bahn' website http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml. Direct trains run several times a week from Prague to the Netherlands, reaching Amsterdam in about 14 hours.

The Czech Republic is now covered by the Global Eurail pass http://www.eurail.com/eurail_passes and can be included in other Eurail passes.

By car

Prague has highway connections from five major directions. Unfortunately, the highway network in the Czech Republic is quite incomplete and some highways are old and in poor condition. Thus, the highway connection from Prague to the border of the Czech Republic is available only in two directions - southeast and southwest. The south-western highway (D5; international E50) leads through Pilsen (Plzeň) to Germany. The D5 highway continues in Germany as A6. Riding from the state border to Prague takes about an hour and a half (160 km). The south-eastern highway (D1) is the Czech Republic's oldest and most used highway - as such it's in a rather poor condition. It leads through Brno to Bratislava in Slovakia. It offers a good connection to Vienna, Budapest and all traffic from the east. It runs for 250km, and usually takes over two hours. To the northwest you can take highway D8 (E55), but it is not complete to the German border. It ends now at Lovosice (about 60 km from Prague and starts again in Usti nad Labem and continues to the northern Germany via A17 (Dresden, Berlin, Leipzig). To the northeast you can take highway R10 (E65). It is strictly speaking a motorway, not a highway, but it has four lanes and differs little from a highway. It leads from Liberec to Turnov. It isn't regarded as an important access route, as there are no major cities in this direction (Zittau in Germany, some cities in Poland), however it offers a good connection to the Czech mountains Jizerské hory and Krkonoše (Riesengebirge) with the best Czech skiing resorts. To the east you can take the newly completed D11 (E67), which goes to Hradec Kralove. It leads to Poland.

Czech highways are under development (D8 and D11 are being extended, D3 to Ceske Budejovice and Linz is supposed to be completed in 2020) so it's hoped that things will get better. Unless there are road works, there are only seldom traffic jams on Czech highways, with the exception of D1 near Prague (and near Mirosovice (direction to Ceske Budejovice and Linz, and Brno, too)).

Prague suffers from heavy traffic and on week days the main streets are one big traffic jam. Moreover, Prague still doesn't have a complete highway outer circuit. It is a really good idea to use the P+R (park and ride) parking places, where you can park your car for a very small fee and use public transport. The P+Rs are situated near all highways and are well marked. Note that traffic wardens are rife and parking in most residential streets in and around Prague city centre (even after dark) without a valid permit will result in a parking fine. In particular, avoid blue-marked areas which are parking-restricted area if you don't want your car to get towed away within the hour.

By bus

The main bus station for international buses in Prague is Florenc, in Praha 8 (metro lines B and C). It is located east of the city centre. In June 2009 a new terminal building was opened.

Eurolines http://www.eurolines.com/ and Student Agency http://www.studentagency.cz/ connect Prague to major European cities. Other, less frequently used bus stations are at Nádraží Holešovice (metro C), Dejvická (A), Zličín (B) and Černý most (B).

Get around

Public transportation is very convenient in most of the areas visitors are likely to frequent.

Walking

Prague is renowned as a very "walkable" city. For those who enjoy seeing the old and new city by foot, one can easily walk from Wenceslas Square to the Old Town Square, or from the Old Town to Charles Bridge and the Palace (Hrad) District. However almost all of the streets are cobbled, rendering it very difficult for disabled or elderly travellers to get around effectively. Also, pedestrians should enter crosswalks carefully in Prague, as drivers are not as likely to yield as they are in other European cities.

Remember that in the Czech Republic, it is illegal to cross at a pedestrian crossing on a red man, and if caught this incurs a fine of 1000kč.

Shuttle

Shared minibus airport service is cheaper alternative to regular door-to-door private transfers. One can find easy-to-follow website at www.123-Prague.com http://www.123-Prague.com/, eventually shuttle service is available through http://www.Prague-shuttle.cz http://www.Prague-shuttle.cz/. The shuttle costs around 18 Euro per up to 4 passengers and one drop off address.

Taxi

Try to avoid getting taxi on the street (public transportation is always the better option in Prague) and if you have to, try to negotiate the price in advance. It’s advisable to call one of the major Prague Taxi services:

• Prague airport taxi & transfers, +420 777 885 925 http://www.prague-airport-taxi-transfers.cz/.
• Taxi Praha, +420 222 111 000 http://taxi-praha.cz/.
• Profi Taxi, +420 844 700 800 http://www.profitaxi.cz/.
• PAT Taxi, +420 800 870 888 http://www.prague-airport-transfers.co.uk/.
• City Taxi, +420 257 257 257 http://www.citytaxi.cz.
• Halo Taxi, +420 244 114 411 http://www.halotaxi.cz/.
• AAA Radiotaxi, +420 222 333 222 http://www.aaa-taxi.cz.
• Speedcars, +420 224 234 234 http://www.speedcars.cz. This is not a taxi service, but well controlled 'individual transport service' by provider.
• Prague Airport Transfers Guide, +420 774 477 955 http://www.prague-airport-transfers-guide.com. Not a taxi service but an individual transport service for fixed price to any place in Prague.

Deceptive taxi drivers are another trap that can badly surprise a tourist. Mostly they charge more than they should. The municipal council has been trying to solve this problem since the Prague mayor dressed up as an Italian tourist and was repeatedly overcharged. The most frequent cases of cheating happen between the railway station or airport and hotel. If you must take a taxi, and cannot call one directly or call your hotel for a referral, the best way to find a reputable one may be to look for a hotel and ask them to call a taxi.

Always insist on having the taxi-meter turned on and ask for a receipt once you leave the taxi. The receipt should have driver's name, address and tax identification number included. Even though you ask for receipt the taxi-meter could be tampered with so called "turbo", which will cause the taxi-meter price go sky high.

If you go for waving the taxi on the street make sure you stop car with logo of one of the major companies. It's not a bullet proof solution, but at least you have some chance to get some satisfaction from the taxi dispatching company.

About two years ago, an information desk was set up on most taxi stands in the city, with orientation prices to most popular destinations from that stand. But there is a mistake in the local law, which actually allows some of the taxi companies renting the taxi stands (specifically around Old Town square) to charge VERY high prices (about 99Kč/Km). There is an ongoing law suit regarding this, however the practice still hasn't stopped. The most infamous company in this regard is a recently created AAA Taxi s.r.o. deliberately creating its name to resemble regulated and popular AAA Radiotaxi Praha, however AAA Taxi cabs charge up to four times more for a ride, they even do not provide services to Czech customershttp://www.praguepost.com/news/1903-taxi-ruling-could-take-years.html. Visitors are advised to to use the services of proved phone-order taxis, as they are even reports of robberies with street cruising taxishttp://www.sedazona.cz/2009/09/neznamy-svet-taxikarske-mafie/.

If you're not speaking Czech, then be prepared there is about 50% chance to get cheated by a taxi driver, when stopping taxi in the city center. So be always on watch as that is a standard warning in any guide book about Prague.

If you are convinced you got overcharged by the taxi driver, mark the car ID numbers (license plate, taxi license number on the car door, driver name etc.) and contact the company, which the driver is working for (if any) or police. The problem is that you have to testify against the driver, which is kind of hard when you're on the other side of the world. Try to avoid suspicious taxis and if you find even a grain of suspicion, then walk away catching another taxi.

Other alternative is to use some of the chauffeured services companies like Prague Airport Transfers s.r.o. http://www.prague-airport-transfers.co.uk or FEBA Trade Limousine Car Service http://www.febatrade.cz/ or even cheaper but as reliable HFS s.r.o. - 123-Prague-Airport-Transfer.com http://www.123-Prague-Airport-Transfer.com/. Should you need to travel out of Prague, Taxi & Transfers http://www.Taxi-transfers.cz/ operated by HFS s.r.o. may be an alternative. Transfers are operated daily, both ways from Prague as well as to Prague, and at fixed reasonable rates.

Some hotels offer taxi services. Make sure to compare the price with other companies. Some hotel taxis are cheap but others are more than twice the price and the car is not always identified as being a taxi.

Tram and metro

There are three main subway lines (Czech: metro), and numerous bus and tram (streetcar) lines. The tram and bus schedules are posted on the stops, and the metro operates from very early in the morning (around 5:00AM) until approximately midnight. The schedules and connections may also be checked online from the website of Prague Public Transit http://www.dpp.cz/idos/ConnForm.aspx?tt=pid&cl=E5 http://www.dpp.cz/en. Purchase a limited (30 minutes or 5 stops in the metro or 20 minutes in buses and trams, no transfers at all) for 18 Kc or a 75-minute transfer ticket for 26 Kc at any dispenser using coins (they give change), or tobacco shop. Ensure you always have some coins, because the only way to buy ticket on some stations (or at night time) is to use a ticket machine. Discounted tickets for children up to 15 years are also available.

You may purchase 24-hour, 3-day or 5-day tickets at ticket offices in some metro stations. A 24-hour ticket costs 100 Kc, and may be both cheaper and more convenient than buying separate tickets for each journey. Tickets for 3 or 5 days allow for free accompaniment of one child between the age of 6 and 14 (inclusive). The same ticket may be used on metro, tram or bus, including transfer from one to the other, during its time period. Time stamp your ticket by slipping it into one of several boxes in the tram or bus as soon as you board, stamp metro tickets before entering the stations (imitate the locals), and keep it handy until it expires.

Tickets are not checked upon boarding, but uniformed and plain-clothes ticket inspectors often make the rounds asking to see your ticket. These inspectors have mostly improved a great deal, and usually speak a fair amount of English and are fairly polite in their difficult jobs. One problem is false inspectors who most often ride the trams between "Malostranske Namesti" and Prague Castle - these deceivers can be detected by asking for the identity card which should be possessed by every inspector. An unstamped ticket is invalid, it will be confiscated, and you will incur a 700 Kc fine. Even though "riding black" seems easy in Prague, you should invest in the cheap ticket, for the simple reason that Prague's transportation works perfectly, and it functions on the honor system - help it stay that way.

Public transport continues at night. Night trams or night buses (00:00 to 5:00AM) usually come every 30 minutes. Every 15 minutes during this time, trams leave the central exchange stop of Lazarská in the centre of Prague. All night trams go through this stop. You can easily change tram lines here if not anywhere else.

Do not underestimate how close to the footpath the trams will be when they reach the stop. It's safer to take a few steps back before the tram arrives as wing mirrors could cause injury for taller people. When you use public transport in Prague, keep in mind that it is good etiquette to let elderly people, pregnant women or disabled people sit down.

By boat

You can travel down the famous Vltava River (Moldau, in German), which inspired writers and composers such as Smetana and Dvorak.

Get out

Buses and trains are frequent and quite inexpensive and can get you to even the smallest village.

Practically every major European city can be reached by bus or train from Prague.

Regular buses are available to the following Czech towns, travel times in brackets:

• Brno (210 km; 02h05 in car)
• České Budejovice (152 km; 02h14 in car)
• Český Krumlov (179 km; 02h40 in car)
• Frýdek Místek (373 km; 03h37 in car)
• Hradec Králové (117 km; 01h28 in car)
• Jihlava (132 km; 01h25 in car)
• Karlovy Vary (127 km; 01h55 in car)
• Kroměříž (272 km; 02h34 in car)
• Liberec (112 km; 01h20 in car)
• Nový Jičín (346 km; 03h12 in car)
• Olomouc (284 km; 02h43 in car) — 284 km from Prague, but with a good train connection, former capital of Moravia, beautiful old city, famous medieval astronomical clock.
• Ostrava (377 km; 03h31 in car)
• Písek (107 km; 01h35 in car) — Beautiful South Bohemian town with the country's oldest bridge
• Plzeň (94 km; 01h18 in car) — Home of the world-famous Pilsener brewery
• Uherské Hradiště (283km; 03h01 in car)
• Zlín (301 km; 03h08 in car)

For just a small selection of further places off the beaten path:

• Kutná Hora (84 km; 01h24 in car) — A once prosperous silver mining town in the 14th and 15th centuries with the fantastic Saint Barbara church, and the Sedlec Ossuary located in the suburbs, decorated with the remains of 40,000 human skeletons who were largely plague victims.
• Novosedly na Moravě (248 km; 02h30 in car) — Take a horseback trip through the vineyards of Moravia
• Vyšší Brod (205 km; 02h59 in car) — Three day canoe trip from the Sumava mountains through Český Krumlov
• Vysočina (155 km; 02h04 in car) — Great mountain area for hiking, located halfway between Prague and Brno
• Beroun (36 km; 00h42 in car) — Small city located on the way to Plzeň, follow the Beroun river north to some beautiful villages
• Karlštejn castle and the holy cave monastery (47 km; 00h54 in car) — Hiking trip to the famous castle as well as an off the beaten track monastery
• Konopiště (50 km; 00h44 in car) — Archduke Franz Ferdinand's Castle located 40km south of Prague
• Český Ráj (89 km; 01h09 in car) — Hike through forests and valleys filled with giant sandstone columns and cliffs in this park near Jičín.
• Orlik (85 km; 01h14 in car) — Orlik castle about 70 km from Prague. Near the Orlik dam and Zvikov castle.

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