City transport
Buses
There are 300 bus lines in the city. They mainly run to suburbs and remote districts of Prague. You will not find them in Old Town: the authorities protect paving stones from heavy transport, and, besides, there is little room for buses on its narrow streets.
Buses run from 04:30 to 00:00. Night lines start running between 00:30 and 04:30. In order to get from Vaclav Havel Airport to the city, take lines 100, 119, and 191.
Some bus lines run along the same lane as trams.
Metro
It is open from 05:00 to 00:00. During rush hours, trains run every 2–4 minutes; at other times, you will have to wait for 4–10 minutes. The Prague metro has three lines.
Zuzi, the author of the expatinitaly blog, tells which metro line and stations will be useful for you as a tourist:
Line A is the best choice if YOU are a tourist who wants to be sightseeing all day long! Because Line A will take YOU to Prague Castle (*Station — Malostranska), Wenceslas Square (*Station Mustek — there you can change from Line A to Line B). And Muzeum Station — you can change from A to Line C). Another important station is called Florenc where you can change (from Line B to Line C) but as a tourist you might not need this one.
In order to enter/exit the train, press the yellow ‘open door’ button.
Trams
They run from 05:00 to 00:30; night lines run from 00:30 to 05:00, every 30 minutes. Lines 9, 17, and 22 go through the city center.
At tram stops, you will find signs with such information:
Let’s learn to read them😉.
Erik, the author of the erikspragueblog, explains:
All above ground transit options are indicated by these red signs, which will show the trams that stop there (two digits), the buses that stop there (three digits), indicate the direction the tram/bus is going (straight, to the left or right) and include up-to-date schedules of all the lines that stop there. Seriously, if there is a disruption or change for even just a few days, there are people out changing the little paper schedules at every effected stop. So, for example, the 6, 18, and 22 trams stop at this spot and then go straight, while the 3 and 24 stop and then veer off to the right. The numbers on darker backgrounds are, appropriately, for night-time trams.
These slips of paper are at every stop, for every line that stops there. They list all the stops, with the one you’re at underlined. The ones below are where it’s headed; above, where it’s been. If you need to go to one of those, find the corresponding stop going the other way which is usually — but not always — across the street on the same block or two. The second column is the times of arrival for that line on weekdays. The next is for Saturdays, and the last for Sundays. It seems very complicated, but it’s quite easy to read once you know how to read it.
On the tram itself, you can track a stop on the digital screen. Need Malostranská? Then the next stop is yours:
❗In Prague, trams are always right and do not give way to pedestrians even at pedestrian crossings.🚷
Schemes, maps, lines
On the official website of Prague Public Transit Company, one can find:
- metro and ground transport schemes;
- night lines map;
- tram lines which allow passengers to transport their bicycles;
- transport schemes showing how to get from Vaclav Havel Airport.
Here are all of them on the same page:
How to save time when traveling
You can easily plan your trip with a route planner. Look how convenient it is:
Enter your starting and ending points and click “Search”. After that, you will see the fastest connections to your destination: you will know the departure times, the total journey time, and the cost of the ticket you need.
City transport tickets
In Prague, a ticket is called jízdenka. Its cost depends on the duration of a trip:
An adult is a passenger aged 15 and older.
Brian and Noelle Wandering Onclarify using different means of transport:
There’s an integrated network of trams, metro and buses and one ticket covers all modes of transport. Tickets are valid for the given length of time and you can freely transfer between all modes of transport in the time allowed.
Also, they tell about the baggage fee:
Note that you’ll also need a discounted 16Kč ticket if you’re carrying a large suitcase or backpack but a 24-hour or three-day pass includes one large item of luggage so it might be worth getting one of these straight away if you’re going to be using public transport a lot.
No matter what type of ticket you have, you need to validate it. You can do that via such a machine:
You can buy tickets:
- from tobacco kiosks
- in newspaper shops with the Trafika sign
- at the airport
- at metro ticket offices
- from ticket vending machines.
According to many travelers, not all metro stations have ticket offices, but all of them have ticket vending machines.
In the picture above, you can see a new ticket machine.
But you can also face such old ones:
There is some trick with them. They accept ONLY local coins.
Dave Dean, the author of the whatsdavedoing blog, tells a story about how he had problems buying tickets:
The Czech Republic doesn’t use the Euro, so after withdrawing cash from the ATM we went to buy a couple of subway tickets from the nearby office. Which was closed. No problem, we’ll try the other office. Which was, of course, also closed. Never fear, we thought, there are several ticket machines nearby. Which only take coins.
Some tourists dare to enter the metro without even buying a ticket. There are no turnstiles there, everything is based on trust and… the work of Prague ticket inspectors. Their job is to issue fines of 1,500 CZK to those who are traveling without a ticket.
Wenovo, a Tripadvisor forums user, tells about other tourists’ mistakes that result in these large fines:
Most important… Stamp the ticket only ONCE. The first time you enter the transport… then use it without stamping again for 24hrs (or the specific time you bought the ticket for). Check to insert it the right way… stamp the wrong end or stamp the ticket more than once and it becomes invalid. Easy to do but people have been fined for these “mistakes” …
Private transport
Taxi and transfer
Prague taxis all have the same tariffs. The starting fare is 40 CZK, and the cost of 1 kilometer — 28 CZK.
The popular taxi companies in Prague are Radiocab taxi and AAA RADIOTAXI. Tourists have lots of questions for the latter after the sensational video by Swedish travel blogger Emilian Sava. See for yourself how the Prague taxi driver is surreptitiously pressing the turbo button in order to make the meter run faster:
If you do not want to deal with public transport or suspicious taxi drivers, book a transfer in Prague.
Also, it will be a good option for those who:
- travel to Prague with children;
- arrive at Vaclav Havel Airport at night;
- travel to the Czech capital with lots of suitcases.
Car rental in Prague
In order not to depend on drivers and have a vehicle at hand, rent a car.
In this case, a deposit will be blocked on your credit card. It can reach up to 1,200 euros. You can individually agree with a car rental company on reducing the deposit amount.
It is better to rent a car online in advance, as it is not always possible to find an available vehicle on the spot.
Parking lots
There are no free parking lots in central districts of Prague. As for paid ones, there are four types of them:
- Blue zone. This zone is meant only for residents’ cars. It is marked with the blue line on the road.
- Orange zone. Here, tourists can leave their cars for the maximum of 2 hours. It is marked with the road sign with the orange stripe and the dotted white line on the road.
- Purple zone. It is marked with the road sign with the purple stripe and the dotted white line on the road. Here, both Praguers and tourists can leave their car for the maximum of 24 hours.
- Green zone. It includes alternative P+R (Park + Ride) parking lots near metro stations on the outskirts of Prague. Here, you park your car and change to city transport. In order to find out the number of available spaces in such parking lots, see this website.
Johny_r, a Tripadvisor forums user, tells about the benefits of this type of parking lots:
Well, the opening hours are 4AM to 1AM. Parking costs 20 CZK and you are required to buy a ticket for public transport (the sense of P+R is to leave your car away from the city centre and use public transport instead). If you leave your car overnight, you are required to pay the fee of 100 CZK/day (4 EUR) which may still be an option. I guess there is no long-term parking that would cost some reasonable money. Garages in the city (usually at shopping malls) are mostly very expensive.
You can pay for a parking lot space using the mobile app or a special machine. In the latter case, do not forget to leave a ticket in plain sight on the inside of your car windshield.
Car rental with driver
If you do not want to figure out the diversity of Prague parking lots, rent a car with a driver.
Special means of transport
Funicular
The old funicular runs to Petrin Hill every day from 09:00 to 23:30. In summer, you will have to wait for the carriage for 10 minutes, and in winter — for 15 minutes.
Erik tells where to get on the funicular and what awaits you on top:
Starting at the base of the Petřín hill at the Újezd tram stop (lines 9, 12, 20, and 22), the electricity powered Petřín funicular rises 130 meters (425 feet), and makes one stop, before reaching its summit at the top of the hill, a popular summer destination with amusements, a park, and beautiful views of the city.
The funicular has the same tariffs as Prague metro/trams/buses. Tickets are sold at the station.
After you have bought tickets, we would like to say dash, but no, travel slowly to the top of the hill.
Nostalgic Tram
Before March 2017, it was Line 91, and now, it is Line 41.
Ordinary tickets are not valid here. For an adult, you will pay 35 CZK, and for children under 14 — 20 CZK.
The tram runs from the end of March until November, only on weekends and holidays from 12:00 to 17:30.
Prague transport hubs
There is only one railway station in the city. It is located near the metro station of the same name, not far from Wenceslas Square. From here, you can go to the nearest European countries or go on a trip across the Czech Republic.
Prague has five bus stations:
- Florenc bus station. The main bus station in the city can be found in the center of Prague near the metro station of the same name. From here, one can go to Czech cities and neighboring European countries.
- Černý Most bus station. It serves domestic bus lines — mainly to the region of Moravia.
- Roztyly bus station. It serves buses to southern and southeastern regions of the Czech Republic.
- Na Knížecí bus station. Take note of it if you need to go to Benešov, Český Krumlov, Hluboká nad Vltavou, Pisek, and Karlštejn.
- Holešovice bus station. From here, you can go to Louny, Česká Lípa, Teplice, and Karlovy Vary.
If you are traveling to Prague by plane, you will arrive at Vaclav Havel Airport. In order to find out how to get from the air hub to the city, read this article.
Let’s sum it up
Public transport lines, navigation at stops, intervals and timetables in Prague are thought out to the last detail. The only thing you may have problems with is the payment system, so always have Czech coins with you. Be careful with taxi drivers and read different colored parking lot signs carefully.
