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Czech Republic

Travel to Prague

Flying to Prague

Being such a popular destination, flights to Prague leave the UK regularly all year round from destinations throughout Britain. Major European airlines such as BA and CSA (Czech Airlines) offer flights to Prague, along with a host of budget airlines, including easyJet, Ryanair, bmibaby, Jet2 and Wizz Air, and it’s these competitive, cut-price fares that have helped to make Prague such a favourite.

Flight times: 

From London - 1 hour 50 minutes; New York - 11 hours; Los Angeles - 18 hours; Toronto - 10 hours 20 minutes; Sydney - 21-28 hours.

Travel by road

Summary:

Traffic in Prague drives on the right and the legal driving age is 18 years. Speed limits are 50kph (31mph) in built-up areas, 90kph (56mph) on main roads and 130kph (81mph) on motorways. There is zero tolerance for drink and drugs. An annual toll must be paid to use Czech roads - toll stickers must be displayed and can be bought at border crossings, post offices and petrol stations.

EU licence holders must have an International Driving Permit (IDP) if their normal licence does not have a photograph. An IDP is required for drivers from all other countries. A car registration document and country sticker are also necessary, as well as a first-aid kit and a warning triangle. Note that headlights must be used at all times. Third-party liability insurance is compulsory. For drivers based in the Czech Republic for longer than six months, the car must be registered with the Czech authorities - duty and taxes will cost about half the value of the car and minimum third-party coverage with a Czech insurer is also required.

Emergency breakdown service:

ÚAMK (tel: 1230); ABA (tel: 1240).

Routes:

The main routes to Prague are the D1/D2 to Brno. From Belgium, the best route is the E40 to Cologne, then the E31 to Heidelberg and the E50 crossing the German/Czech border at Waidhaus/Rozvadov. From Vienna, the E59 leads to the D1 motorway, the E55 from Dresden and Berlin, the E67 from Wroclaw and Warsaw, and the E50 from Paris.

Driving times:

From Vienna - 4 hours 15 minutes; Warsaw- 10 hours 15 minutes; Bruges - 12 hours 30 minutes.

Coaches:

International buses depart either from the Florenc coach station, Křižíkova 8, Prague 8, or from the coach park at Želivského Station, on the corner of Vinohradská and Jana-Želivského, Prague 3. The main international operator is Eurolines (tel: 2450 05245; www.eurolines.cz). Regional services are provided by Dopravni Podnik (tel: 2516 82363; www.dpuk.cz).

Travel by rail

Services:

Not long ago, Prague’s main rail station, a wonderful piece of domed art nouveau architecture, had been reduced to decrepitude and used mainly as refuge by the city’s homeless. However, Praha Hlavní Nádraží is currently in the throes of a multimillion-pound facelift, due for completion in 2012 and designed to provide 21st-century European standards of comfort and efficiency.

Prague’s other international train station, Nádraží Holešovice, is also its second largest. This is the point of departure for trains heading to Berlin, Vienna and Budapest. Although located on the north side of the city, it is well connected to the city centre by the metro, just a few minutes from Wencelas Square on the C-Line.

The Czech Republic itself is well served internationally by high-speed and overnight sleeper trains, with direct links connecting Prague to 20 major European cities. The comfortable City Night Line sleeper trains run from Prague to Germany and The Netherlands. Destinations in France, Poland, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary can also be reached by rail from Prague. For local trains, you can catch the tilting Czech Pendolino, the country’s own high-speed trains, which travel between Prague and the Czech Republic’s other big cities, Brno and Ostrava, as well as making a four-hour journey across the Austrian border to Vienna.

Operators:

Ceské dráhy (CD) (tel: 8401 12113; www.cd.cz) manages Prague's railways and stations.

Journey times:

From Vienna – 4 hours; Munich – 5 hours; Berlin – 5 hours 30 minutes; Paris – 10 hours.

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