Transport in Czech Republic

The Czech Republic has one of the most widespread railway networks in Europe .Trains are indeed a romantic way of travelling around the country, though they can be rather slow. The quickest way of travelling along the major lines are the expres or rychlík trains. Local trains osobní vlak stop everywhere and are very cheap (US$1 gets you about 60 km away from Prague). Somewhat faster are services called spešný vlak which stop less often but cost the same as local trains.

Four major train stations in Prague:

Praha Hlavni nadrazi (Main train station)- located in the city centre; near Wenceslas square. All trains on the east-west routestop here (trains from Wienna, Munich, Pilsen etc.).
Praha Holesovice - located nort of city centre; just 3 stops by metro from Hlavni nadrazi. This is a terminal station for trains comming from north (i.e. Usti n.Labem, Dresden, Berlin)
Praha Smichov - Located in Smichov, about 15 minutes by metro from the city centre. Somewhat smaller station for trains departing west (the train for Karlstejn castle goes from here, for example)
Praha Masarykovo nadrazi - the oldest station in Prague; located in the city centre, near Namesti Republiky and Florenc busterminal. Here you can catch trains going north east, i.e to Kolin, Kutna Hora, Hradec Kralove etc.

All of these train stations are easily acessible by metro network.

Buses

There are two main companies serving the Czech Republic network : CSAD (Ceská automobilová doprava) and somewhat smaller Cebus.Cebus serves mainly fast motorway routes between Prague, Brno, Karlovy Vary and Liberec.

Car rental

You can rent a car to explore the country. You must be over 21 to have a driver’s licence and to rent a car. The insurance is usually arranged directly by the rental company. The well known car hire companies (Avis, Europcar, Hertz) charge usually much more than the local Czech companies, such as for example ABA car, or B&M car rental.

Air travel

The national airline - Czech Airlines (CSA) - flies from Prague's Ruzyne airport to all major international destinations. CSA also offers internal flights to Brno, Ostrava and to the Slovak republic (Bratislava, Poprad, Kosice). However, it might be faster to rent a car (self-drive or with a chauffeur) to travel within the Czech Republic. When travelling from London most flights to Prague are offered by British Midland, CSA, and British Airways.

PRAGUE Ruzyne Airport - transport from airport

Prague has only one international airport - Ruzyne Airport which is located to the north-west of the city, about 17 km from the city centre. The Ruzyne airport is operated by the Czech Airport Authority alongside with airports Brno - Turany, Ostrava - Mosnov, and Karlovy Vary. The airport has no metro or train connection with the city centre and is only served by buses and taxis.

Three local buses connect the airport to metro stations.

No. 119 goes to Metro Dejvicka - green line A
No. 108 goes to Metro Hradcanska - green line A
No. 179 goes to Metro Nove Butovice - yellow line B

Local buses run between 5.00 and 24.00, approximately every 20 minutes and cost about 10 Kc.

There is also a relatively cheap airport bus which will get you to Namesti Republiky in the city centre. These buses run roughly every half hour during daytime.

Another option is an airport taxi. A taxi should not cost more than 600 Kc.