The best way how to get around Prague
You have several options how to get around Prague to explore its beauty. The one you’ll choose will of course depend on your preferences, the route, your condition and time and financial options.
Prague Public Transport is really amazing. It’s reliable, it’s fast, it’s cheap. You couldn’t ask for more. It’s the best way how to get around Prague in both ecological and economical way. There are 3 metro lines, great network of trams and buses and Prague trains can be very useful too. Moreover you can choose less common ways of public transport in Prague and hop on a ferry, a funicular or historical tram line.
For finding the route how to get from one point to another use mobile app Jízdní řády IDOS (iOS, Android) or Google Maps navigation. Remember number 22! This tram will take you through the most famous tourist attraction.
The basic ticket costs 40 CZK (1.6 EUR) and is valid for 90 minutes. For short trips you can use 30 CZK (1.2 EUR) ticket that is valid for 30 minutes. If you plan to use public transport regularly, it might be better for you to buy 120 CZK (5 EUR) ticket for 24 hours or 330 CZK (13,5 EUR) ticket for 72 hours. You can buy tickets in ticket machines, in a newsagents’ shop (don’t forget to validate these tickets in yellow machines while entering the vehicle) or via SMS. Now there are also contactless payment ticket machines in every tram and in every metro station (extension to buses is planned too). These tickets are valid right after the purchase, you don’t need to validate them. Don’t try to travel without valid tickets, transport controllers are very active in Prague.
Get a bike like locals
Praguers love Rekola. You can spot the typically pink bicycles almost everywhere. Renting a bike is very easy and cheap. That’s why it is so popular. Download mobile app Rekola (iOS, Android), register and go enjoy the freedom bike gives you. Best map app for getting around Prague by bike is Mapy.cz (iOS, Android) that have route planner specially for bikes. You can find all cycling paths and routes in Outdoor layer of the map.
What Praguers don’t like are Lime scooters. It isn’t suitable neither for walking paths (you are not allowed to ride these on paths zigzaging between pedestrians) nor for roads (it’s not very safe driving these in the car traffic). It isn’t a nice sight at scooters scattered all over the city either.
We won’t even mention Segway, cause who ever uses this thing anyway…?
Taxi
The most popular taxi-like apps Uber and Bolt (formerly Taxify) operates in Prague as well. There is also a local mobile app Liftago, that you can use for booking a regular taxi ride. You’ll be good to go with either of these.
Mainly in the city center and on frequent tourist places be very careful about taking a taxi from the street. There is a group of crooked taxi drivers with very bad reputation and they’ll not hesitate to show you why. These guys will charge you several times higher rates. This is one of the most “famous” tourist trap in Prague.
Getting around by car
If you’re planning to visit Prague by car, consider if it wouldn’t be better to leave a car on the outskirts of the city on one of the P+R parking lots (you can find them on Google Maps). Then you can get to the city center by public transport.
For online traffic info check again Google Maps or Waze. You don’t need any emission sticker to enter Prague.
There are paid parking zones within almost every Prague district. And if not right now, they’re spreading fast. The easiest way to check where you can park your car, is with Mapy.cz app (iOS, Android). When you zoom in, you can see colour lines, which indicates the parking permission. Blue is for residents and other colours are either for short-term paid parking or mixed zones. Tap on the line to see the parking conditions and price. You can pay for parking in the machine on the street with coins or credit card. The second option is to pay directly through the app. Click on the link with globe icon named “ke-utc.appsot.com”, that will take you to MPLA website app. There you fill in your license plate, choose the parking time, fill your card number and that’s it. Remember to always start with clicking on the colour line in the street you’re actually parking in, as there is some street code paired with your payment and you have to park within your street code.
Go on foot!
Last but not least, getting around Prague on foot is the best option specially in downtown Prague. Getting lost in Prague’s amazing hidden streets, will allow you to get the most out of Prague. Don’t forget that the beauty is sometimes hidden from your field of view. Look up and you’ll be nicely surprised by the beautiful building shields, towers, balconies and so much more. Walking through Prague is good not only for your health but also for the environment.
What is your most preferable way of getting around Prague? Write it down into the comment section.
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