First visit to Prague - Help please!

[fowler9]

Do they have Uber?


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Surely the whole planet does.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Prague has Uber, but I wouldn't trust taxis in Prague, or Budapest

 

[Glenmutchkin]

In three visits to Prague we have never felt the need to use a taxi. Public transport was excellent in our experience, particularly the trams.

It was much the same story for us in Budapest. We used one taxi as we arrived quite late the first time, booked through our hotel. It was OK but I wouldn't bother again.

 

[fowler9]

In three visits to Prague we have never felt the need to use a taxi. Public transport was excellent in our experience, particularly the trams.

It was much the same story for us in Budapest. We used one taxi as we arrived quite late the first time, booked through our hotel. It was OK but I wouldn't bother again.

agree, used taxis twice in Prague. Both on separate trips, both because the BMI Baby flight arrived late on and the people I was traveling with didn't fancy using public transport after the arrival. In Budapest me and a mate used taxis once because we were a bit the worse for wear and were staying on opposite sides of the river. My mate thought he got ripped off but it turned out he just couldn't count. He argued with his Taxi driver and paid him more than he was asking for.

 

[Kristofferson]

At least with Uber they can't take you round the houses or overcharge, and if you find out afterwards that they have, you can report it to customer service


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[fowler9]

At least with Uber they can't take you round the houses or overcharge, and if you find out afterwards that they have, you can report it to customer service


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You are kind of right if you have agreed to their terms and conditions. A girl I work with Lives in Liverpool city centre. Her journey to work is about £2.40 by bus or train, about £12:00 in a black cab, a bit less in private hire and about £25 in an Uber at rush hour due to their surge pricing.

 

[swt class 450]

Prague is a great place to visit. Its a nice scenic (but unfortunately very touristy) city. They have got good public transport and its very cheap compared to our rip off public transport in the UK.

To get from the Airport in to Prague you can either take bus route 319 from the Airport to Stredokluky railway station (about a 10 minute journey) and then take the suburban train (line S54) in to Prague. Or you can take the Bus routes 100 / 119 / 191 (or 510 during night time) to various Metro and Tram stations nearby where you can change to a Metro or Tram service in to Central Prague. There is also an Airport Express bus but this is best avoided as it costs much more. Day tickets are definitely available from the Airport which can be used on all the local Public Transport.

The Metro has some nice old Russian built 81-71M trains used on lines A and B but they have all been modernised by Skoda so they are not in their original condition. Line C uses newer Siemens trains.

The Skoda trains (the double deckers are branded as "CityElefant" and the single deckers are branded as "RegioPanter" and "InterPanter" on the suburban and regional lines are nice to travel on. I would definitely recommend these. If you sit right near the motor they sound just like the T68A and T69 Trams in the UK.

These maps may be useful for your visit:

Suburban Trains - http://old.cd.cz/assets/primestske-cestovani/esko-praha/esko-praha-mapa.pdf

A selection of maps for Metro / Tram / Bus - http://www.dpp.cz/en/transport-around-prague/transit-schematics/

I don't think Czech is too hard to learn. I certainly found speaking Czech far easier than French or Spanish or Italian. Although i use to live in Russia when i was very young (and speak Russian fluently) so maybe that helped (as it is another Slavic language). However most people in Prague speak English so learning Czech really isn't really much of a problem.

One thing i should mention is that you should be aware of currency exchange scammers which are quite common in Prague. They usually hang around the main currency exchanges in the centre of Prague and will offer you a exchange rate that is far better than any currency exchange office. However the scam is that they give you foreign currency (usually Belarusian Roubles or some other very low value eastern European currency) which is worth nothing. So basically for example if you give them £1000 to change they will give you about £1 or so in a useless foreign currency. So avoid changing​ money on the streets. Also try and look around for the best exchange rates as many currency exchanges have very poor rates (which they hide by having big "No Commission" signs).

As others have also said the Taxi drivers will often try to rip you off (they often even use dodgy metres that increase very rapidly or they move the decimal point) but there is no need to ever take Taxis in Prague as the public transport will take you anywhere.

 

[fowler9]

Regarding currency, I just usually use my debit card. Notify your bank you will be doing so before travelling. I have almost always got better exchange rates just withdrawing in local currency than I have changing cash before travel or when I have been at my destination. I do however normally take a bit of local currency with me.

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks very very much for those, I'll have a proper look at the maps in a bit.

Trust me I have zero need for taxis and won't be touching them with a 10,000' barge pole. Same for currency exchanges, shop or street ones, when over there. However the advice and warnings there are all welcome, and hopefully anyone else reading this thread will take note too.

An interesting idea to use the suburban train option there, definitely something that appeals considerably.

I'll hopefully be getting my currency sorted in the coming days, I've worked out now what I can afford to spend on it and still cover everything else. All being well I won't have to touch my emergency funds on this trip, although that will be asking a lot of my tightfistedness on the day in London when I come back from Prague. Still, I managed it this week so I remain confident things will be all good. The Emergency Funds need to stay untouched as I've got a week off in October to pay for yet!

There will, of course, be a trip report for this trip so do stay tuned to my trip reports thread in mid-August

 

[Kite159]

Regarding currency, I just usually use my debit card. Notify your bank you will be doing so before travelling. I have almost always got better exchange rates just withdrawing in local currency than I have changing cash before travel or when I have been at my destination. I do however normally take a bit of local currency with me.

Depends on the bank and if they charge you extra for using a debit card abroad.

 

[30907]

To get from the Airport in to Prague you can either take bus route 319 from the Airport to Stredokluky railway station (about a 10 minute journey) and then take the suburban train (line S54) in to Prague. Or you can take the Bus routes 100 / 119 / 191 (or 510 during night time) to various Metro and Tram stations nearby where you can change to a Metro or Tram service in to Central Prague.

I don't think Czech is too hard to learn. I certainly found speaking Czech far easier than French or Spanish or Italian. Although i use to live in Russia when i was very young (and speak Russian fluently) so maybe that helped (as it is another Slavic language).

With respect, I'd check the S54 timetable carefully before choosing that option as it is now basically peak hours only and only hourly or so - and its more expensive too!
The 119 bus to Veleslavin is the obvious option now forcmost parts of Prague.

And I fear only a fluent Russian (or other Slavic language) speaker like you would find Czech easy. I'm a good linguist, in the touristy area of Sumava at this moment, and the real problem is that Czech and English have very few words in common!

 

[AndrewE]

And I fear only a fluent Russian (or other Slavic language) speaker like you would find Czech easy. I'm a good linguist, in the touristy area of Sumava at this moment, and the real problem is that Czech and English have very few words in common!

I agree: despite speaking French and German (and trying hard with a "Teach yourself Serbo-Croat" book) I was helpless in Yugoslavia 35 years ago. Then more recently after taking Russian O-level I found Bulgaria and Slovakia quite easy to navigate. The alphabet was no longer a mystery and there were enough similarities in the important basic words that we could quite often guess the meaning of signs without resorting to the phrase-book.

 

[70014IronDuke]

.....

I don't think Czech is too hard to learn. I certainly found speaking Czech far easier than French or Spanish or Italian. Although i use to live in Russia when i was very young (and speak Russian fluently) so maybe that helped (as it is another Slavic language)....

"Maybe that helped" - you've got to be kidding, right? It's like a Portuguese person saying "Spanish is easy." Of course it is, with that background. There are thousands of words - and grammatical concepts - that you can trace from Old Slavic to all the modern Slavic languages.

My wife speaks 6-7 languages, including Russian. She was top of the class at it at school, but says it's a very tough one for anyone who is not a Slavic native speaker. I'd say all the Slavic languages are tough (as a non-expert) - perhaps MAcedonian is the least tough, as it does not use case endings - at least, that's what I have gleaned by asking Macedonians. I mean real Macs, not the Athens lot )

 

[fowler9]

The Slavic languages are tough to learn but just for a weekend away a few simple phrases are enough. You can learn them and how to pronounce them quite easily. Just being able to say hello, goodbye, please and thank you and a few other phrases will get the locals on side. One thing I am good at is accents, it has got me in to trouble at times, in Poland I have had people start talking to me and its like "Sorry, I just know how to say that phrase and understand the answer". Ha ha. Latin languages are much easier for me.

 

[AndrewE]

The Slavic languages are tough to learn but just for a weekend away a few simple phrases are enough. You can learn them and how to pronounce them quite easily. Just being able to say hello, goodbye, please and thank you and a few other phrases will get the locals on side.

That doesn't help you reading signs in Cyrillic lettering though!

 

[fowler9]

That doesn't help you reading signs in Cyrillic lettering though!

There isn't much Cyrillic lettering in Central Europe which is where we are talking about. Tech is going to Prague not Novosibirsk.

I don't recall seeing any Cyrillic in Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia or Hungary.

 

[swt class 450]

Ah yes that is a good point abput the S54 train. I have just looked at the timetable and indeed it isnt really that frequent. When i visited Prague Airport (i didnt fly to or from there but I like visiting places like Airports if I have enough time in the cities that I visit) i used the S54 and the short bus ride there and back but I must have been lucky and timed it just right. It is certainly a nice route to use to get in to Prague but i guess it is less convinient (unless you plan it well). So the Bus and then the Metro or Tram is probably the easiest and simplest way.

I think you are correct about the languages. I think once you can speak one Slavic language fluently then the others do indeed become a lot easier to learn. I also speak Ukrainian almost fluently and know enough Polish and Czech and Slovak to easily have a proper conversation. I think that is probably the same for most language groups. I have a friend from Hungary who found Estonian and Finnish easy to learn which really surprised me (as they are among the worlds hardest languages).

Luckily for English speakers Prague is very easy to get by if you dont speak Czech.

You may already be aware but one other thing to mention is that Prague uses the annoying validation system (which is used all over Mainland Europe). You have to stamp all of your tickets (whether it is a time ticket or day ticket or weekly ticket etc) on the stamper machines the first time that you use them. Which can be very easy to forget as even the Metro doesnt have any ticket barriers. Ive never seen any RPIs on any Prague Public Transport (unlike Budapest where they are everywhere) so I imagine fare evasion must be quite high. With the Suburban Trains you dont have to validate and can also buy a ticket onboard for a small surcharge (or no surcharge at unstaffed stations).

 

[gordonthemoron]

when I first went to Prague 30 years ago, the second language was German and now it's English

 

[Techniquest]

So you validate the 72 hour pass on the first use, which is fair enough, but do you need to do it every single journey? We were confused by that possibility in Vienna but it appeared to be all good on just the once upon first use.

Common sense says I'll only need to validate it on my first Metro journey, and any RPIs would see the time/date and that it's a 72 hour ticket. This is how we figured it would work in Vienna, but can someone please confirm this?

12 days to go until I'm on the way to Prague, indeed in 289 hours as of typing I'll be on the final approach to the airport!

 

[30907]

Not used a multi-day card but one validation should be enough. The point being to determine when it expires, as with an ordinary tram or metro ticket in Prague (and much of Europe).

Nothing personal, but I'm leaving Prague the day before you arrive.

 

[Techniquest]

Fair enough, at least someone agrees with my logic

Enjoy your visit to Prague, just make sure you don't drink the city dry of beer before I get there!

 

[fowler9]

If you have a 72 hour ticket you just stamp it the first time you use it. It is just to say it is valid for 72 hours from then.