Prague Transportation

Hey there readers,So after being in Prague for almost a month now I thought it might be useful to write a bit about the transportation. Take it from a girl who lost her Opencard twice…  I may have a great sense of direction but I also tend to have bad luck when it comes to holding onto things. Also being in a foreign country can cause you to lose things you may usually not, but if you can get a handle on the Prague Public Transportation I promise any crisis can be averted.
To start the most important thing to know is the metro. The metro has three different lines, red, green and yellow that can bring you all over the city in a matter of minutes. We most frequently use the Metro line A or the green line. Each stop is designated clearly so figuring out your stop is very easy. For example from the pension where we stay we hop on at Jiriho Z Podebrad and hop off three stops down at Mustek. The metro runs daily from 5:00 a.m. to midnight and a train comes about every 2-5 minutes during peak hours.

Mastering the metro is pretty simple, but you must remember to always have your opencard. With an opencard you can freely use the metro at anytime it is open but beware for the guards. The metro security disperses itself at random through out the stations and trains and will randomly stop and ask to scan your pass. *Prague Pointer- If you happen to be in a group of young, American looking kids you are also more likely to be stopped.

In the times that I have had to travel without a pass due to it being lost or deactivated have been ok but very risky, I have somehow been lucky enough to avoid the sticklers by keeping a low profile and separating myself from groups but beware if you do get stopped it’s a hefty $100 fine. Replacing your metro pass is a very easy process, just strut on over to the opencard offices (about a 5 minute walk from the institute) with your passport and 250 crowns. Find the opencard waiting line, take a number and ask for an immediate replacement and voila you’ll have a new one that day for about $12.

Besides the lovely metro you also have street trams that follow their own routes all over the city and are denoted by numbers. They are a bit more complicated because although they do run after midnight, unlike the metro, the routes and numbers are completely different at night. The day tram and night tram system can be a bit intimidating but once you have the route numbers you need down you can look for your stop on the signs and probably figure it out. If you’re studying in our program you’ll want to remember the stops Perunova, I.P. Pavlova and Náměstí Míru and you’ll be good to go.

If all else fails, it’s past midnight and you can’t get on the metro or figure out the trams there are always taxi’s home. Beware again the taxi drivers can smell foreigners a mile away so they tend to upcharge, but don’t be afraid to heckle them down! No ride around the city should cost you more than 200 crowns or $10 us dollars.

Overall Prague is a walking city, you can walk many places very easily as long as you don’t let the twisting European streets scare you. If you can find landmarks like Charles Bridge, Old Towne Square, Wenceslas Square, the Charles River, the NC State Institute or even a familiar coffee shop it is very easy to orient yourself and find a way home. I wouldn’t steer you in the wrong direction, I promise I’m telling the truth when I say all it takes to get around Prague is an Opencard, some street smarts and a good pair of walking shoes.