Prague has a very affordable and excellent transportation system made up of buses, trams and an underground metro. One can easily get around the entire city on an everyday basis without a car.

You can buy transportation tickets from machines in every metro station or from small newspaper stands that are called “tabak” or “trafika”. You need to purchase the tickets that are for 20 kc, which are valid for 60 minutes during weekdays until 8pm and 90 minutes after 8pm, and all weekend. You must validate the ticket by punching it in the yellow boxes located at the entrance of every metro station or on the bus or tram. Once the ticket is validated you are free to travel the public transportation system, change metro lines or change over to buses or trams for as long as the ticket is valid. Any combination of transport is possible and you don’t need to re-validate it for each change.

We recommend that you buy a 30-day transportation pass. You can go to the Vysocanska, Mustek, Florenc, Namesti Miru, or the IP Pavlova metro station to purchase this. It costs 460kc plus a one-off 20 kc fee for them to make the pass. You’ll need to bring a passport-sized photo and your passport. The 30 day pass is your best option because you’ll save money and won’t have to worry about buying a ticket every time you get on and off the tram/metro/bus.

You can also use the train and buses to get around the rest of the Czech Republic as well as Europe so while you are in Prague you should consider venturing out to some of the smaller towns and villages or even to Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Bratislava, Krakow, or Salzburg during you’re free weekends. An excellent website for train and bus schedules is located at www.idos.cz.