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Prague
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{{Hitchhiking Zine nomination}}
{{Infobox Czech Location
|map = <map lat="'50.0751" ' lng="'14.4347" ' zoom="10" view='39' height='350' widthview='4200'/>
|country = Czech Republic
|pop = 1.218.644
|plate = ?A? ???? old: A?? ????
|motorways = [[D1 (CZ)|D1]], [[D5 (CZ)|D5]], [[D8 (CZ)|D8]], [[D11 (CZ)|D11]]
}}
'''Prague''' (''Praha'') is the capital of the [[Czech Republic]].<br/ >
Writing a sign "PHA" clearly informs a driver that you are going to Prague, but a sign '''PRAHA''' works better.
=== East towards [[Hradec Králové]], [[Pardubice]], [[Wrocław]] {{Dcz|11}}{{E|67}} ===
==== Option 1: Motorway service station on D11 ====
:NOTE it may seem tempting to use the spot just outside Černy Most station, as it has a lot of traffic passing through and an excellent area to stop where people drop off and pick up from the station but this spot did not work well for me. I made a sign for PL as I was heading to wroclaw, I had no luck for more than 4hrs wait, in the end me and another hitchhiker who also came to the spot ended up taking the bus. The spot may work but much earlier in the morning and in small steps. I think it is advisable to make a Hradec Karlove sign then from there head to Poland. There is not much Polish traffic between Prague and Wroclaw. (Antonopa) (07/2016). Take metro line B (yellow) to the end station "''Černý most"''. From here, take bus 221, 303, 304, 344, 353, or 398 to the bus-stop "''Na Kovárně"''. Walk east along Náchodská ≈600m to the junction with Bořetická. Turn right on Bořetická and walk 1.2km to just over the motorway bridge. Take the path to the right here into the service station. There usually isn't very much traffic, but waiting times are likely to be short. If you get lost ask anyone for "Hummer Garden" (the place only for Hummers) which is just behind the station.
==== Option 2: K+R (Parking Area) Černý Most ====
Take metro line B (yellow) to the end station "''Černý most"''. There is the K+R (Park & Ride) to the right (east) of the station which is popular with hitchhikers and possibly a better choice than option 1. It's necessary to use a sign because the road splits in many directions, e.g. "HK" (Hradec Králové) or "PL" (if going to Náchod and Poland).
The disadvantage of this option is that there are only cars traveling out of Prague and not those coming from Prague ring road. However, there is no non-freeway solution to get a lift for those cars.
==== Option 2: K+R (Parking) Černý Most ====
=== North, Northwest towards [[Ústí nad Labem]], [[Teplice]], [[Dresden]], [[Berlin]] {{Dcz|8}}{{E|55}} ===
'''Warning''': If you are passing through Dresden, take a look at the [[Dresden]] hitchwiki page. From either of the spots you can take rides to OMV petrol station before Lovosice or to the Agip petrol station after Ústí nad Labem. The hitchhiking positions there are also good.
==== Option 1: D8 ====
Take metro line C (red) to "''Holešovice"''. From here, take bus 201 to "''Vychovatelna" '' (3 stops). You will find a great spot with lots of traffic still going slow right at the bus station.
:(''Tried'':) The author had not noted that there are three lanes on this road, and the two inside lanes take the cars to Dresden. The bus lane of course is great and the cars are not going too fast, but anyone going to Dresden on this road would need to cut across a few car lanes to come pick you up. Quite possible but there are better options than this.
==== Option 2: OMV petrol station on D8====
Take metro line C (red) to "''Letňany"''. Take any bus heading north one stop, or walk 500m 500 m north, to "''Výstaviště Letňany"''. Keep walking northwest along Tupolevova for 500m500 m, crossing over Beranovych to the pedestrian crossing at the traffic lights. Cross Tupolevova here and keep heading southwest on the pathway leading onto Opocenska. Walk ≈250m ≈250 m along Opocenska and you will see a small footpath to the right (before the pedestrian/cycle bridge over the highway) heading straight to the OMV petrol station (≈150m ≈150 m walk).
==== Option 3: Bigger OMV petrol station on D8 ====
Take metro line C (red) to "''Letňany"''. Take bus 195, 140, 158, 110, or 269 to the stop “Obchodní ''Obchodní centrum Čakovice”Čakovice''. Turn back in the direction the bus came from and walk ≈1km along Kostelecká (past the roundabout) until you reach the sliproad coming off the D8. This is just before the bridge over the D8. Turn left into the sliproad and after walking ≈100m, you will come to the petrol station (with a McDonalds behind it).
=== West towards [[Plzeň]], [[Klatovy]], [[Nürnberg]], [[München]] {{Dcz|5}}{{E|50}}===
==== Option 1: Rozvadovská spojka ====
(Edit by Moskewskaja, 21st may, 2016)<br/ >
The bus stop "Šafránkova" is much much closer to the highway (than in the directions for 1). I use this option frequently to go home. And there I was also asked for the documents by police, and when I asked them if it is allowed to hitchhike there, they told me yes, so don´t worry! It is not really highway, you are still in the city.
If you are travelling west, do not enter Beroun or Plzeň because it is hard to hitchhike out. So many hours I spent in Plzeň... On this highway you can meet all the cars going west. Just stay on the highway, stop at some petrol station. There is one Shell close to Rokycany, before Plzeň, maybe with little bit expensive petrol. Or you can go just to Rudná petrol station, which is close (15 km) to Prague, but it is quite big with many cars and trucks.
You travellers to the West (Germany, France, England, Spain), your goal should be to arrive to Svatá Kateřina petrol station. It lies just before czech/german border and many czech drivers-especially trucks- they stop there to tank or buy something.
==== Option 2: Motorway service station Rudná ====
Take metro line B (yellow) to "''Zličín"''. Then take bus 307, 308, 311, 380, or 602 to stop "''Rudná, škola"''. (The ticket costs 18 Kč, ≈€0.66; 1 zone out of Prague). Walk 60m back in the direction the bus came from and turn left into "Na Přídělu" street. You should see the petrol station in the distance. Walk 350m to the end of the street. There will be a footpath towards the petrol station 150m away. You need the opposite direction so get to the other side of motorway by the tunnel under the motorway on the right.It's a fairly big service station with McDonalds McD and enough cars.
==== Option 3: Motorway junction at Zličín ====
Take metro line B (yellow) to the terminal station "''Zličín"''. Go under the road Řevnická and turn immediately left. Continue south along Řevnická for 150m to the crossroads with traffic lights. You can stand right at the triangle down on Rozvadovská spojka (police can kick you out) or ask people at the nearby petrol station, KFC, or parking lots. None of these places are good (Options 1 and 2 are better).
=== Southeast towards [[Brno]], [[Ostrava]], [[Bratislava]], [[Vienna]], [[Kraków]] {{Dcz|1}}{{E|50}}{{E|59}}{{E|65}} <br />+ south & South towards [[České Budějovice]], [[Linz]] {{Dcz|3}}{{E|55}} ===It's good to have a sign at this road and definitely for direction south direction. Every bigger petrol station at on [[D1 (CZ)|D1]] is good for hitchhiking.==== First option Option 1: Motorway service station on E65 ====Easily reachable petrol station, not a lot of traffic though. Good in bad-weather or snow conditions. Go to the Take metro station "Chodov" line C (red line C), there to ''Chodov''. There is big shopping centre, ; try not to not get lost there and find the road "Roztylská" going through it. Go to the traffic lights at the northern end of this tunnel and continue by following cyclopath - bike path (northwest) (yellow signs with "Záběhlice" and/or "Chodovec" written). After 700 m , you will get to the pedestrian/bike bridge over the motorway. Use the staircase at the beggining beginning of the bridge to get down to the petrol station.<br />Alternatively , you can stay behind past the station exit at the end of the left lane, at on the left side of the road.Easily reachable petrol station, not a lot of traffic though. Good in bad-weather or snow conditions.
==== Second option Option 2: Motorway Junction Opatov====From Take metro station line C (red) to "Opatov" (red line C) follow the main road up. Walk south ≈800m along Chilská past the road about 5 minutes, keep going crossroads and over the crossroad and the motorway bridge over to the motorway. Now you might see other hitchhikers on beginning of the entrance slip-road. AlternativelyInstead of walking, you can take bus number 177 from metro "Opatov" to next (request) stop "U Dálnice"and then walk 100m east to the beginning of the slip road. Now you might see other hitchhikers on the slip-road. Be careful and stay on the slip road, not on the motorway (sometimes police passes by).<br />Very common spotbut, in fact, not so good in fact. Average waiting time is less than one hour. If you get stuck there, you can walk 2 km along the motorway to the spot 'option 4 ' (againsee below). Again, if police goes come around, they'll tell you to walk on the field beside motorway).
==== Third option Option 3: 5.května at the beginning of expressway ====Especially good option at night when there is little traffic at spots 1 and 2. At the end of bus stop opposite to <strike>Take metro station "Kačerov" line C (red line C), find to Kačerov. Find stairs going down. You will , go over train tracks, and then stairs down again, then . Then walk around the metro tracks and turn right before the motorway. You will see the OMV petrol station but don't walk that far; instead, just cross the grass strip and the 2 lanes of the slip road leading to the station and stay at from the main road 5.května to get to the shoulder main road itself. Stand on 5.května at the beggining beginning of the motorway on the hard shoulder (there is sign). Police doesnThe police don't make troubles any problems there and for cars , it means the end of the 50 kmph limit, so they're still quite slow. The shoulder is wide, safe and alightlit.Especially good option at night when there is little traffic at spots 1 and 2.<br />There are not many cars at that the OMV petrol station behind or they have different directions (often [[Pilsen]]).</strike><br>The beginning of the motorway has been shifted a few hundred meters back into the city center, thus it is now illegal to use this spot (received a fine in June 2016 for it). You can still use the petrol station, but indeed the amount of cars going in the direction of Brno is very small here.
The sign showing the start of the expressway (and also 50km/h speed limit) is located 1.3km from the original location, on 5.května just before it passes over Vyskočilova, so legally it should be possible to hitch before it. At this spot there is a wide shoulder, lights, 50km/h speed limit. Take metro line C (red) to Budějovická. From exit on Budějovická street, turn left some metres and then turn right (northeast) on Vyskočilova. Walk northeast ≈350m until the exit slip road on the left just before the 5.května overpass. Cut across the grass embankment and walk up to 5.května itself and you will see the expressway sign. This spot looks good, but '''it needs to be tested.''' ==== Fourth option Option 4: Motorway service station Újezd u Průhonic (BEST WAY TO WIENNA) ====
[[File:ujezdupruhonicprague.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Hitchhikers at Újezd u Průhonic petrol station. Regular local hitchhikers were around, as well as hitchhikers doing the race.]]
Take metro line C (red) to ''Opatov''. Exit straight out of the station and take a left following the winding red ramp up to street level/the road above. From the bus-stop next to the Replay shop, take bus X363 (nit a bus 363) to stop ''K Sukovu'' (buses leave every 15-30 minutes). Continue on the main road where Bus went and the street will turn kind of right into Formanská and then 20 mtrs ahead it splits into left and right. Stay on the Left Road cross the bridge over higway and on the right is a lane going down to the Mc Donalds + Gas Station on the higway. The best jackpot a hitch hiker can hit. , going over motorway bridge. <br />
This is the first motorway petrol station past Prague, really Best hitchhiking spot but takes extra time to get there. Also, you have to show a valid ticket or buy one from driver for the bus trip!
=== South towards [[Příbram]], [[Písek]], [[České Budějovice]] {{Dcz|4}} ===
=== West towards [[Karlovy Vary]], [[Cheb]] {{Dcz|6}}{{E|48}} ===
==== Second option Option 2: Motorway junction D6 Jeneč ====If you want to start a bit further outside, take Take a train (www.idos.cz) from ''Prague Masarykovo Station'', to ''Jeneč'', which (15 km outside out of Prague and very close to Prague Airport). Just 200 m Walk down the embankment onto Průmyslová ulice from ''Jeneč'' train the station - on . Walk north along Průmyslová ulice ≈350 m under the other side of railway tracks to the train tracks - is a motorway junction from which it is pretty easy to get to [[Karlovy Vary]].
==== Third option Option 3: Motorway service station D6 ====If you prefer petrol stations, try this option. The first one is quite far though Take metro line A (30 km from Prague centergreen) to ''Hradčanská''. Then take bus [http://www.tram-bus.cz/stredni-cechy/autobusy/linka-310610 310610] or [http://www.tram- take a bus .cz/stredni-cechy/autobusy/linka-310082 310082 (B82)] from bus-stop ''Praha-Hradčanská (Metro ''Dejvická'') to and get off at ''Velká Dobrá, u skoly''. Once there follow Follow the direction of the bus and turn first left (Unhošťská street), than second right (Lesní street) and after 200 m you should see the highway and the petrol station on your right.<br/ >This option is good if you prefer petrol stations although it is quite far (30 km from Prague centre).
=== Northwest towards [[Kladno]], [[Chomutov]], [[Chemnitz]] {{Dcz|7}} ===
== Public transport ==