Prague

Prague
<map lat='50.0751' lng='14.4347' zoom='9' view='0' />
Information
Country:	Czech Republic
Population:	1.218.644
Licence plate:	?A? ???? old: A?? ????
Major roads:	D1, D5, D8, D11
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Prague (Praha) is the capital of the Czech Republic. Writing a sign "PRAHA" clearly informs a driver that you are going to Prague

Hitching out

East towards Hradec Králové, Pardubice, Wrocław 11E 67

Option 1: Motorway service station on D11

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.

Northeast towards Mladá Boleslav, Liberec, Görlitz 10E 65

File:Stop hk.jpg

Dj-bobr at the beginning of D11 Highway.

Option 1: Motorway service station on E65

Take metro line B (yellow) to the last station Černý Most. From there catch bus number 220 to the stop Do Čertous. When you get off the bus, the petrol station is behind the big orange building with "H1" on it.

Option 2: K+R (Parking) 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. Lots of hitchhikers use this place. Use a sign "MB" (Mladá Boleslav) or "LB" (Liberec). It's necessary to use a sign because the road splits in many directions. Due to the construction of sections of the Prague Ring (R1), long-distance traffic is lower each day; however, this spot is still usable.

Northwest towards Ústí nad Labem, Teplice, Dresden, Berlin 8E 55

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.

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 / Mcdonalds on D8

Option 1 walking

Take metro line C (red) to Letňany. Keep walking northwest along Tupolevova for 500 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 ≈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 (≈150 m walk).

Option 2 metro + bus

Take metro line C (red) to Letňany. Take bus 195, 140, 158, 110, or 269 to the stop Obchodní centrum 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 5E 50

Most drivers go directly to Plzeň. However, getting a direct lift to Germany or even further is not unusual. All petrol stations on the 5 are fine for hitchhiking although often with little traffic.

Option 1: Rozvadovská spojka

Take metro line B (yellow) to Hůrka. Turn left (west) out of the station and then turn north towards the Albert supermarket. Walk around the left side of Albert supermarket heading up and then over a small bridge until you reach a school. Walk around the school on the left side, heading north, until you reach Běhounkova. Walk ≈ 30m north along Běhounkova until you see the gap in the wall on the left - cut through the parking place and take the path through the gap and you will reach the large bus stop on Nárožní. Cross it and continue to the intersection with Bucharova. Turn left on Bucharova - you will see signs to "Plzeň". Go over the bridge and turn left down the entry slip road to Rozvadovská spojka. After the bend, there is a great place for hitchhiking: lights, straight, hard shoulder with lots of space to stop. Although it's not allowed to stay there, the police don't make any problems here.

Take metro line B (yellow) to Nové Butovice. Then take bus 184 (direction Hradčanská) or bus 174 (direction Vypich) and get off at the second stop: "Šafránkova". (The stop is a request stop, so it means that you have to push the button in the bus to stop it). Cross over the road (Bucharova) and walk south 200m to the slip road, and continue to the hitching point on Rozvadovská spojka as described above.

Take metro line A (green) to end station Nemocnice Motol. Turn right out of the station to the bus-stop. Then take bus 184 (direction Velká Ohrada) or bus 174 (direction Luka) and get off at the second stop: "Šafránkova" (the stop is a request stop, so it means that you have to push the button in the bus to stop it). Walk south ≈150m to the slip road, and continue to the hitching point on Rozvadovská spojka as descibed above.

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 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 1E 50E 59E 65
& South towards České Budějovice, Linz 3E 55

It's good to have a sign at this road and definitely for direction south. Every bigger petrol station on D1 is good for hitchhiking.

Option 1: Motorway service station on E65

Take metro line C (red) to Chodov. look for the big shopping centre and enter, keeping to the ground floor, locate the exit consisting of stairs and elevators (not to mention a lift that leads below); this exit leads to the bus stops.

Head on outside and turn right, follow the path and cross to the SONY building. Now keeping on the same road walk for 20mins and you'll reach the SHELL petrol station.

Alternatively, you can stay past the station exit at the end of the left lane, on the left side of the road. Easily reachable petrol station, not a lot of traffic though and is sometimes enforced by a employee in Shell uniform. Has cover for in bad-weather or snow conditions. In all honesty this station seems iffy. There isn't much traffic on both gas stations. Both are not advisable. You can try standing at the ramp to the motorway just outside Chodov Mall. First go inside, to floor 0. Walk to the easternmost part of the mall, there use the elevator to floor -2. In the parking house, walk east to the exit. There's the ramp.

Option 2: Motorway Junction Opatov

Take metro line C (red) to "Opatov". Walk south ≈800m along Chilská past the crossroads and over the motorway bridge to the beginning of the entrance slip road. Instead 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).

Option 3: 5.května at the beginning of expressway

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.

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.

Option 4: Motorway service station Újezd u Průhonic)

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 lift following the winding red ramp up to street level/the road above. From the bus-stop next to the Replay shop, take the bus X122 to the final stop K Sukovu (buses leave every 15-30 minutes). As it is in the "P" zone, usual fares and SMS-tickets apply. Continue along the main street which will turn kind of right into Formanská and 20 m ahead it splits into left and right. Stay on the right hand/main road, cross the bridge over the highway and on the right there is a pathway going down to the McDonald's + gas station on the higway. The best jackpot a hitch hiker can hit.
This is the first motorway petrol station past Prague, the best hitchhiking spot but takes some time to get there. Also, you have to have a valid ticket for the bus trip!

Option 5: Beginning of main road 5.kvetna

Take metro line C (red) to Vyšehrad. Head south using the sidewalk for about 300m. After the small bridge, continue left to the main road 5. kvetna. There are 3 lanes and one parking lane and usually some place to stop.
This spot quite near the city centre and cars are going slow, high traffic density, and nobody expects hitchhikers there but you can be lucky.

Option 6

Take metro line C (red) to Roztyly and cross all the parking places to the motorway. Hard shoulder there is good and lit at night; however, it's not allowed to stay there and cars are already moving quite fast.

Option 7: Uhříněveská Highway Entrance and Gas Station in Průhonice

The below is more written in warning than recommendation, as a spot that is possible but hardly ideal. Where Uhříněveská crosses beneath the highway in Průhonice there is a gas station, Čerpací Stanice AGP in Googlemaps. Movethathoof went there looking for a ride while Option 4 above was closed, and found it //very// quiet: little traffic, and the entrance to the gas station is from lanes that are separate from the highway, for cars that are otherwise exiting there onto Uhříněveská. That said, there is a regular trickle of trucks that pass through, many heading to Nuremburg and Wrocław (though not Vienna, where they were). Still, by asking everyone who stopped they before long did find a ride with two Germans who were headed to Vienna.

They also tried at the highway entrance there from Uhříněveská, which was useless. While the spot has good space to stop, and the traffic is not moving fast, 90 minutes there only taught them that the traffic is mostly local and the area must be //very// well off, to judge by the number of expensive sports cars there entering the highway and driving past. As well, if planning to be there once autumn really begins to bite, there is a large retaining wall right where you'll stand, casting a very deep shadow, making it feel much, much colder after some time waiting!

To get there, the instructions are similar to option 4 above: take metro line C (red) to Opatov, exit to the street level bus stop directly above, and then instead take either the 363 or 385 buses (the bus driver may ask you to pay the 12 crown add-fare for where you're going). At least the bus Movethathoof took was nice and new, announcing (by voice and on a nice screen showing the coming stops, no less) the stop: you get off at the Průhonice roundabout (stop name Průhonice), and then walk five minutes up Uhříněveská (which is the street that makes the T-intersection at the round about, a left turn from the road and in the direction the bus travelled on from Opatov). The onramp will be right there on your right, and there is either a little path to the gas station, or stairs at the underpass (there were also truckers stopping simply to make purchases at the Lidl that is right there, the stairs being the more direct route between the two).

South towards Příbram, Písek, České Budějovice 4

Take metro line B (yellow) to Smíchovské nádraží. Then take bus 129, 241, 243, 244, 314, or 318 to the stop Malá Chuchle. (It's a request stop so press the button). There you can easily hitchhike. Usually very short waiting on Friday afternoons when many people go out from Prague.

West towards Karlovy Vary, Cheb 6E 48

Option 1: Karlovarská street

Take tram 22 to Bílá Hora. Walk 50 m west along Karlovarská street to past the red/white railings and there is a quite good place to hitch-hike.

Option 2: Motorway junction D6 Jeneč

Take a train from Prague Masarykovo to Jeneč (15 km out of Prague and very close to Prague Airport). Walk down the embankment onto Průmyslová ulice from the station. Walk north along Průmyslová ulice ≈350 m under the railway tracks to the motorway junction from which it is pretty easy to get to Karlovy Vary.

Option 3: Motorway service station D6

Take metro line A (green) to Hradčanská. Then take bus 310610 or 310082 (B82) from bus-stop Praha-Hradčanská and get off at Velká Dobrá, u skoly. 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.
This option is good if you prefer petrol stations although it is quite far (30 km from Prague centre).

Northwest towards Kladno, Chomutov, Chemnitz 7

Take metro line A (green) to Dejvická. Then take bus 119 from bus-stop Dejvická to Dědina. You can hitchhike at the bus-stop. You can also try another bus stop on Evropská road, e.g. Divoká Šárka, but probably further out is better.

Public transport

Public transport network in Prague is really good, you can get in reasonable time almost anywhere at any time. Ticket costs: 30 minutes - 24 Kč (eur 1), 90 minutes - 32 Kč (~eur 1.30). If you plan to stay longer, you can buy a ticket for one day - 110 Kč (~eur 4.50) or three days - 310 Kč (~eur 12.60). You have to validate ticket when entering metro station, tram or bus. The fine for fare dodging is 800 Kč (~eur 32) if you pay it at that place or till15 days.

At metro stations you can find maps of Prague with public transport, this can be useful, because the lines are changing (especially bus lines). You can easily find a connection online at IDOS - works for the entire CR or alternatively for Prague only: DPP.

Nomadwiki & Trashwiki

Check Nomadwiki for info on accommodation, showers etc. or Trashwiki for dumpsters...and share your wisdom :)

Czech cities with more than 20.000 inhabitants

> 1.000.000: Praha

100.000-500.000: Brno • Ostrava • Plzeň • Liberec • Olomouc

50.000-100.000: Ústí nad Labem • Hradec Králové • České Budějovice • Pardubice • Havířov • Zlín • Kladno • Most • Karviná • Opava • Frýdek-Místek • Karlovy Vary • Jihlava • Teplice • Děčín

20.000-50.000: Chomutov • Přerov • Jablonec nad Nisou • Mladá Boleslav • Prostějov • Třebíč • Česká Lípa • Třinec • Tábor • Znojmo • Příbram • Cheb • Orlová • Kolín • Trutnov • Písek • Kroměříž • Šumperk • Vsetín • Valašské Meziříčí • Litvínov • Uherské Hradiště • Hodonín • Český Těšín • Břeclav • Krnov • Litoměřice • Sokolov • Nový Jičín • Havlíčkův Brod • Chrudim • Strakonice • Kopřivnice • Klatovy • Žďár nad Sázavou • Bohumín • Jindřichův Hradec • Vyškov • Blansko • Kutná Hora • Náchod • Jirkov

Highways in the Czech Republic

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