Prague

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Prague
<map lat="50.0751" lng="14.4347" zoom="10" view='3' height='350' width='420'/>
Information
Country:
Flag of Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Population: 1.218.644
Licence plate: old: A?? ???? new: ?A? ????
Major roads: D1, D5, D8, D11
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots

Prague (Praha) is the capital of the Czech Republic.

A lot of Czech people don't speak English. (You can try German.) The Czech word for petrol station is "Benzinka". This might come in handy. (MF)

An abbreviation PHA written on your sign clearly informs a driver that you go to Prague.

Hitchhiking out

East towards Hradec Králové, Pardubice, Wrocław 11E 67

From "Černý most", the last station of B-line metro (yellow) take bus to station "Na Kovárně" (221, 303, 304, 344, 353, 398), it is about 10 minutes ride and probably you are going to pay few crowns, but not much. Hundred metres behind the stop turn right and go along Tlustého street, after last house keep the right (bigger) road, then left before the cemetery. Go across the bridge to the petrol station. It is about 1,5 km, but I think it is the best hitch spot on this direction. There usually aren't too many cars, but I've never been there more than half an hour. If you get lost ask anyone about "Hummer Garden" (the place only for Hummers) which is just behind the station.

Second option

Maybe better is to use K+R place near "Černý Most" metro station, lots of hitchhikers use this place. Use sign HK (Hradec Králové) or PL (if you want to Náchod and Poland). It's necessary to use the sign, because cars there are going to many directions. Disadvantage is that there are only cars traveling out of Prague - not those going from Prague ring road. But there is no non-freeway solution how to pick up those cars. My personal experience (dj-bobr) for east way (Hradec Králove, Poland) is that you can try to hitchhike at the beginning of D11 Highway (50.098664 N, 14.597708 E). It's a motorway, but police doesn't care, if you stand safe at the shoulder.

Northeast towards Mladá Boleslav, Liberec, Görlitz E 65

File:Stop hk.jpg
Dj-bobr at the beginning of D11 Highway.

You can hitch from a gas station on the E65. Take the metro line B (yellow) to the last station, Černý Most. From there catch bus number 220 to the stop called "Do Čertous". When you get off the bus the gas station is behind the big orange building with "H1" on it.

Second option

Another option is to use K+R place near "Černý Most" metro station (the same for going to Hradec Králové), lots of hitchhikers use this place. Use sign MB (Mladá Boleslav), LB (Liberec). It's necessary to use the sign, because cars are there going to many directions. Because of building of Prague Ring (R1) sub-parts, long-distance traffic is lower each day, but this spot is still usable. For Hradec Králové and Poland direction, use spot at the beginning of D11 highway.

North, Northwest towards Dresden, Berlin 8E 55

You can also get to an easily reachable petrol station on the motorway getting north walking. You must go to "Letňanská" (e.g. bus 195, 140, 158 from metro "Prosek"). Then going down from the bus, you can see the entrance of the motorway straight ahead. Put yourself so you have the motorway on your right, then cross the street (going north then), and then the parking, and go behind the buildings, looking for a small bridge (“most” in Czech), going above the motorway. From there you will see the petrol station. There are not so many people stopping there, but they all are (almost) going in the good direction. Just ask if they are going north (“sever”) or if they can just let you on the next petrol station (“příští pumpa”/“prschieschtee pumpa”), where there will be normally more cars.

Second option

You need to get to the first big petrol station OMV with McDonalds on D8(E55). From metro station ”Letňany” take bus (195, 140, 158, 110, 269) to the stop “Obchodní centrum Čakovice”. Then on the other side of the road take bus (202) and ride one stop to “Na Lukách”. Bus goes once in an hour, so it's better to walk there for 10 minutes. The bus stop “Na Lukách” is very close to D8(E55) motorway. If you took bus or walked, then go towards the bridge and from there you can see the petrol station at left. From that petrol station you can either hitch-hike to Dresden directly or to the last petrol station OMV before Lovosice or to the Agip petrol station after Ústí nad Labem. The hitch-hiking position there is also good.

Warning: If you are passing through Dresden, take a look on Dresden hitchwiki page.

Third option

Use the third option, if you don't want to go with so many buses. Just take the red metro line (C) to the terminal station Letňany and then walk from there to the spot marked by Fatidik. It is 300m walking from there. Walk to the street Tupolevova and at the first crossing left into the Beranových until the end, then right and straight until you see a small walking path leading you to the service station. There are not so many cars and you may wait a little long if you are two male hitchers.

Fourth - BEST Option

From the petrol station point described above simply walk 2km in the direction of the highway (Dresden/Berlin) and you will reach another OMV petrol station which has a McDonalds. This is way more populated spot, I only waited less than an hour to be picked up to be driven to Berlin.

West towards Plzeň, Nürnberg 5E 50

From metro "Zličín" (line B, yellow), take bus nr 380 or 308 to Rudná. The village main road goes straight through it. Stop around the center of the village, busstop "Rudná Hořelice" which is the 13th stop. Ticket costs approximately 18 Koruna. You'll see the motorway passing on the bridge on your right. Go under the bridge and walk on the main road until the 3rd right turn which is called Hořelická. Take the third road , go straight until the end and you will see (Ke hřisti). Take the small path at the end of the street, you'll arrive at the gas station. It's a 5-10 min walk. Avoid going into Plzeň or getting dropped off on the bypass. It's better to try to find a direct ride to Germany from the last petrol station before Plzeň. ( ** We 2 guys waited here for 45 minutes before getting a hitch hike upto the border of Germany post which going to Paris was easy. Verified on 6th September 2011)

Second option

Take a tram (9, 10) to "Motol", that's where the motorway link starts. Not a perfect place, but cars are not too fast and there are quite a lot of Germans passing.

Third option

From metro "Zličín" (line B, yellow) go the the crossroad on traffic lights, there's a bridge before (under the bridge are railways), so walk on the traffic light and stand right on the triangle, you can catch cars from both ways, they are going slowly there, and there's also a place to stop. We have been waiting there for 10 minutes. ( This OPTION Does not work - Don't Waste Time. verified on 6th Sep 2011 ) Look at the picture for details: nice spot

Fourth option

I go quite often Prague<->Pilsen and this is the best spot for me. Take metro B (yellow line) to "Hůrka", walk around Albert shop, upstairs and over the small bridge. Than continue around school and still the same direction. You will see the wall so go behind, there is bus stop and big road. Go right to the crossroads, there go left. You will se signs "Plzeň". Over the bridge and down to the left and there is great place. Quite long and lot of space to stop. Police stopped only once but after 2 minutes talking they went out and let me there.

Without sign (or with sign "PLZ" or "Plzeň") you can easily get to Plzeň (don't take cars before Plzeň). For Germany is better to use sign ("D") (and again, take only cars going to Germany or at least to the border where is good petrol station).

From "Hůrka" you will be at the spot in 10-15 minutes. You can also get off at "Nové Butovice" (1 station before "Hůrka") and just continue around main road to that spot (20 minutes) and hitchhike on the way, I have to test it.

Southeast towards Brno, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, Kraków 1E 50E 59E 65
+ south towards České Budějovice, Linz 33E 55

It's important to write sign!

First option

From metro Opatov (line C, red) follow noise to the motorway. Walk along the road about 5 minutes, keep going over the crossroad and the bridge over the motorway (see second map). Now you might see other hitchhikers on the slip-road. Alternatively, you can take bus number 177 from metro Opatov to next station called "U Dálnice". (It's request stop, so press the stop-button after the bus starts moving.) Be careful and stay on the slip road, not on the motorway (sometimes police passes by). Average waiting time is less than one hour. From the bridge you can see the petrol station 'Újezd u Průhonic' – it's about 1.5 km by motorway, but it isn't a good place.

Hitchhikers at Újezd u Průhonic petrol station. Regular local hitchers were about, as well as hitchers doing the race.

Second option

Use the petrol station, it is a good place, easier to reach and you'll get rides quickly. From metro "Opatov" (line C, red) climb the steps to the motorway. Look on the bus stop timetables for the stop "K Sukovu" on route 363 (you are going south, the buses should leave every 15 minutes, and you can use the same ticket that you got on the metro). Get to "K Sukovu" – you'll know you're there when you see the petrol station to your right. From "K Sukovu" walk in the direction the bus is going for about 500m. After you cross the motorway bridge, the petrol station is on your right. This is a perfect spot! (MF)

Tom shared this spot with about 20 other hitchhikers during a race in April 2007 (most started at the slip-road spot described above, but just got dumped at this petrol station). While his teammates fell asleep on the grass for 3 hours (!), he was able to chat with other hitchhikers and drivers, and get ride offers towards Brno, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna and Kraków. The average waiting time was 20–30 minutes, plus there were several truck drivers promising longer lifts after a few hours' rest.

Third option

If you're lazy walking long ways till you reach the hitch-spot, you should try option three:

  • Take Metro C till Chodov
  • leaving the metro entry turn right into road Roztylska until you reach the roundabout
  • the 2nd exit of the roundabout is yours, then again turn the first right into road Kloknetova
  • walk straight through the path in the bush, cross the street, enter the gas station and hitch a ride =)

The gas-station is a smaller one right on the motorway, but even if you won't find a long-distance ride in the first 10 minutes you can ask drivers to bring you to the next gas-stations which is 10 minutes away by car. At this bigger gas station lots of people stop to refill and are going direction Brno, Vienna and České Budějovice.

On the Viva con Agua Hitchhike Race in 2009 one team chose that spot and it worked our pretty good!

Public transport

Always have a valid ticket when travelling by metro!, unless you look like a Czech! Tourists are the biggest source of income for DPP (Prague public trans.), so the controllers are first to check those, who do not look like Czech citizens. The fine is 800 Kč (~32 €) if you will pay it on that place or till 15 days. Ticket for 30 minutes - 24 Kč (1 €), 90 minutes - 32 Kč (~1.30 €). If you plan to stay longer, you can buy a ticket for one day - 110 Kč (~4.50 €) or three days - 310 Kč (~12.60 €).

The most dangerous stations are "Muzeum", "Florenc", "Můstek" and "I.P. Pavlova". You can usually find where are the controllers at twitter or at facebook, sure not all of them (especially these in cars are hardly locatable).

I will suggest buy a one day ticket or something like that, look confident and don't validate it. If a controller comes, pretend to not speak Czech or English properly and say, but I bought a ticket. If you look confused at the best, they should or will validate your ticket and nothing else. Before boarding the Metro Compartment observe for Controllers already inside. Once inside at each station carefully observe for who all are getting in the car. If it looks like they maybe controllers, before the door shuts just get out of the metro.
But rather then in cars, the controllers are near the stair. So if you see them, I advise to board the metro once again and get out on the next station. Some stations have several exits and sometimes controllers are only at one exit at the top of the stairs maybe. So try different exits. It's annoying and risky but doable.


On 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/DPP.

wikitravel:Prague trash:Prague

Highways in the Czech Republic

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