Czech Republic
The information below is provided by Lonely Planet readers and is not verified by Lonely Planet. For the official lowdown, contact your nearest embassy or check out our Travel Links.
Visas, Embassies & Border Crossings
Australian Citizens as at the 1 May 2004 no longer require a visa for a 30 day visit.
Pauline Graafmans, Australia (Apr 05)
Canadian citizens do not require a visa to visit to the Czech Republic. As of May 1, 2004, holders of valid Canadian passports can enter the Czech Republic for visits up to 90 days.
Janice Tedstone, Canada (Feb 05)
Travel Tips
If you already have a GSM 900/1800 phone and need to make calls within the Czech Republic, getting a prepaid GSM SIM card is an nice option because of the good rates within the country. Prepaid cards cost around 250 Kc. You can find prepaid cards at a lot of stores in Prague (e.g. record stores or stores for electric appliances). Prepaid cards can be recharged by purchasing debit cards with different values at tobacco stores or in stores that sell prepaid cards. English instructions for recharging can be found e.g. on T-Mobile debit cards.
Christian Strauf, Germany (Mar 06)
Whilst getting a note out of my purse in Prague it got slightly torn at the top. I went to 6 Bureau de Change's and no-one would change the note. So in the end I had to go to a bank and they changed it no problem. So when in Prague - don't tear any notes!
L Clark, UK (Nov 05)
I am a seasoned traveller and have looked forward to going to Prague after years of listening to my friends rave about it. I agree that the city is beautiful. I however want to warn fellow travellers that the people in the tourist areas are generally unfriendly and the practices dishonest. This is not a cheap place to backpack to.
Tips:
1. State the size of your drink - otherwise they bring the biggest and charge accordingly.
2. Watch out for erroneous charges - 10% tax in tourist areas and extra charges for things like condiment use (£1.25 each!)
3. Ask for a printed bill - it is easier for them to add charges onto a hand written bill.
4. The Chinese restaurants provide good-sized delicious meals for reasonable prices.
I feel that if I had known this before hand I could have prepared and budgeted for them, as well as tried to avoid them. Happy travelling.
Nina Hill, UK (Jul 05)
The following info for vegetarians visiting Prague...It's well known that vegetarians are not particularly well catered for regarding main courses, but even side dishes of vegetables can unexpectedly have meat in them! Our green beans came dressed in a cream sauce with strips of ham mixed in.
Maggie Dalton, UK (Jan 05)
We had to visit the Czech Republic in December due to my husband's work committments. We realised many tourist type places would be closed at that time of the year, but felt there'd still be a few things we could see. But everywhere except in Prague, we were very sadly disappointed. It seems that outside of Prague, not a thing is now open in winter. Even Karlstejn Castle, which I understood to be one of the major attractions in the country , was closed. Even things which said on their front doors, that they were open in December (such as the castle in Brno) - were closed! We finally gave up on the Czech Republic, and headed for Germany and Austria instead where it was much easier to still have a tourist experience.
Liz Wightwick (Jan 05)
Moving About
I found another (easy) route to get into town (Prague) from the airport. It especially comes in handy when the traveller's destination is along metro line B: at the airport take bus no. 110 (same stop & price as 119). This bus stops at Zlicin which is a final stop of metro line B. That way switching from A to B (like suggested in the book) can be avoided.
Kerstin Plichta, Germany (Sep 05)
Have recently returned from a trip through Poland, Slovak and Czech Republics. On the return trip we drove from Prague to Dresden and were stopped by Czech police for not displaying our 'ticket' allowing us to travel on the motorway. They were stopping almost all foreign cars whose drivers, like us, were in ignorance of this 'ticket'. Result - on the spot fine of about £50. Allegedly, there are signs on the motorway re: this and the tickets are available at garages and post offices.
Frank & Sally Wallbridge, UK (Aug 05)
The ticket checking agents who prowl the trams and buses making sure passengers have valid tickets are very good at their jobs, they operate plain clothed and can be anyone from an apparent university student in their early 20s to an old lady in her 60s or anyone in between. Their only identity is a metal badge that they show to you when they ask to see your ticket. You usually don't know they are on the vehicle until they are in your face. If they catch you without a valid ticket, you have to pay a fine on the spot which I think currently is 500K in Brno.
Kevan Vogler, Czech Republic (Jan 05)
Scams & Warnings
Changing Money - avoid the many exchange booths and shops around Wencelas Square and the old town. Many of them are advertising special offers and exchange rates which are deceptive. Most of the rates on display are for selling sterling/euro/dollar and not buying. The difference is significant. Use a bank exchange - much safer and much higher rate. If you arrive in Prague after the banks are closed - only change a small amount of money at first so that you can be sure of the actual rate. Also check out if there is any administration charge. Me and my friend got totally misled and subsequently ripped off in an exchange booth on the main part of Wencelas Square. The teller refused point blank to reverse the transaction - depsite protest. Our only compensation was to stand outside and ward off any other customers for at least an hour. The bank gave us 8K to £1 higher rate.
Christine Hall, UK (May 05)
This is just to let you know how we were scammed in a bar in the Wenceslas Square area of Prague. OK, being the seedy part of town (by night at least), we probably shouldn't have expected widespread honesty, but here's what happened.
Basically, there are many bars on or near Wenceslas Square, and competition among their touts is intense. Every few paces someone comes up to you, trying to lure you into their bar with offers such as "a free/discounted drink on arrival". Don't believe a word of it! When we eventually got to a bar, the supposedly "cheap" beers turned out to be Czk300 (almost £6) per bottle!! Anyway, after a bit of arguing we agreed to this scandalous price and all eight of us handed over our money. And then the proper scam started. As if the drinks weren't extortionate enough already, the barmaid then claimed that one of us hadn't paid, and that we were Czk300 short, even though we had all blatantly handed our money over and had seen each other do it. After arguing with her for about 10 minutes, we eventually gave in and handed her another Czk300. However, instead of accepting our payment and serving our drinks, she then claimed she'd made a mistake the first time and had actually meant to say that two - not one - of us hadn't paid, so we still owed her another Czk300! She also made a point of counting our money out in front of us (minus the notes she'd pocketed, of course) in an attempt to convince us that she wasn't ripping us off. After yet more futile arguing, we eventually conceded once again again and paid a tenth time, after which the fraudster finally served us our drinks. We then stayed in the bar enjoying ourselves without buying anything else for the rest of the night. After all, £60 was quite enough for eight beers!
Rich Morgan, UK (Dec 04)
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