ABOUT PRAGUE
All you should know
HISTORY
Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic. Czech Republic was established 1‘st of January 1993, before we were known in the world under the name of Czechoslovakia. After the end of WW2, we fell under the part of the Eastern Bloc, and under the domination of the Soviet Union until November 1989, without freedom of speech. In 1989 the Velvet Revolution took place. The symbol of the revolution were a bundle of ordinary keys from the apartment which we jingled in protest at the Czechoslovakian squares. The hero of the revolution and the future president Václav Havel modern nation‘s leader. He brought the nations together and showed it a swift way to migrate into the modern world and time. Václav Havel gained high popularity of around 90 % before and during the revolution and even abroad he was well respected for his pro-peace views and very open mind, which you will hopefully find inside each of us. His legacy still living in the blood of every czech citizen. Prague is home to 1.2 million people. She has 10 districts, each district has it’s own characteristics.
WEATHER
For your vacation in Prague, the weather is very crucial accordingly, the same as the atmosphere of the city to experience. Probably the best term when you should to visit Prague is the period from April to October. If you want to experience really cold weather of Prague, from November to March the weather is characteristically dry. Locals use the snow cover with temperatures around freezing point for skating or cross-country skiing and you can see the children at Petrin hill with the Bobsledders and school bags.
A tip for the couples
In the middle of the May you can enjoy everything in city blooming, try to plan your trip around then. In the middle of October the green color of Prague switches to orange and every park becomes a palette of autumn colors. A very romantic time to come as well, if you come at that time and make your trip interesting by touring around on a walk, eBike or a romantic coffee in some cute caffeteria, your holiday will be perfect.
PEOPLE
Czech people are really friendly and open-mindet. You will not have any problem using English in Prague, you can even get away with Spanish, French, German or Italian. In the other hand, outside the Prague you might struggle to find people speaking English. That’s why you should have one of our dictionaries with you.
The average wage in the country is about 1 000 USD / month. In Prague is slightly higher - around 1 300 USD. The nation is known for their weekend trips to the cottage outside the city. We love to relax, go mushroom picking or take the dogs out. For that reason you might feel on the weekends like there are only tourists living in Prague.
Tip for the communicative types
Try to ask about Budweiser Budvar, EU or the president. This always takes on a passionate debate. Czechs also love to speak about sport, art, history or traveling. Whatever you want to know, ask over a glass of cold beer :)
THE LANGUAGE
In Prague, we speak czech. Czech language belongs to the slovanic languages and is quite similar to Russian. We can communicate without a big problems with people from Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia or Poland. Czech is considered to be amongst the top 10 hardest languages in the world. The most used word is AHOJ which means Ahoj and DÍKY which mean Thank you, pretty easy words to understand. Díky.
Tip
If you are interested in the most important czech words, we prepared a little free dictionary for you, which you can find either in the reception of your hotel or in I LikeeBike and I Like Veggie Vlašská 15 under the Prague Castle. We definitely recommend you to visit and walk around the cute little streets. It’s a nice little walk around the beautiful villas used as embassies of USA, Germany, Italy, Ireland and others. You can walk up to Petrin Hill, see the Strahov monastery and the viewing tower.
ELECTRICITY
The same as in most of northern and central Europe, the electricity supply in Prague is 230V. Electrical sockets take standard European two-pin plugs. British, North American and other non-European tourists should bring adaptors, which can be purchased at your departure airport. If you arrive in Prague without one,you can try one in Tesco shopping mall.
ARRIVAL TO PRAGUE
The airport is named after the mentioned president Václav Havel. The airport has 2 terminals. Terminal one is an international terminal for flights from and to Non Schengen space countries and Terminal 2 are European Schengen countries. The new terminal 2 is one of the most modern buildings in the city, because the modern contemporary buildings are not exactly allowed in the city centre. Why? Because the city is trying to protect its heritage buildings and keep the characteristic look. Therefore the major investments are into repairing of the heritage buildings. The airport is around 15 km far from the Prague centre. To get to the airport you can use BUS nr. 119 from the metro station Dejvická. You will need the 32 CZK ticket per person. If you choose to use the taxi you will get to the reception of your hotel to 30 minutes. We recommend to use well known taxi companies for fixed prices. There is also an app called Liftago which was evolutionary in Prague. You can also use the Airport express bus (AE) which goes to Prague every 30 minutes. It will cost you around 60 CZK/3 USD.
Tip
Staroměstské náměstí is considered to be a city centre. It is the square where you can find the popular Astronomical clock and it is the heart of the metropolis for tourists. The locals spend their time mainly in the Václavské námětí in the New town, which has the National museum on the top of it with the St. Wenceslas on the horse. Prague is popular for the numbers of little squares and amazing places to hang which you will find in our ebook, hopefully you are enjoying the read.
TRANSPORTATION
There are 3 lines of the metro in Prague. The Metro is very comfortable and connect suburbs with the city centre. It is air conditioned,so in summer it’s pleasure to spend time in. The main junctions are Můstek and Florenc and Muzeum where you can switch to other lines. We do not recommend to travel without a valid ticket because if you get caught you can have a problem with the police. 50 % of the locals go without ticket, but they have their tricks, such as a mobile phone from which they quickly send a message for the ticket. The tickets can be bought in the yellow vending machines in the metro station or in the newsagent next to tram stations.
Tip
Tick Tack is a new company which so far has had no problems with the taxis and offers limousines (A6, A8) for the same price as the city taxis, so if you want a good run for your money, you can use this company. The owner is the same person who owns the yellow buses Student agency, the most popular buses in the Czech republic thanks to them you can travel to for example Budapest in daily timetable for 50 USD as well and to the every big city in Czech republic.
PRICES OF TRANSPORT TICKET
30 min.
24 CZK / 1,5 USD
90 min.
32 CZK / 2 USD
1 day
110 CZK / 5 USD
Tip
Use your cell phone to purchase tickets. It‘s easy, without waiting queues and do not need coins. Write to SMS DPT24 (30 min.) or DTP32 (90 min.) Send SMS at number 90206. In a moment you will get an SMS with a ticket.
PRAGUE METRO
TRAVELING BY CAR
If you decide to rent a car, you can face the problem with parking. The reason being the exclusive parking for residents in Prague 1,2,3,6,7. If you leave the car parked in the wrong place or with the parking ticket that is not valid, your car can be towed away. You can use the paid parking in the underground of your Hotel. The traffic is quite good in the city with the exception of 8-10am and 4-7pm which are the peak traffic times. The drivers are generally cautious, you will find the same cars as in any other western european country. The pedestrian has ALWAYS the right to go on the crossing. Don’t forget your international driving licence, it might be useful when solving complications.
WALKING
Prague is wonderful for walking, everything is more or less a walking distance, cyclists also love it. You can explore on foot or on the bike saddle with no problem. Prague is totally worth the hurting feet. Stunning parks, avenues, viewings points and bridges.
We wish the best weather for you so you can enjoy the outdoor Prague as much as possible. We love Prague and hope you will share the love with us.
TIPPING
Tipping in czech is not mandatory but everybody does it, even locals. If you do not tip the, you are letting them know you were not satisfied with the service. The tip is usually around 10%, but it is a custom to round up so that the service can easily give you your change.
Tip
It is a custom to say a round up number when paying, for example if the meal costs 272 CZK it is common to say 300.
DRINKS
Drinking beer has his stable position in czech culture. Everybody knows czech beer, even the kind of beer Pils names after the town Pilsen, which is 100 km west from Prague. In Pilsen they still make the world famous Pilsner Urquell or Gambrinus. If you consider yourselfa beer lover, this short distance is asking for a visit to a Brewery to get to know the beer culture. All in all, if you love beer, you gotta love Czech republic! The water is drinkable in all the hotels and houses. If you prefer your water bottled, you can buy it in any supermarket for the price of 1 liter for around 10 CZK / 0,5 USD.
Tip
If you absolutely love beer, you can choose one of the specialised Beer tours that the city is offering. Czech republic is experiencing a boom of family breweries. The beers from the small breweries taste amazing and you can get them for similar prices to well known brands. We recommend the brewery in the monastery Strahov. The beer is brewed by monks. Especially their beer called IPA is delicious especially in warm day, but be careful as it’s stronger than beers usually are.
FOOD
Traditional czech kitchen is mainly very heavy and fat. It is also full of meat meal, so it could be really very difficult to find some vegetarian food around. Thatsway was I Like Veggie made for, because we are able to show you Prague in this way from healthy, easy and very tasty vegetarian/vegan/raw point of view. On our tour, you will gonna try typical czech meal in veggie version.
BARS AND NIGHTLIFE
The nightlife is to be found in 3 parts of Prague. Touristy and posh places are around Dlouhá třída, Náměstí republiky, Náměstí republiky, Můstek and Charles bridge. The locals are going out in less popular bars and disco around the Anděl metro station, I.P.Pavlova and Národní třída. The third section is a few bars mainly for forginers and local based. They are in Žizkov, Karlín or Holešovice.
Tip
In district 10, Vršovice is a Krymská street. It‘s a mix between Kreuzberg in Berlin & Montmart in Paris. This street is pulsing untill very late night. Full of bars and pubs, is also very friendly with vegetarians and vegans. Try Café v lese, they have a many alternative music concerts, and a lot of locals join them.
MONEY
In Czech we use czech crown, with abbreviation CZK but you should be able to pay in Euro in some of the places, like a restaurants and tours. Czech republic does not use Euro and it looks like we won’t accept it before 2020 for sure. The exchange rate is usually around 25CZK for 1 euro and 25 CZK for 1 USD. In Czech you will find these banks: Raifensen bank, Unicredit bank, ERSTE, Commerzbank, Sberbank, ING etc. You will find an ATM in every square. The charge for getting the money out is different in every bank, we recommend to ask beforehand. Changing the money on the street is not legal, but you can still find individuals offering to change money for you. Do not accept these.
Tip
If you want to exchange your cash in the city where the locals go, it is to be found in the Kaprova street not far from The Old Town square.
PRICES
The best way to compare prices is to compare them to products accesible anywhere in the world.
Taxi per km
28 CZK / 1,5 USD
Bread
20 CZK / 1 USD
Beer
40 CZK / 2 USD
Banana 1 kg
30 CZK / 1,5 USD
Bottle water 1 l
15 CZK / 0,5 USD
Thermometer
100 CZK / 5 USD
Umbrella
300 CZK / 15 USD
Marlboro cigarertes
120 CZK / 6,5 USD
Finlandia vodka
400 CZK / 20 USD
Do you have a trip to Budapest?
© 2024 I Like eBike s.r.o, Vlašská 15, 11800 Praha 1, CRN: 04072731, VAT: CZ04072731, Registration: C 241893 Municipal Court in Prague.