We used public transport to get to the airport from that station on Friday. The lady in the ticket office was awesome. Sold us a 90 minute ticket for 40czk and gave us a slip of paper with what metro and trolley bus (the 59) we needed to catch. Was so easy and cheap at £1.34. Also, we saw you getting into an old car on Friday. We didn't approach you though as you seemed busy. Hope its for another video :)
@@mikeklein1779 Even total strangers in the street. We asked a few people if we were unsure what tram to catch and they were happy to help us, point us in the right direction.
I only visited Prague once, but I feel that I know much more about your city than mine. It's not only interesting things that you guys tell, it's more the way you film these videos that makes it entertaining and educational at the same time! You guys do such a great job!
@@tlacorp.3813 I didn't stick around to find out tbh. I straight-up got _lost_ in the Prague central station when I arrived and at one point I tried to leave it through a small exit in front of which was an overpass (I think?) and a couple of leisurely nondescript gentlemen who looked at me like 👀. I thought, "oh, alright, so here is the drug dealers spot of _this_ capital city train station", and went back inside.
Regarding the tram station btw if anyone preparing to go to Prague reads this - leave through the FRONT exit (that's the big one, next to the stairs down to the subway station) and walk RIGHT until you reach the street. There's a tram station there. I had to ask an employee to find out.
@@tlacorp.3813 I didn't stick around to find out tbh. I straight-up got _lost_ in the station when I arrived and at one point I tried to leave it through an exit in front of which was an overpass (I think) and a couple of men who looked at me like 👀. So I thought, 'oh ok, so that's the drug dealer spot of _this_ capital city central station', and went back inside.
@@tlacorp.3813 I didn't stick around to find out tbh. I straight-up got _lost_ in the station when I arrived and at one point I tried to leave it through an exit in front of which was an overpass (I think) and a couple of men who looked at me like 👀. So I thought, 'oh ok, so that's the dr*g de*ler spot of this capital city central station', and went back inside.
I literally crossed this highway with a 60 Liter bagpack and almost died because I couldn't find the stairs up and my flixbus was about to leave the station. Ah and because you can't see the cars coming from a certain road that combines with the highway about 50 meters away from where you crossed.
It's not a highway. They are supposed to go 50 km/h, but a lot are driving much faster sadly. As someone who often drives there, even being in car going with the traffic, feels unsafe.
@@simonp37 Jeah just further proving the point that if you build a 6 lane highway, people are gonna drive highway speed, because they feel save on this big road. Nobody is gonna drive 50 on this, unless they're in a traffic jam....
@@NarcoSarco In Denmark they would, but this is Prague. They do however respect speed cameras. So just put up a permanent speed camera and everyone will slow down. It works in other parts of the city.
@@simonp37 Jeah, speed cameras are a band-aid fix for poor planning, cool for the government because it brings in millions of taxes... You could just not build a 6 Lane Road there. My compromised suggestion would be 2 car roads each way, 2lanes in the middle for bus/tram, isle with trams or bus stop and a crosswalk with traffic lights. So the pedestrians only cross 2 lanes at a time, with the safety of crosswalks / signals. :)
As someone who's been in Hlavak a ton of times and never illegally crossed but just... dealt with it, I didn't even know they had escalators to cross there, I thought these were service buildings. This is insane!
it's not illegal crossing, if there is no "zebra" within 50 meters from you and it's not a highway. As he said in the video, it's dangerous and certainly not recommended, but it's legal.
@HonestGuide Another problem in main entrance of train station is NO TOILET and NO ELEVATOR for reduced mobility passenger. In May-2024, I booked assistance and taxi dropped me at the main entrance at 4.30 AM. Left parent in wheelchair in hall, used escalator to go down to find info section then show them my booked assistamce request. So someone travelling alone on wheelchair will not get assistance because way from main entrance to info hall at lower grouns floor is NOT ACCESSIBLE
@HonestGuide Hello Janek, first of all thank you for your super interesting videos and tips for Prague. We were in Prague 2 weeks ago and received a "scam" service at the main train station on our return journey. We didn't immediately find our train or track. After we couldn't find any information, a “nice and helpful” guy offered to help us and took us to the train. When my wife had already gotten on the train, he then charged me 500 CZK for his service and only let me get on after paying. He took advantage of the time pressure regarding the departure. Otherwise we had a great week thanks to your great tips 🙂
Yeah, I saw this scam happen twice at the train station when I was in Prague last week. They look for lost tourists and then act like they are helping them.
I visited Prague a few months ago for the first time. I exited the station at the old town side and had no problems whatsoever. I probably walked a mile to my hotel, but the pavements were great for my luggage. I would visit again anytime, but for summer when it’s too hot for me. Oh, I never needed cash, I did everything on my debit card.
Had a brilliant time in Prague thanks to the knowledghe you shared, and my friends loved hearing about all the scams you've highlighted. The map on the patreon gave some genuinely lovely places too. And the stereotype that people in prague are grumpy couldn't be further from the truth - everyone was lovely including the service staff - maybe it's just that we treated them with respect and expected nothing of them they were more pleasant with us.
For tourists, I usually enter the train station on the lower level. It's accessed by the road Opletalova Much safer! The little cafe there on the right side is decent. Good svickova and Pilzen 😁
@@SmokeyBCNthe problem is with the people, who get there by taxi. AFAIR, cars cannot get close to the lower entrance. Getting there by metro though is way easier
as a city planner I really enjoyed watching this and I hope that your effort on the issue of traffic security and car dependency will change decision makers' minds
A couple of years back I missed my flixbus to Bratislava on the otherside of the traine station due to the fact that I used the under ground way to the other side through the train station. I suggest that the authorities should consider constructing a direct underground pass to the other side of the road for ease and time saving
@@cikuuzis Are you a judge? Jan.99 could have been planning to arrive an hour early and the train could have been 90 minutes late. The elevator is a farce and normal underpass should have been there ages ago.
They should design an at-grade, safe, pedestrian crossing. Pedestrians are more important than cars. The cars can wait. Pedestrians should not be required to go up and down stairs and ramps just to cross a street.
I've never understood why city planners like to put streets right next to train stations. You can't park there anyways?!?! The only way you would access a train station that way is if you get a taxi, or someone else drives you
There is a whole different entrance, that is easily accessible by foot, tram, bike, car/taxi. This road basically connects southern part with the northern part of Prague. Look on maps and search for Opletalova or Bolzanova, where the trams go. So there's no reason to cross the road or even use the elevators.
That highway was put into place under duress. After the 1968 invasion, the occupying forces (Russia) felt that they needed to be able to get military equipment into the city centre more efficiently. The bonus (for them) is that Wenceslaus square would also be 'broken' by this and remove the square as a space for any sort of national uprising or protest (it didn't seem to help in 1989). The damage done to the city by this road is beyond calculation in social, environmental, transportation and spiritual terms (the breaking of the square).
I had the exact same issue and didnt know about the underground tunnel through that lift at the time. I just walked around and from the front of the nearby museum to the train station instead. with my two suitcases!
To cut a long story short, it was done by the communists a very long time ago and since then, a lot of politicians have tried to remove it but ultimately failed.
Most banks now offer a global bank account, which allows you to load it up with most European currencies from your main current account. This comes with a debit card, which then operates as though it were a local card, using the local currency. This could be a better way of managing your money when abroad, with the added benefit of keeping your main current account insulated from fraud.
All taxis are usually required by law to have the fares (determined by the city) displayed on the back seat, if the rule is not followed you get the activity suspended and after repeated suspensions you lose the license, how can that mayor not know how to deal with illegal taxis??? Sounds like she's just an idiot
Just FYI, for the purposes of legally crossing a street, an underpass counts as a crosswalk, so crossing where you did was illegal because that elevator was right where you entered the street.
today in the morning, i got off the tram at Museum tram stop, and was walking to the main train station in Prague. the maps showed it was just 7 mins, so i thought “sure, why not?” and walked with my big suitcase. i was surprised to figure out that the road ended and i had to go down an underground passage. there was no elevator, or escalator of any kind. i had to carry the 20 kg bag down there, and up back to the road. I HAVE HERNIATED DISCS!!! and i didn’t have the time to go back and walk another way, i was fearing i could miss my train. what the hell😭
@@BengVideo It was heavily renovated since then. Also, at least when I was there in 1991 there were still some Soviet troops walking around, wondering what to do.
Back then there were very few shops, there was an erotic cinema on the right side of the building, dimly lit corridors, luggage lockers were downstairs where they now sell tickets, lots of dodgy people hanging around both inside and in the park outside
My first experience was in February 1992, and I slept there as well, Worthing for my train to come in - as well as being quite a seedy place, the first refugees were starting to come from the former Yugoslavia, and that number increased massively as time went on. I was living in Brno then, and whenever I visited Prague there were more and more families camped out in the main concourse. BTW it never crossed my mind to cross the main road like that!
There was a similar situation with Plzeň train station. I had to jaywalk three-lane roads to reach there from the city center while many other locals were doing the same. But hey, they were showing Janek's videos in tourist information office :)
I just moved to Prague a week ago; my first encounter with ANYONE in the Czech Republic was a guy who offered me Belarusian rubles in exchange for my larger notes I got from the ATM. Watch out for that guy!
I recently took advantge of having watched your ATM scam video. I needed an ATM in Cyprus, and it was the same 'cash&balance or other' type. Man, I SMASHED that Other option and declined conversion like a hero! You'd have been proud, Janek!
Best things about this station: 1. there's a supermarket inside to stock up for your trip 2. Beautiful Habsburg era architecture (upstairs- there are signs) The station was originally named for the Emperor!
Had a disappointing experience in the traffic system last week (was visiting for 3 days), as we bought electronic tickets, using a single phone. We shared digital copies of the tickets, but 2 in our group were fined because they split from us, and the officers in that route rejected their digital copies. So, may be better to have paper tickets, or have everyone in your group download the APP and keep their tickets in their individual phones. May be a good idea to make a video with tips to ride the traffic system, if one has not been made yet. Thanks for all you do, great job.
Yeah, unfortunately you can't just have a screenshot of the digital ticket. That way basically anyone could share the same ticket. As a tourist, it's probably the best to just buy a physical ticket and stick it in your phone case so you don't lose it or leave it anywhere.
I think it's like that everywhere. You can't use screenshot as a ticket. It should be the original in the app. You also can't take a photo of the paper ticket and use that.
As a tourist, I entered and exited the main station on foot from the west side multiple times without even knowing that road existed until I saw the station from a distance while walking down Vinohradska one day. I can understand how it could be confusing if you are dropped off on the west side, but the unbroken guard rails clearly indicate the road is not meant for pedestrian crossing.
Yep this happened to us when we were waiting for an Uber to our hotel, we ended up cancelling the Uber, we ended up cancelling our Uber crossing the correct way and ordered another one, other than that our time in Prague was amazing and your videos were a massive help!!
Couple of weeks ago I was in prague. Used Bolt as a taxi. You know exactly what you are going to pay before you leave. Worked great. Oh We did not use the exchange or ATM. You can go around Prague perfectly with using apple pay. We did not use any cash for 6 days just like in their Netherlands
7:00 I used the metro & bus 59 connection to PRG airport yesterday. Very straightforward, the 4mins connection time from metro at Veleslavin Nadrazi station to the bus fits perfectly and I could use the remaining time on my 24hrs public transport ticket for it. If you carry only light amount of luggage, it can't be better, cheaper or faster.
My last visit to Prague was 2 years ago and I spent nearly an hour trying to find where to get a taxi at the station! I ended up leaving by the low-level exit and walking through the adjacent park before I found a place to hail a taxi. Absolutely horrendous!
I visited Prague for a date a few years ago. I remember this massive carbrain road in front of the station, and there’s some underground passages to walk through. Looks like it’s still the same. The inside of the station dome was beautiful with all the coat of arms as shown. Didn’t realise there was a coffee shop, like you said people come and go in a rush. Should definitely try out next time.
Thanks Janek and Honza for another very cool, informative and funny video. Your "production" skills are very good, although I miss the Spongebob " 20 minutes later" thing.
Using underpass to cross to road at night time was dodgy even as a guy, there was homeless people demanding money and lighting was very poor in the underpass. Also there are flixbus "stations" which are basically traffic signs and they are on the both sides of the road so if you are waiting on the wrong one you will miss your bus by the time you cross the road. There arent any clear signs what is what and it is even worse at night time. There should be a pedestrian overpass, it could make everything easier and safer.
You can use the stairs a bit further down the road from the elevators to cross under the road from the train station, its a bit quicker than using those slow elevators
7:52 The CoAs are (left to right) Praha, Firenze, Roma, Paris, don't know, Praha, Wien, Moskva (?), Berlin, Hamburg (weirdly using the Napoleonic version?), and Praha. 🙂
To the right of the coat of Arms the order is the following: Vienna, Moscow, Berlin, ( Hamburg?, but the colours are switched). To the Left: the two castles idk, then Paris, Rome, (Lile? but again, like Hamburg, the colours are switched).
The two castles are Budapest. The fleur de lis one is Firenze, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Italy at the time the station was built. Rome was not part of Italy then, but part of the Papal State. Edit: And Hamburg is correct, that was the coat of arms at the time.
They need to do one of two things: a) Get rid of the middle two lanes of the freeway outside the station, turn the lanes nearest the pavement/sidewalk into bus lanes cycle lanes and put up crossings with a central reservation, so that pedestrians have an easy route to cross with a big waiting place in the middle or b) Put a big fence in the middle of the road barriers, to physically prevent people from crossing the road. Option A would be better as it would make the city friendly for pedestrians and cyclists. Option B would mean less people were hit by cars.
Unfortunately, you can't just erase two lanes in a single day and expect traffic not to collapse. Prague has been waiting for a very long time for a circular highway around the city to be finished so that some load would be taken off. Digging the road under sounds like an option, but unfortunately the train station is already right under it, and under that there is a metro line. This is why it has been so hard to finally solve this eyesore. For now, the best would be to make the lanes narrower in that spot, add a crosswalk with traffic lights just like in front of the national museum a bit further up the road and let people cross.
@@MakkahLive777 it’s good that people with a name like yours don’t chose Czech Rep for a living. You should live in muzlim country, not in between us, Christians.
Video pecka a tento kanál mám moc rád, jako člověk nepražský se dozvídám spoustu informací, které se hodí i "našinci". Nicméně dva měsíce zpátky jsem byl v Praze a byl jsem ve Fantově kavárně... když pominu to, že to tam smrdělo jako když uklízečka v Tesku myje podlahu dávno neměněným smradlavým hardem, tak si nás obsluha za 10 minut nevšimla... erby atd jsou možná fajn, ale na kafe to fakt nedoporučuji...
it's more complicated even than just "take the elevator", because one of them is locked shut at the top. So you can take it, but you cant leave afterwards, and have to go back down, over to the other one and up again. Of course nobody thought to unlock it, or put it out of order. So you can just go for a pointless ride up and down.
Chodec is almost like the Polish word that means Come here. ;) Love your videos. Enjoy visiting Czech when I can. Passing thru later this month on way to Austria and Italy.
When I lived at Dresden, I used to be at Prague sometimes for a day trip. You do really tell all the bad things that I have noticed in that time. In comparison to all the other places in the CR Prague was always some kind of "beautiful hell" for me. Everywhere they try to scam you somehow, what I never experiences outside of Prague, even not at big cities like Brno or Ostrava. But in fact Prague ia a beautiful city with an impressing metro system (what wa salways tge reason to go there for me 😂). The smartest scam was always the TV tower where they did have an expensive price for everyone but also a much cheaper one "without brochure" foe people who notice that and so speak czech.😅 . Well, your videos do always remond me at that time 20 years ago. Thanks for your work and your infomations.
You don't need to know the current exchange rate of any currency to know if they are fooling you with the price. All you need to check is the difference between buy and sell. As long it is around 5% it is fine
Was in Prague last week. I took out about $60 usd via atm at the airport. I knew about the balance button and conversion bs. The atm still ended up charging $11 in fees but I was ok with that because my bank refunds the fee. But you really don't need much cash at all. I didn't come close to needing more than $10 in cash. I paid everything by card or contactless. I was there for 5 days.
Well, you sound like the Americans that probably complain about your home town because US dollars are not accepted.. "Czech money" has a name by they way.
I found it easier to take trains and the Prague metro than taxis because I didn't need to speak Czech to take the metro. I could use google maps to find the routes and google articles to find out how the ticketing system worked. The idea of trying to communicate with a taxi driver who spoke only Czech was intimidating to me. lol ❤
Greetings from Hungary! Some weeks ago I travelled to Dublin from Budapest and I travelled by train to Budapest where I had to change for a public bus outside the city centre, 5 minutes from the airport. There was a foreigner at the ticket machine so I helped him out. A single ticket costs 450 HUF (~1,15€) and when I switched the language to English on the machine, the very first ticket option was the Airport Shuttle ticket for 2200 HUF (~5,64€) that would be ideal directly from the city centre stopping only at a few stops towards the airport. I was surprised and got confused but then we found that cheaper hidden ticket and probably saved some money for the guy. I don't say it is a scam, but definitely misleading tourists - even me as a local. Keep exposing these tricks so people will be more aware of them. :) PS: I was skeptical in Dublin whenever someone said the tickets are sold out BUT we can manage to work out it. We did indeed without being scammed.
I have visited czech republic multiple times, love Prague. First time was in 1997 and they already had problems with currency exchange, cab drivers, etc. Sadly they still can not fix it.
The traffic on this road is horrible. In general this is what I didn't like about Prague. Talking about motorized traffic it felt like a step back in time where cars have priority over everything else...
Public transport to airport is great at some times and without baggage, otherwise the 100kč is worth it. The new trolleybus line 59 is very confy, and I even managed to score a couple of checkpoints on my trip (revizor) 😅
Here is the thing about exchangers, the best one I could find near the Hlavní Nádraží is down the road from the museum on the right parallel street (if you are walking from the museum), there are 2 actually one takes 1 euro for 23 the other for 24 czk (the furthest one from the museum, nearly reaching the end of the street not getting all the way to the underground parking).
Before Bolt or Uber I would take the shady taxis at odd hours of the early morning. I would negotiate a price before getting in however. I only use bank ATM's.
Can someone tell me if possible, when I visit Prague soon, is the Pid Litacka app the best why to buy a transport ticket as I would like a 72hour ticket, what is the difference in a ticket for "Prague" and a ticket for "Suburban"? Also, do I scan or validate an E-ticket or will tickets be randomly checked and staff?
I was just in Prague. The ticket on the app is fine. You don't need to validate it or anything. Honestly, I never experienced any inspector. You will be fine. I walked more personally as the metro is always full
Disclaimer: This is not a freeway. This is a highway. Freeways usually have a higher speed limit. Highways are more common in cities than freeways. By the way, The infrastructure in front of the Prague Central Station is terrible! I hope they will make changes as soon as possible. Overpriced taxis are a problem in every major city and every state. The high commissions at exchange offices and ATMs are a disgrace to people! I don't like this mess either. In any major city with an airport, airport shuttles may be convenient and faster. However, they are expensive. Fantova Kavarna is one of the most beautiful coffee places that I found in the capital of Czechia. Looking forward to another visit to Prague as soon as possible! Prague is one of the world's most beautiful cities!
had a taxi driver in bail press a button on his charge meter and bumped it up like 100000 rupiah up to 150k, when it was originally 50000. we were stopped outside our hotel luckily and the taxi did not pursue his undeserved cash... (we avoided the red taxis from then on)
My favorite place at Praha hl.n. is on the platforms to look for and ride trains with A149 and AB349 coaches 😉. By the way, there are also normal ATMs with a realistic exchange rate near the main station. Access to Holesovice train station is also rather poor, while access to the Vrsovice train station is quite good.
Hi! I used the public transportation when I stayed in Prague. It was easy and cheap. I've just rewatched the Q&A with your father... Can you please make another video with the honest dad?? Please please please 🙏
I worked for almost two years in Velim (Lived in Podebrady). I flu once a moth home for a Weekend or longer. Coming from Podebrady by train I was usually to lazy to take the subway and bus to the airport. From the airport to the station the taxi cost (by Meter) 500...600 CZK. On of the Taxi this scamer spot said as I asked to bring me to the airport 1500 CZK. I didn't say anything I just left the taxi. At coffee place in the end I was very often I spend many weekends in Praha. So I had to take the train back to Podebrady and waited in that coffee place.
Prague main train station is awesome, if you look for suburb trains it’s crazy display also on platform, on one platform depart trains in different directions. And the signs are very bad or only in Czech. No chance if you are in hurry. Very bad.
We used public transport to get to the airport from that station on Friday. The lady in the ticket office was awesome. Sold us a 90 minute ticket for 40czk and gave us a slip of paper with what metro and trolley bus (the 59) we needed to catch. Was so easy and cheap at £1.34. Also, we saw you getting into an old car on Friday. We didn't approach you though as you seemed busy. Hope its for another video :)
From my experience, the people working in the ticket booths at the train station have been very helpful.
@@mikeklein1779 Even total strangers in the street. We asked a few people if we were unsure what tram to catch and they were happy to help us, point us in the right direction.
Old car is in here just a car xD
Does that mean that the other Route 119 bus is not in operation now? TYIA
@@philbranagan3137 yeah they discontinued it.
I only visited Prague once, but I feel that I know much more about your city than mine. It's not only interesting things that you guys tell, it's more the way you film these videos that makes it entertaining and educational at the same time! You guys do such a great job!
Same for me and I actually never been (and is just a 90min flight from Milan)
@@lookwhereibroughtyou Oh same and I also live in Milan
You forgot the additional problems "The sketchy drug dealer exit" and "There are no signs pointing you to the tram station".
What is going on there? Drug dealers?
@@tlacorp.3813 I didn't stick around to find out tbh. I straight-up got _lost_ in the Prague central station when I arrived and at one point I tried to leave it through a small exit in front of which was an overpass (I think?) and a couple of leisurely nondescript gentlemen who looked at me like 👀. I thought, "oh, alright, so here is the drug dealers spot of _this_ capital city train station", and went back inside.
Regarding the tram station btw if anyone preparing to go to Prague reads this - leave through the FRONT exit (that's the big one, next to the stairs down to the subway station) and walk RIGHT until you reach the street. There's a tram station there. I had to ask an employee to find out.
@@tlacorp.3813 I didn't stick around to find out tbh. I straight-up got _lost_ in the station when I arrived and at one point I tried to leave it through an exit in front of which was an overpass (I think) and a couple of men who looked at me like 👀. So I thought, 'oh ok, so that's the drug dealer spot of _this_ capital city central station', and went back inside.
@@tlacorp.3813 I didn't stick around to find out tbh. I straight-up got _lost_ in the station when I arrived and at one point I tried to leave it through an exit in front of which was an overpass (I think) and a couple of men who looked at me like 👀. So I thought, 'oh ok, so that's the dr*g de*ler spot of this capital city central station', and went back inside.
I literally crossed this highway with a 60 Liter bagpack and almost died because I couldn't find the stairs up and my flixbus was about to leave the station. Ah and because you can't see the cars coming from a certain road that combines with the highway about 50 meters away from where you crossed.
It's not a highway. They are supposed to go 50 km/h, but a lot are driving much faster sadly. As someone who often drives there, even being in car going with the traffic, feels unsafe.
That's wild.
@@simonp37 Jeah just further proving the point that if you build a 6 lane highway, people are gonna drive highway speed, because they feel save on this big road.
Nobody is gonna drive 50 on this, unless they're in a traffic jam....
@@NarcoSarco In Denmark they would, but this is Prague. They do however respect speed cameras. So just put up a permanent speed camera and everyone will slow down. It works in other parts of the city.
@@simonp37 Jeah, speed cameras are a band-aid fix for poor planning, cool for the government because it brings in millions of taxes...
You could just not build a 6 Lane Road there.
My compromised suggestion would be 2 car roads each way, 2lanes in the middle for bus/tram, isle with trams or bus stop and a crosswalk with traffic lights.
So the pedestrians only cross 2 lanes at a time, with the safety of crosswalks / signals. :)
I live in prague, this entrance with a stroller is a nightmare, takes alot more than 2.5 minutes. It's like they dont want kids inside the station 😂
As someone who's been in Hlavak a ton of times and never illegally crossed but just... dealt with it, I didn't even know they had escalators to cross there, I thought these were service buildings. This is insane!
it's not illegal crossing, if there is no "zebra" within 50 meters from you and it's not a highway. As he said in the video, it's dangerous and certainly not recommended, but it's legal.
@HonestGuide Another problem in main entrance of train station is NO TOILET and NO ELEVATOR for reduced mobility passenger. In May-2024, I booked assistance and taxi dropped me at the main entrance at 4.30 AM. Left parent in wheelchair in hall, used escalator to go down to find info section then show them my booked assistamce request. So someone travelling alone on wheelchair will not get assistance because way from main entrance to info hall at lower grouns floor is NOT ACCESSIBLE
It is, if I recall correctly, there is an elevator or ramp on the northern side of platform 1
And there definitely is a bathroom. Reconstructed not so long time ago AFAIK.
@HonestGuide
Hello Janek, first of all thank you for your super interesting videos and tips for Prague. We were in Prague 2 weeks ago and received a "scam" service at the main train station on our return journey. We didn't immediately find our train or track. After we couldn't find any information, a “nice and helpful” guy offered to help us and took us to the train. When my wife had already gotten on the train, he then charged me 500 CZK for his service and only let me get on after paying. He took advantage of the time pressure regarding the departure.
Otherwise we had a great week thanks to your great tips 🙂
Wow that’s terrible! So sorry for your experience. Trust me that most people here are not like that. 😊
@@dbwhab4150 Yes, that's right. We almost only met friendly and nice people in Prague. a fantastic city and we weren't there for the last time 🙂
Yeah, I saw this scam happen twice at the train station when I was in Prague last week. They look for lost tourists and then act like they are helping them.
he cant see ur @
@@justaguywithapowerpole
I wrote Janek too at his Scam-Mailaddress
I’ve been to Prague several times, twice by train, never had this problem with getting out of the train station, it was quite intuitive 🤷🏻♀️
Not as much when you want to get to a bus or the car park. If you just want to go to Sherwood Forest it's simple.
I visited Prague a few months ago for the first time. I exited the station at the old town side and had no problems whatsoever. I probably walked a mile to my hotel, but the pavements were great for my luggage. I would visit again anytime, but for summer when it’s too hot for me. Oh, I never needed cash, I did everything on my debit card.
Yes - We didn’t even know about the side with all the traffic, we used the side that faced the park and the old section of town.
Had a brilliant time in Prague thanks to the knowledghe you shared, and my friends loved hearing about all the scams you've highlighted. The map on the patreon gave some genuinely lovely places too. And the stereotype that people in prague are grumpy couldn't be further from the truth - everyone was lovely including the service staff - maybe it's just that we treated them with respect and expected nothing of them they were more pleasant with us.
Prague is aclimated to tourists ... i would say that grumpy staff would mostly translate to typical village pub.
@@doposud exactly
Most service staff is used to tourists and are often foreign..
For tourists, I usually enter the train station on the lower level. It's accessed by the road Opletalova Much safer! The little cafe there on the right side is decent. Good svickova and Pilzen 😁
that's where you're meant to enter
@@SmokeyBCNthe problem is with the people, who get there by taxi. AFAIR, cars cannot get close to the lower entrance. Getting there by metro though is way easier
We were in Prague last weekend. Thank you so much! You saved us a lot of stress and money!
as a city planner I really enjoyed watching this and I hope that your effort on the issue of traffic security and car dependency will change decision makers' minds
A couple of years back I missed my flixbus to Bratislava on the otherside of the traine station due to the fact that I used the under ground way to the other side through the train station. I suggest that the authorities should consider constructing a direct underground pass to the other side of the road for ease and time saving
Bad planning was the reason you missed your bus because normally people arrive at least 30 minutes in advance, especially in a foreign country.
@@cikuuzis Are you a judge? Jan.99 could have been planning to arrive an hour early and the train could have been 90 minutes late. The elevator is a farce and normal underpass should have been there ages ago.
@@naiveknight47 I am a judge, please feel free to ask me anything
They should design an at-grade, safe, pedestrian crossing. Pedestrians are more important than cars. The cars can wait. Pedestrians should not be required to go up and down stairs and ramps just to cross a street.
Our young family of 3 had THE BEST holiday in Prague due to your videos.
I've never understood why city planners like to put streets right next to train stations. You can't park there anyways?!?! The only way you would access a train station that way is if you get a taxi, or someone else drives you
The "city planners" in question were communist politicians bringing cars in to "innovate" the city center.
There is a whole different entrance, that is easily accessible by foot, tram, bike, car/taxi. This road basically connects southern part with the northern part of Prague. Look on maps and search for Opletalova or Bolzanova, where the trams go. So there's no reason to cross the road or even use the elevators.
That highway was put into place under duress. After the 1968 invasion, the occupying forces (Russia) felt that they needed to be able to get military equipment into the city centre more efficiently. The bonus (for them) is that Wenceslaus square would also be 'broken' by this and remove the square as a space for any sort of national uprising or protest (it didn't seem to help in 1989). The damage done to the city by this road is beyond calculation in social, environmental, transportation and spiritual terms (the breaking of the square).
@@footbiscuitwhy didn’t they build it back after 1990?
@@mark9294 Have you seen it? As much as I'd love to see it removed, doing so would be near to impossible.
Janek for Mayor
I had the exact same issue and didnt know about the underground tunnel through that lift at the time. I just walked around and from the front of the nearby museum to the train station instead. with my two suitcases!
Astonishing that there's such a wide, fast road next to the station. Such a car-brained design. I hope they redesign it.
To cut a long story short, it was done by the communists a very long time ago and since then, a lot of politicians have tried to remove it but ultimately failed.
I just have to thank you for the tips. I was in the Czech Republic last week and the videos on this channel were undoubtedly a great help. Thanks.
Most banks now offer a global bank account, which allows you to load it up with most European currencies from your main current account.
This comes with a debit card, which then operates as though it were a local card, using the local currency.
This could be a better way of managing your money when abroad, with the added benefit of keeping your main current account insulated from fraud.
Yes, I’m American and I use Wise for this when I travel. They have an app that makes it all smooth.
All taxis are usually required by law to have the fares (determined by the city) displayed on the back seat, if the rule is not followed you get the activity suspended and after repeated suspensions you lose the license, how can that mayor not know how to deal with illegal taxis??? Sounds like she's just an idiot
She's corrupt.
@@enthusiastisch1922 Represents the city perfectly
I bet these taxis are unlicensed
but beautiful
Everyone knows about them. If the police don't enforce even their own reserved parking places...what hope is there?
Just FYI, for the purposes of legally crossing a street, an underpass counts as a crosswalk, so crossing where you did was illegal because that elevator was right where you entered the street.
today in the morning, i got off the tram at Museum tram stop, and was walking to the main train station in Prague. the maps showed it was just 7 mins, so i thought “sure, why not?” and walked with my big suitcase. i was surprised to figure out that the road ended and i had to go down an underground passage. there was no elevator, or escalator of any kind. i had to carry the 20 kg bag down there, and up back to the road. I HAVE HERNIATED DISCS!!! and i didn’t have the time to go back and walk another way, i was fearing i could miss my train. what the hell😭
Ehm. You chose the wrong way. There are 2 others from Muzeum tram stop where you don't need to go down any stairs. :/
@@volfik99 oh that sucks to know. i was following Google Maps and street signs
I'd say they need a footbridge, but they have a tunnel.
So what they need is an expensive set of traffic lights. Or just better signs.
this explains why i didn't see a taxi sign when i arrived in praha! great videos as always! :) thanks for the great content!
I slept in that station in 1991. Was very different in those days!
What do you mean? Has it changed to better or worse?
@@BengVideo It was heavily renovated since then. Also, at least when I was there in 1991 there were still some Soviet troops walking around, wondering what to do.
Back then there were very few shops, there was an erotic cinema on the right side of the building, dimly lit corridors, luggage lockers were downstairs where they now sell tickets, lots of dodgy people hanging around both inside and in the park outside
@@jj9749 from what I've seen the dodgy people never went away
My first experience was in February 1992, and I slept there as well, Worthing for my train to come in - as well as being quite a seedy place, the first refugees were starting to come from the former Yugoslavia, and that number increased massively as time went on. I was living in Brno then, and whenever I visited Prague there were more and more families camped out in the main concourse. BTW it never crossed my mind to cross the main road like that!
There was a similar situation with Plzeň train station. I had to jaywalk three-lane roads to reach there from the city center while many other locals were doing the same. But hey, they were showing Janek's videos in tourist information office :)
The Plzen station is so weird. Was there recently and couldn't find the way out 😂 fortunately one local helped me
I just moved to Prague a week ago; my first encounter with ANYONE in the Czech Republic was a guy who offered me Belarusian rubles in exchange for my larger notes I got from the ATM. Watch out for that guy!
You are doing a great job
Don't do it, Janek, don't cross that buzy road, we want you back next week.
I recently took advantge of having watched your ATM scam video. I needed an ATM in Cyprus, and it was the same 'cash&balance or other' type.
Man, I SMASHED that Other option and declined conversion like a hero!
You'd have been proud, Janek!
Best things about this station: 1. there's a supermarket inside to stock up for your trip
2. Beautiful Habsburg era architecture (upstairs- there are signs)
The station was originally named for the Emperor!
I took a "Taxi" from the station over to A&O Hostel Praha Rhea and it was actually cheaper than a Taxi! It didn't even have a taximeter. 😂😂
Had a disappointing experience in the traffic system last week (was visiting for 3 days), as we bought electronic tickets, using a single phone. We shared digital copies of the tickets, but 2 in our group were fined because they split from us, and the officers in that route rejected their digital copies. So, may be better to have paper tickets, or have everyone in your group download the APP and keep their tickets in their individual phones. May be a good idea to make a video with tips to ride the traffic system, if one has not been made yet. Thanks for all you do, great job.
Yeah, unfortunately you can't just have a screenshot of the digital ticket. That way basically anyone could share the same ticket. As a tourist, it's probably the best to just buy a physical ticket and stick it in your phone case so you don't lose it or leave it anywhere.
I think it's like that everywhere. You can't use screenshot as a ticket. It should be the original in the app. You also can't take a photo of the paper ticket and use that.
I love how you go around finding problems with your city and get attention on it. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the city fix this one.
I moved to Berlin now and wow your videos really makes me want to visit Prague again soon!
Freeway is dalnice, motorway is dalnice... highway is just any main road that connects towns and cities.
As a tourist, I entered and exited the main station on foot from the west side multiple times without even knowing that road existed until I saw the station from a distance while walking down Vinohradska one day. I can understand how it could be confusing if you are dropped off on the west side, but the unbroken guard rails clearly indicate the road is not meant for pedestrian crossing.
Yep this happened to us when we were waiting for an Uber to our hotel, we ended up cancelling the Uber, we ended up cancelling our Uber crossing the correct way and ordered another one, other than that our time in Prague was amazing and your videos were a massive help!!
As ever ,another good information video for tourists, from the honest guide
Couple of weeks ago I was in prague. Used Bolt as a taxi. You know exactly what you are going to pay before you leave. Worked great. Oh We did not use the exchange or ATM. You can go around Prague perfectly with using apple pay. We did not use any cash for 6 days just like in their Netherlands
Especially knowing about the atm conversion has saved my butt in so many countries.
7:00 I used the metro & bus 59 connection to PRG airport yesterday. Very straightforward, the 4mins connection time from metro at Veleslavin Nadrazi station to the bus fits perfectly and I could use the remaining time on my 24hrs public transport ticket for it. If you carry only light amount of luggage, it can't be better, cheaper or faster.
My last visit to Prague was 2 years ago and I spent nearly an hour trying to find where to get a taxi at the station! I ended up leaving by the low-level exit and walking through the adjacent park before I found a place to hail a taxi. Absolutely horrendous!
But do you really need to use taxis? Prague has excellent public transport.
@@patrickreuvekamp As my wife, who was with me, is mobility impaired and we were hauling 2 big suitcases - yes.
@@keithparker5125 Ok, that does indeed change things.
Pragues public transport is decent... metro is always full though, and sometimes people don't want to google all the stops etc.
I visited Prague for a date a few years ago. I remember this massive carbrain road in front of the station, and there’s some underground passages to walk through. Looks like it’s still the same. The inside of the station dome was beautiful with all the coat of arms as shown. Didn’t realise there was a coffee shop, like you said people come and go in a rush. Should definitely try out next time.
The amount of videos you made on Prague, I feel like I need to visit it!
Janek for Prague president!!!
I visited Prague in the summer of 2018 and I had great help from your vids back then. :)
Thanks Janek and Honza for another very cool, informative and funny video. Your "production" skills are very good, although I miss the Spongebob " 20 minutes later" thing.
Using underpass to cross to road at night time was dodgy even as a guy, there was homeless people demanding money and lighting was very poor in the underpass.
Also there are flixbus "stations" which are basically traffic signs and they are on the both sides of the road so if you are waiting on the wrong one you will miss your bus by the time you cross the road. There arent any clear signs what is what and it is even worse at night time. There should be a pedestrian overpass, it could make everything easier and safer.
You can use the stairs a bit further down the road from the elevators to cross under the road from the train station, its a bit quicker than using those slow elevators
7:52 The CoAs are (left to right) Praha, Firenze, Roma, Paris, don't know, Praha, Wien, Moskva (?), Berlin, Hamburg (weirdly using the Napoleonic version?), and Praha. 🙂
Athens Airport pharmacy insisted that I buy vitamins for 47 euros for a cough instead standard cough syrup. Total scammers, look at the reviews.
To the right of the coat of Arms the order is the following: Vienna, Moscow, Berlin, ( Hamburg?, but the colours are switched). To the Left: the two castles idk, then Paris, Rome, (Lile? but again, like Hamburg, the colours are switched).
The red castle is Gibraltar by the looks of it, although it's missing the bottom section with gold key
The two castles are Budapest. The fleur de lis one is Firenze, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Italy at the time the station was built. Rome was not part of Italy then, but part of the Papal State.
Edit: And Hamburg is correct, that was the coat of arms at the time.
Crossing the road, is like a game of "Frogger".
They need to do one of two things:
a) Get rid of the middle two lanes of the freeway outside the station, turn the lanes nearest the pavement/sidewalk into bus lanes cycle lanes and put up crossings with a central reservation, so that pedestrians have an easy route to cross with a big waiting place in the middle or
b) Put a big fence in the middle of the road barriers, to physically prevent people from crossing the road.
Option A would be better as it would make the city friendly for pedestrians and cyclists. Option B would mean less people were hit by cars.
Unfortunately, you can't just erase two lanes in a single day and expect traffic not to collapse. Prague has been waiting for a very long time for a circular highway around the city to be finished so that some load would be taken off. Digging the road under sounds like an option, but unfortunately the train station is already right under it, and under that there is a metro line. This is why it has been so hard to finally solve this eyesore. For now, the best would be to make the lanes narrower in that spot, add a crosswalk with traffic lights just like in front of the national museum a bit further up the road and let people cross.
01:16 You don't have to go by an elevator, you can also go by stairs, which are quite close to the elevator
Miss prague.....lived there 1 year ....back in 1999 to 2000.
Hesky chezky.....
Greetings from Codan...... Copenhagen Denmark
Thanks from moving abroad, mohamad.
@@theDuplicitous hi what do you mean by that??
Kindly explain??
@@MakkahLive777 it’s good that people with a name like yours don’t chose Czech Rep for a living. You should live in muzlim country, not in between us, Christians.
@@MakkahLive777 you’re muzlim right?
@@theDuplicitous its not muzlim.......its called MUSLIM......YES IT AM APROUD MUSLIM WHY?
Video pecka a tento kanál mám moc rád, jako člověk nepražský se dozvídám spoustu informací, které se hodí i "našinci". Nicméně dva měsíce zpátky jsem byl v Praze a byl jsem ve Fantově kavárně... když pominu to, že to tam smrdělo jako když uklízečka v Tesku myje podlahu dávno neměněným smradlavým hardem, tak si nás obsluha za 10 minut nevšimla... erby atd jsou možná fajn, ale na kafe to fakt nedoporučuji...
Good tips !
Dudes, go to Istanbul. You will have content for life. Scamming starts at the airport and never ends. Those guys mastered the craft
Interesting..I'd like to hear those stories. 😊
it's more complicated even than just "take the elevator", because one of them is locked shut at the top. So you can take it, but you cant leave afterwards, and have to go back down, over to the other one and up again. Of course nobody thought to unlock it, or put it out of order. So you can just go for a pointless ride up and down.
Chodec is almost like the Polish word that means Come here. ;) Love your videos. Enjoy visiting Czech when I can. Passing thru later this month on way to Austria and Italy.
When I lived at Dresden, I used to be at Prague sometimes for a day trip. You do really tell all the bad things that I have noticed in that time. In comparison to all the other places in the CR Prague was always some kind of "beautiful hell" for me. Everywhere they try to scam you somehow, what I never experiences outside of Prague, even not at big cities like Brno or Ostrava. But in fact Prague ia a beautiful city with an impressing metro system (what wa salways tge reason to go there for me 😂). The smartest scam was always the TV tower where they did have an expensive price for everyone but also a much cheaper one "without brochure" foe people who notice that and so speak czech.😅 . Well, your videos do always remond me at that time 20 years ago. Thanks for your work and your infomations.
In what way was the metro system impressive 😂 if you were in germany you should know better
It is completely normal to have a "floating" exchange rate based on how much money you want to exchange.
There's also an underpass by the train station to get to the other side of the road as I remember when I was last there.
You don't need to know the current exchange rate of any currency to know if they are fooling you with the price. All you need to check is the difference between buy and sell. As long it is around 5% it is fine
Was in Prague last week. I took out about $60 usd via atm at the airport. I knew about the balance button and conversion bs. The atm still ended up charging $11 in fees but I was ok with that because my bank refunds the fee. But you really don't need much cash at all. I didn't come close to needing more than $10 in cash. I paid everything by card or contactless. I was there for 5 days.
Arrived at this station yesterday from Germany. Forget using a bathroom unless you have Czech money.
They take cards tho?
Nonsense, you can use a card even while going to the bathroom. The only issue is that it costs around 20 crowns
Well, you sound like the Americans that probably complain about your home town because US dollars are not accepted..
"Czech money" has a name by they way.
Quite an assessment for someone you’ve never met. Says a lot about you.
@@gkunz3 okay!
I found it easier to take trains and the Prague metro than taxis because I didn't need to speak Czech to take the metro. I could use google maps to find the routes and google articles to find out how the ticketing system worked. The idea of trying to communicate with a taxi driver who spoke only Czech was intimidating to me. lol ❤
Greetings from Hungary!
Some weeks ago I travelled to Dublin from Budapest and I travelled by train to Budapest where I had to change for a public bus outside the city centre, 5 minutes from the airport. There was a foreigner at the ticket machine so I helped him out. A single ticket costs 450 HUF (~1,15€) and when I switched the language to English on the machine, the very first ticket option was the Airport Shuttle ticket for 2200 HUF (~5,64€) that would be ideal directly from the city centre stopping only at a few stops towards the airport. I was surprised and got confused but then we found that cheaper hidden ticket and probably saved some money for the guy.
I don't say it is a scam, but definitely misleading tourists - even me as a local.
Keep exposing these tricks so people will be more aware of them. :)
PS: I was skeptical in Dublin whenever someone said the tickets are sold out BUT we can manage to work out it. We did indeed without being scammed.
I have visited czech republic multiple times, love Prague. First time was in 1997 and they already had problems with currency exchange, cab drivers, etc. Sadly they still can not fix it.
Wonderfull video. You are my hero.
does anyone know some good places to watch the euro next month in prague?
On Hlavni nadrazi there are 3 or 4 normal banks ATMs, just not in a frequent way for passing. But are there.
The traffic on this road is horrible. In general this is what I didn't like about Prague. Talking about motorized traffic it felt like a step back in time where cars have priority over everything else...
Public transport to airport is great at some times and without baggage, otherwise the 100kč is worth it. The new trolleybus line 59 is very confy, and I even managed to score a couple of checkpoints on my trip (revizor) 😅
Wth the viewer got punched??? Did the police do something about it??
I was hoping he was going to give a little more information about this too.
Usually I use apps when getting off of airports or train stations since most taxis that wait by the door are scams.
Good afternoon, when will your book be back in stock? I was hoping to try and purchase it before I come to Prague in March.
I thought using the escalators was quick and cool. Loved the entrance glass houses.
Here is the thing about exchangers, the best one I could find near the Hlavní Nádraží is down the road from the museum on the right parallel street (if you are walking from the museum), there are 2 actually one takes 1 euro for 23 the other for 24 czk (the furthest one from the museum, nearly reaching the end of the street not getting all the way to the underground parking).
To be more exact the right parallel street to the main square if you are going from the museum.
I've noticed there is a lot of places like that in Czech Republic, even in smaller cities like Zlin
Same in Warsaw, don't know why Eastern Europe is basing it's future on American infrastructure, we can do better than that
Before Bolt or Uber I would take the shady taxis at odd hours of the early morning. I would negotiate a price before getting in however.
I only use bank ATM's.
Great video thx ❤
Can someone tell me if possible, when I visit Prague soon, is the Pid Litacka app the best why to buy a transport ticket as I would like a 72hour ticket, what is the difference in a ticket for "Prague" and a ticket for "Suburban"? Also, do I scan or validate an E-ticket or will tickets be randomly checked and staff?
I was just in Prague. The ticket on the app is fine. You don't need to validate it or anything. Honestly, I never experienced any inspector. You will be fine. I walked more personally as the metro is always full
The suburban ticket only covers certain zones I think, just buy the Prague ticket
Disclaimer: This is not a freeway. This is a highway. Freeways usually have a higher speed limit. Highways are more common in cities than freeways.
By the way, The infrastructure in front of the Prague Central Station is terrible! I hope they will make changes as soon as possible. Overpriced taxis are a problem in every major city and every state. The high commissions at exchange offices and ATMs are a disgrace to people! I don't like this mess either.
In any major city with an airport, airport shuttles may be convenient and faster. However, they are expensive.
Fantova Kavarna is one of the most beautiful coffee places that I found in the capital of Czechia.
Looking forward to another visit to Prague as soon as possible! Prague is one of the world's most beautiful cities!
had a taxi driver in bail press a button on his charge meter and bumped it up like 100000 rupiah up to 150k, when it was originally 50000. we were stopped outside our hotel luckily and the taxi did not pursue his undeserved cash... (we avoided the red taxis from then on)
Not having a crosswalk in front of the freakin railway station is insane. It's the kind of thing the car industry would be behind of.
In 2019 my brother and I spent an hour trying find a taxi out of that train station! All the while fending off the pick pockets.
My favorite place at Praha hl.n. is on the platforms to look for and ride trains with A149 and AB349 coaches 😉. By the way, there are also normal ATMs with a realistic exchange rate near the main station. Access to Holesovice train station is also rather poor, while access to the Vrsovice train station is quite good.
thank you
Hi! I used the public transportation when I stayed in Prague. It was easy and cheap.
I've just rewatched the Q&A with your father... Can you please make another video with the honest dad?? Please please please 🙏
I wish that you had included some shots of the passage from the station under the six-lane road.
Prague is wonderful....especially if you are over 65. You just need ID (passport) to travel free. I love the trams.
I worked for almost two years in Velim (Lived in Podebrady).
I flu once a moth home for a Weekend or longer.
Coming from Podebrady by train I was usually to lazy
to take the subway and bus to the airport.
From the airport to the station the taxi cost (by Meter)
500...600 CZK. On of the Taxi this scamer spot said
as I asked to bring me to the airport 1500 CZK.
I didn't say anything I just left the taxi.
At coffee place in the end I was very often
I spend many weekends in Praha. So I had
to take the train back to Podebrady and waited
in that coffee place.
Prague main train station is awesome, if you look for suburb trains it’s crazy display also on platform, on one platform depart trains in different directions. And the signs are very bad or only in Czech. No chance if you are in hurry. Very bad.