Václav Havel Airport is seventeen kilometres west of the centre and there is no rail connection — a link has been planned for years and is not built. Everything goes by road.
The good news is that Prague’s public transport reaches it properly and cheaply, in a way most European capitals do not manage.
The options
Bus 119 to Nádraží Veleslavín, then metro A. The standard route and the one to take. The bus takes about fifteen minutes, the metro about twelve more, and the whole thing is covered by a single 90-minute ticket costing roughly a euro. Total 30 to 40 minutes to the Old Town.
Bus 100 to Zličín, then metro B. The equivalent on the other line, useful if you are staying near Anděl or Smíchov.
Airport Express (AE) runs direct to the main railway station, Praha hlavní nádraží, in about 35 minutes. It costs several times the ordinary bus fare, is not covered by a transport pass, and is worth it only if you are catching a train or want to avoid a change with heavy luggage.
Bus 191 goes to Anděl by a slower route.
Taxi or app — 25 to 45 minutes depending on traffic. Prague’s airport has fixed-price licensed operators at a desk in arrivals, and Bolt, Uber and Liftago all work. Do not take an unsolicited offer inside the terminal.
Which to take
Almost everybody: bus 119 and metro A. It is a euro, it is half an hour, and Prague’s transport is clean and easy. Buy a 90-minute ticket, validate it on the bus, and the metro is included in the same ticket.
With heavy luggage or late at night: an app car. Note that oversized luggage needs its own half-price ticket on public transport, which is enforced.
Going straight to a train: the Airport Express.
Validate
The one thing to get right. A paper ticket must be stamped in the yellow machine on the bus as you board. Inspectors work these routes specifically because visitors get it wrong, and the on-the-spot fine is many times the fare.
App tickets activate at purchase and need no stamping.
The terminals
Terminal 1 — non-Schengen flights, including the UK, Ireland, the US and the Middle East. Terminal 2 — Schengen flights.
They are connected and a few minutes apart. Buses serve both.
Departing
Allow more time than you think in summer, when the security queues at Terminal 2 back up badly.
The airport is small and the retail is limited, so there is no advantage in arriving very early.
Money at the airport
Do not change money in the arrivals hall. Prague airport exchange rates are among the worst you will encounter anywhere, and the same applies to the 0% commission booths in the city centre.
Use an ATM attached to a bank — Česká spořitelna, ČSOB, Komerční banka, Raiffeisen — and when it asks whether to charge you in your home currency or in Czech crowns, always choose crowns. Choosing your own currency hands the conversion to the machine operator at a rate several per cent worse.
Euros are not accepted for most things. The currency is the koruna, and prices quoted in euros in tourist areas carry a poor implied rate.
The city from the airport
The bus route in passes through ordinary Prague — housing estates, shopping centres, tram wires — which is a useful corrective before the Old Town. It is worth looking out of the window.
Which terminal, and getting between them
Terminal 1 handles non-Schengen flights — the UK, Ireland, the United States, the Middle East. Terminal 2 handles Schengen. They adjoin and the walk between them is a few minutes indoors.
If you are connecting between the two you will pass through passport control, so allow for it. The buses stop at both.
Arriving late
Bus 119 runs until roughly midnight, after which night bus 910 covers the route to the centre. It connects with the night tram network at Divoká Šárka, and the night trams run all night, every thirty minutes, all passing through Lazarská.
That means arriving at two in the morning is manageable on public transport, which is not true of most European capitals. With luggage and after a long flight, an app car is still the sensible purchase.
Luggage
Oversized luggage needs its own half-price ticket on Prague public transport, and this is enforced on the airport routes more than anywhere else. Buy it with your own ticket; it costs very little and an inspector will fine you for the omission.
Left luggage is available at the airport and at the main station if you have a late flight and an early checkout.
Getting back out
Allow more time in summer, when security at Terminal 2 backs up. The airport is small and the shops are limited, so there is nothing to be gained by arriving three hours early outside the peak.
Traffic on the road out is worst in the evening peak and the bus is stuck in the same jam as the taxi, so the metro-and-bus combination is more predictable than a car at that hour.