Prague’s public transport is among the best in Europe: frequent, punctual, cheap, clean and fully integrated across metro, tram, bus, funicular and ferry.
Validate the ticket
The one rule that matters. A paper ticket must be stamped in the yellow machine — at the top of the metro escalators or inside the tram — before you travel. Nobody checks as you board; plain-clothes inspectors board at random and an unvalidated ticket is treated as no ticket.
The on-the-spot fine is many times the fare and the routes used by visitors are targeted. App tickets and passes activate on purchase and need no stamping.
Tickets
Time-based: 30 minutes, 90 minutes, 24 hours, 72 hours. All cover metro, tram, bus, the Petřín funicular and the ferries.
Buy from the PID Lítačka app, station machines or newsagents. Large luggage needs its own half-price ticket.
Metro
Three lines. A (green) is the tourist line — Malostranská, Staroměstská, Můstek, Muzeum. B (yellow) and C (red) fill in the rest. Interchanges at Můstek, Muzeum and Florenc. Roughly 5am to midnight.
Trams
Dense and the nicer way to travel. Tram 22 runs to the castle and is also where pickpockets work — bag in front. Night trams, numbered in the 90s, run all night every thirty minutes and all pass through Lazarská.
Walking
The centre is small and often quicker on foot. The cobbles are uneven and the castle side is genuinely steep; the tram up and the walk down is the sensible order.
Taxis
Use an app — Bolt, Uber or Liftago — rather than hailing on the street. Prague’s street taxis had a poor reputation for overcharging visitors and the apps remove the problem entirely.
The fuller version is in getting around Prague.