Czech Railways operate 7000 trains a day, from romantic local trains up to the prestigious international EuroCity network. You can travel to the Czech Republic by train from Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland.
The train is a common means of transportation in the Czech Republic. Most Czech cities, towns and many villages have train stations. They are interconnected well enough to make train travel a convenient way of getting from one place to another.
International train services to the Czech Republic run from most points in Europe, with direct connections from Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary.
Prague is the main railway centre. The most important train stations are:
- Hlavní nádrazí (Main Station). The biggest station. It has ticket offices, a train information centre and a Prague Information Service.
- Nádrazí Holesovice (Holesovice Station). This is usually the terminus for trains from Berlin and other destinations to the north.
Both are serviced by line C of the city metro system.
- SC SuperCity: high speed trains between major cities, reservations required
- Eurocity (EC) and InterCity (IC): intercity trains between larger cities, reservations are required
- Night trains: reservations required
- Spěšný (Sp): special interregional trains, reservations are not required
- Rychlík (R): interregional trains, reservations are not required
- Expres (Ex): regional trains halting only at selected stations, reservations are not required
- Osobní Vlak (Os): commuter trains, reservations are not required.
The only domestic day trains that require reservation are the Pendolino SC high-speed trains between Prague and Ostrava). For details, see the pages:
Bicycles are allowed on most trains upon advance purchase of a special bike ticket.
Average train travel times in hours between some popular domestic destinations:
- Prague - Brno: 3 hours
- Prague - Ostrava: 4 hours
- Prague - Olomouc: 3 hours
Some international connections:
- Prague - Berlin: 5 hours
- Prague - Vienna: 4 hours 30 min.
- Prague - Warsaw: 8 hours 30 min.
- Prague - Budapest: 7 hours 30 min.
With your InterRail Pass you can also take the Expressbus from Prague to Nürnberg (Germany). You only pay a reservation fee of 10 euro (2nd class) / 15 euro (1st class).
See the page Pass Benefits for more details.
