I landed at Václav Havel Airport on 19 January 2024 at 22:50. At that hour, the DPP desk, the Uber desk and the Visitor Centre are all already closed.
I’ve landed there many times before, in daylight too. The question is always the same: how do you get into the centre.
Most people at that point are counting on grabbing a taxi outside, but that’s not how it works at Prague Airport. The official taxi service here is Uber Airport, and you need a six-digit PIN for it, generated in advance.
Public transport is the cheapest option. Trolleybus 59 will take you to Nádraží Veleslavín, where you change onto metro line A, so the journey into the centre takes roughly 35 minutes. With luggage, the whole trip comes to 69 CZK (about €2.9) (an app ticket plus the luggage ticket).
Airport Express runs without a change to Hlavní nádraží (the main railway station), costs 200 CZK (about €8.3) and takes roughly 45 minutes. Uber is the most expensive option. My morning ride from the airport into the centre in January 2024 came to 564.24 CZK (about €23), of which 50 CZK (about €2.1) was the airport surcharge.
There are three routes from Václav Havel Airport into the centre that make sense: public transport with a change onto the metro, the Airport Express, and Uber. Each one costs something different, takes a different amount of time, and drops you at a different end of the city.
| Method | How long | How much | Where it drops you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public transport: bus or trolleybus, then the metro | Trolleybus 59 roughly 35 minutes, bus 100 roughly 45 minutes, bus 191 roughly 50 minutes | 46 CZK (about €1.9) in the app, 50 CZK on paper | Nádraží Veleslavín (metro A), Zličín (metro B) or Na Knížecí (metro B). Then it’s the metro into the centre. |
| Airport Express (boarding: Terminal 1) | roughly 45 minutes | 200 CZK | Hlavní nádraží (metro C), no change needed |
| Uber | Depends on traffic, you go direct with no change | The fare is dynamic and you don’t know it in advance. An airport surcharge is added on top, 50 CZK on my receipt in January 2024. | At the address you enter |
Public transport is the cheapest option, and the difference isn’t small: a 90-minute ticket covers the bus and the change onto the metro, with time to spare.
But with a suitcase that doesn’t fit within 25 × 45 × 70 cm, add 23 CZK (about €1) for the luggage ticket. One trip into the centre then comes to 69 CZK per person, if you’re using an app ticket.
Uber gets you there fastest, because it’s door to door. You don’t have to think about a ticket, a change, or where the bus actually takes you. You pay for that with a price you only find out in the app.
The Airport Express is a choice for a specific situation, not the default option: for 200 CZK you travel with no change to Hlavní nádraží, and I go into who it’s worth it for and who it isn’t further down.
I’ve flown into Prague many times – home for the holidays, and while I was studying in Denmark. And every time I’ve had to work out the same thing: which way to go out when someone’s coming to get me by car. Whether it’s a taxi or a friend doesn’t matter.
It took me needlessly long to realise how simple it is: after landing, follow the signs for Přílet (Arrivals) and walk outside – there’s nothing else you need to look for.
And if the driver misses it and stops at Odlety (Departures), it’s not a problem: it’s one escalator away, not the other end of the airport.
This is the cheapest way to get from the airport into the city. No line runs directly into the centre though – they all terminate at a metro station, where you change. You pay with an ordinary Prague public transport (PID) ticket, and there’s no special airport fare.
Several daytime lines run from the airport, and each of the useful ones terminates at a different metro station.
Trolleybus 59 has the shortest journey time. Unless you have a reason to head somewhere else, it’s the simplest choice.
Tickets are time-based, so you’re buying a length of time, not a route – and that time also covers the change onto the metro.
That app is called PID Lítačka and you can download it free for iPhone and for Android. You buy a ticket in it with a payment card, and the payment goes through at the airport too, so it’s worth downloading before you leave the hall.
Every ticket is cheaper in the app, the difference is only a few crowns, but it’s exactly the same ticket. The right choice here is the 90-minute one: even in the fastest case, the journey into the centre takes roughly 35 minutes. A 30-minute ticket isn’t enough for it.
Luggage up to 25 × 45 × 70 cm travels free. For anything bigger you buy a luggage ticket of its own, 23 CZK in the app or 25 CZK on paper, valid for up to 180 minutes. Children under 6 travel free.
But from the airport you’re travelling with a suitcase practically every time, so the real price per person is 69 CZK – a 90-minute ticket from the app plus the luggage ticket.
Ticket machines stand in the arrivals halls of both terminals and right at the stops, so you don’t have to sort it out inside. You can buy a ticket outside too, before your bus or trolleybus arrives.
The DPP desk in the arrivals hall is open 7:00 to 21:00. If you land later, you’re relying on a machine or the app.
In most machines you can also pay by contactless card – in most, not all. Buy your ticket before you board, not once you’re inside.
And now for the thing you won’t find on any sign: people sometimes turn up by the machines and offer to help you buy a ticket. Turn them down and buy the ticket yourself. They aren’t employees of the transport operator, and it isn’t help at all.
It’s always one of three things they’re after:
Neither pid.cz nor dpp.cz write anything about this, so it isn’t an official warning from the operator – I’m telling you this as someone who lives in Prague. On the subject of taxis, though, I agree with the airport – I go into its own warning in the arrivals hall further down.
The worst thing that happens if you follow that advice is that you buy your ticket at the machine yourself – which is exactly what you went there to do.
The Airport Express takes you straight from the airport to Hlavní nádraží, where you can connect to metro C. The journey takes roughly 45 minutes and costs 200 CZK.
It only runs from Terminal 1, though – if you land at the other one, you won’t find it at your own exit and you’ll have to walk over to Terminal 1. So find out in advance which terminal you’re flying into.
PID tickets aren’t valid on the Airport Express. It won’t help even if you bought one for the bus or the metro – you pay the 200 CZK fare separately.
That 200 CZK is several times what public transport costs. The public transport journey, with one change, takes roughly 35 minutes and comes to 69 CZK with luggage, using an app ticket.
So the Airport Express makes most sense when you’re heading straight for Hlavní nádraží or continuing from there by train – and with luggage you want one connection with no change.
Right in the arrivals hall there’s a notice board with a warning from Prague Airport. It warns about drivers who approach you in the hall or in front of it, because their services can be significantly overpriced, and recommends using the official provider.
Notice what the sign says and what it doesn’t: it doesn’t claim that every Prague taxi is overpriced. It warns against being approached – against a driver who finds you. You find out who the official provider is one step further on: right behind the notice board hangs a sign for Uber Airport reading “Official Taxi Service Provider”.
By the way, the Uber sign right next to it carries a sample fare into the centre, except the notice board covers it up, and underneath it, in small print, is a date: 20 December 2023. So even the price the airport itself gives is years old. That’s why you won’t find a taxi fare here.
I’ve never taken a taxi off the street at Prague Airport. I’ve always gone either by Uber or by public transport. So I don’t have my own story about an overpriced ride – I just have a photo of what the airport itself warns against.
At the airport you can’t just walk up to an Uber and get in. Without a ride booked in advance you can’t get one at all, because it’s only the booking that generates the six-digit PIN, which you then give the driver. You can book one three ways:
At the exits from the halls there are coordinators who’ll guide you to your car. They’re there from 7:00 to 21:00, but the cars themselves are available around the clock.
I paid 564.24 CZK for a morning ride from the airport into the centre of Prague in January 2024. The receipt breaks that sum down: a fare of 514.24 CZK (about €21) plus the 50 CZK airport surcharge.
Take this as one specific morning in January 2024, not as today’s price – Uber sets the price dynamically, and the same route can come out cheaper, or significantly more expensive, another time.
Tip: get the app to show you a price estimate before you even land. It takes a moment, and you’ll know straight away whether Uber is worth it for you, or whether you’d rather head for the bus.
That surcharge isn’t a myth: it’s a separate line item on the receipt, and it’s called Prague Airport Toll and it cost 50 CZK. No operator publishes it anywhere, so take this figure too as one specific morning.
It can be avoided. I walk out on foot past the large outdoor car park and only book the Uber once I’m past the barrier, where it’s just an ordinary pick-up like anywhere else in the city.
The spot I book from is on Aviatická street – past the large outdoor car park, a short walk from the terminal. It’s a minute or two on foot, if you’re walking really slowly.
Don’t expect miracles from it. It’s tens of crowns, not hundreds, so there’s no point dragging your luggage halfway across the airport for it.
And one more honest note: exactly where the line for the surcharge falls is something nobody publishes, so this is simply the spot I use, and it works for me.
I worked it out the other way round, on a trip to the airport, when instead of the upper car park I’d set my destination before the barrier, without really thinking about it. The driver then told me he couldn’t drop me at the upper car park – it hadn’t been booked that way, and the price would have been higher.
Three desks in the arrivals halls do genuinely close at that hour. But transport into the city keeps running, and that’s the distinction that usually gets lost in advice about Prague Airport.
Prague public transport’s night service runs to fixed hours: 00:15 to 5:00. Before that, the completely ordinary daytime timetable applies. I landed on 19 January 2024 at 22:50 and took photos in the arrivals hall – at that time everything was running as it does during the day.
What’s closed is this:
You can get into the centre without any of them, though – you can sort out both the ticket and the ride yourself.
What keeps working:
And if the machine won’t take your card, it’s not over yet. The contactless card readers are fitted in the vehicles of DPP, the city transport operator, so you can usually pay for your ticket once you’re on board instead. Don’t count on it completely, though: some Prague lines are run by other operators, and their vehicles may not have a reader.
Night lines run from 00:15 to 5:00 and replace the daytime network. They serve both terminals, so it doesn’t matter where you landed.
The one thing that genuinely changes once the desks close is Uber. The cars run around the clock, but without a ride booked in advance you won’t get one – it’s the booking that generates the six-digit PIN.
You can book either through the app or at the self-service kiosk in the arrivals hall, which only takes cards. Nobody publishes the kiosk’s opening hours, so play it safe and book your ride in the app before you leave the hall.
A transfer booked in advance has one narrow but real use at night: you’re landing in the middle of the night, when only the night lines are running, and you’ve got small children and a pile of luggage with you. You know the price in advance, and after landing you’re not hunting for a machine or a stop.
For most late arrivals, though, it’s an unnecessary expense. Even at the hour I landed, public transport, the Airport Express and Uber were all running exactly as they do in the afternoon. If you don’t mind one change with a suitcase and you can tap your card on board, you don’t need a transfer.
There are two terminals, and it barely affects your journey into the centre. There’s essentially one exception, and it concerns the Airport Express.
It’s worth knowing this before you walk out of the hall.
Everything else is the same at both terminals: the city buses and the trolleybus all stop at both, so with ordinary public transport the terminal makes no difference.
The same goes for where you buy a ticket or wait for your ride: the DPP desks are in both arrivals halls and are open 7:00 to 21:00. You’ll find ticket machines in the halls and right at the stops, and Uber’s pick-up points are in front of both arrivals halls.
And if you did head for the wrong terminal, nothing serious happens – they stand next to each other, and you can walk from one to the other. A mistake costs you a walk, not another ride.
The centre of Prague isn’t one single place – Malá Strana, Vinohrady and Žižkov each mean a different route and a different time. And depending on where you’re sleeping, a different line from the airport will suit you too.
You can see it best at the terminus points: trolleybus 59 drops you at the Nádraží Veleslavín stop (metro A), while the Airport Express terminates at Hlavní nádraží (metro C). Those are two different parts of the city, and two different routes to your hotel.
Which district to choose, and how far each of them is from the airport, is covered in a separate article. You’ll find the full rundown in the article Where to Stay in Prague.
Four hotels you can reach from the airport with a minimum of changes. I didn’t pick them by star rating, but by where the airport lines actually take you.
Chosen from our own experience
On the way back, everything’s the same, just reversed: trolleybus 59, bus 100 and bus 191 all run in the other direction too. So you get to the airport on the same line you arrived on. Expect the same journey time too – roughly 35 minutes via Nádraží Veleslavín, roughly 45 minutes via Zličín and roughly 50 minutes via the Na Knížecí stop.
The one thing that really changes is your buffer. To the journey time, add the wait for your connection, the change and check-in with security, so when you’re leaving the centre, allow more time than the trip from the airport into town took you. On arrival, a delay is at most an inconvenience; on departure, it can be a real problem.
PID tickets aren’t valid on the Airport Express in this direction either. You pay the 200 CZK fare separately even if you’ve bought a metro ticket in the app, and you get off at Terminal 1 – it’s a short walk from there to the other terminal.
And if you’re driving to the airport, I’ve covered parking in a separate article, Parking at Prague Airport.
The cheapest option is public transport: bus or trolleybus to the metro, then the metro. Trolleybus 59 to Nádraží Veleslavín, where you change onto metro A, gets you there fastest. A ticket that covers this journey costs 50 CZK (about €2.1) on paper and 46 CZK (about €1.9) in the mobile app. With a bigger suitcase you pay an extra 23 CZK for luggage, so with an app ticket, plan on 69 CZK per person in practice.
It depends what you take, but it’s always a matter of tens of minutes, not hours. Trolleybus 59 to Nádraží Veleslavín with a change onto metro A is fastest – you’re in the centre in roughly 35 minutes. Via Zličín and metro B, bus 100 takes roughly 45 minutes, and bus 191 to the Na Knížecí stop takes roughly 50 minutes. The Airport Express takes roughly 45 minutes to Hlavní nádraží.
No. The official taxi service at the airport is Uber Airport, and without a ride booked in advance, which gives you a six-digit PIN, you can’t use the service at all. You generate the PIN in the app, at the self-service kiosk, or you’re given it at the desk in the arrivals hall, which is open 7:00 to 21:00. The airport itself has a notice board in the arrivals hall warning against drivers who approach you directly – their services can be significantly overpriced.
You can still get a ride, you just have to sort it out yourself. The DPP desks in the arrivals halls of both terminals are open 7:00 to 21:00, the Visitor Centre 8:00 to 20:00, and the Uber desk 7:00 to 21:00. Ticket machines in the halls and right at the stops keep working, and most of them also take contactless card. Uber cars run around the clock, but you have to generate the PIN yourself in the app or at the kiosk. Both terminals are also served by night buses to Baně and to the Na Beránku stop.
Yes, but only if the luggage is bigger than 25 × 45 × 70 cm. Then you buy an extra ticket alongside your own for 23 CZK (about €1) in the app, valid for up to 180 minutes. So with an ordinary suitcase, the trip from the airport goes up from 46 CZK to 69 CZK. Children under 6 travel free.
It’s mainly worth it when you’re heading to Hlavní nádraží or continuing from there by train. It runs from Terminal 1, costs 200 CZK (about €8.3), and takes roughly 45 minutes to Hlavní nádraží, where you can connect to metro C. Ordinary PID tickets aren’t valid on it, so you pay several times more than for public transport. If you land at the other terminal, you have to walk over to Terminal 1 for the Airport Express.
At the machine right by the stop in front of the terminal, or already in the arrivals hall. Both terminals’ halls have machines and DPP desks, open 7:00 to 21:00. Most of the machines also take contactless card, but the ticket is cheaper in the mobile app: 46 CZK (about €1.9) instead of 50 CZK. Never buy a ticket from someone who offers you help at the machine, a good deal on a taxi, or a currency exchange – none of it is a genuine offer.
No operator publishes a price, and Uber calculates it dynamically, so the only honest figure is an actual receipt. My morning ride from the airport into the centre cost 514.24 CZK (about €21) plus the 50 CZK (about €2.1) airport surcharge, 564.24 CZK altogether. That was in January 2024. On the receipt, that surcharge is called Prague Airport Toll. Take this as one real morning, not as today’s price – you’ll see the current amount in the app before you book.
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