Posted by The city of Prague has only one large airport, it is the Vaclav Havel Airport about 14 km north-mainly from the city center. In this article you will find all the important information about the airport such as how to get to the airport and buses, prices for food and drink and much more.
Our Prague tip: Private airport transfer without stressThe problem: Using public transport from the airport to the hotel in Prague is not easy. You first have to take the airport bus to the subway, then take the subway to the city centre and then usually take the tram to the hotel. Sometimes there are no escalators (carrying suitcases) in the subway. Above all, it is not easy to find the right bus or tram in a foreign city. The solution: A private airport transfer directly from the airport to the hotel. The service in Prague is not too expensive and very popular. The airport transfer has very good ratings on the Internet. The journey begins without stress. More information about the well-known website Getyourguide.de: Click here You can also find many other tickets and bargains on the great Getyourguide website, such as tickets to Prague Castle, the famous Prague Card or great boat trips on the Vltava River. |
Public transport connections (Prague Airport Transfer)
The airport of the Czech capital is not yet connected to the railway, metro or tram networks. But there are plans here. So far there are only public buses to the airport Vaclav-Havel in Prague.
The airport buses are very frequent at least during the day and are extremely inexpensive. A ticket with the bus to the next subway stop and a subsequent trip to the hotel costs less than 1.50 euros. There are normal buses. Since the airport is located in the municipality of Prague, the normal ticket prices of Prague apply. The problem is that you have to change trains several times to the hotel in the city centre to find the right connection.
===>>>> All information about airport buses in Prague: Click here
Overview Prague Airport
Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 are next to each other in one building. Airport buses stop directly in front of the terminal. All public buses stop twice, first at Terminal 1 and then at Terminal 2.
Terminal 1 looks much bigger. Here, for example, is Starbucks. Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subway and the Billa supermarket are located roughly between the two terminals.
Most car rental providers, multi-storey car parks and hotels are opposite the terminals. The signs and signposts at Prague Airport are very good and mostly in several languages. There are several taxi stands at the exits.
All in all, you can usually find what you are looking for quickly at Prague Airport. The Vaclav-Havel-Airport is also not so huge.
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Food, drink and gastronomy at Prague Airport
For an international airport in the heart of Europe, the average prices at Prague Airport are pleasingly low. But there are enormous price differences. In the following we will tell you how you can save a lot of money.
Drinking coffee: There are several cafes at Prague Airport, including a Starbucks branch. The prices are quite different, usually a coffee costs about 3-4 Euro, a piece of cake similarly much. You can save money at several large coffee machines in the airport: here, a coffee from the plastic cup costs about 1 euro.
Buy water and soft drinks: Mineral water and cola are relatively expensive in many catering establishments at Prague Airport. A glass of Coca-Cola can easily cost 3-4 Euros, in restaurants in the Czech Republic the price is only about 1 Euro. However, you can easily avoid these high airport prices. There are also vending machines for soft drinks (0.5 litres only about 1 Euro). Even cheaper are drinks in the branch of the supermarket chain Bila between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. There are normal Czech supermarket prices here. 1.5 liters of mineral water for the equivalent of 50 cents or a large bottle of cola for about 1 euro!
Fast Food: There are Burger King, Subway and Kentucky Fried Chicken at Prague Airport. These have prices similar to those in Germany, but some are cheaper. However, we enjoyed a real Czech goulash soup with bread (only 3 Euro) in a small self-service restaurant called “Bricco Express” in Terminal 1. There you can also get good and cheap pizza and pasta.
Restaurant: On the first floor in Terminal 1 you will find the “Restaurace Praha” with good prices. A genuine Czech goulash with side dish costs far less than 10 euros. The terrace of the restaurant is great with a view into the interior of the airport Prague on the airplanes, the tarmac etc.. In some other airports in Europe you have to pay for a visitor platform entrance fee, in Prague the view is free for restaurant visitors.
Prague airport opening hours
As far as we know, the airport building is open 24/7 (i.e. 24 hours a day on all 7 weekdays). Also some restaurants, like the Kentucky Fried Chicken, have daily opening hours around the clock.
The large Billa supermarket (as of August 2018) is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday one hour shorter from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m..
A problem are the bus connections at night. The normal buses only run until 23:30. After that there are night buses. But this is quite complicated. After that you have to change to a night tram if you want to go to the center. The waiting times when changing trams are often extremely long. Some people report almost 2 hours until you are in the center. It is better to take a private transfer from or to Prague Airport at night (see yellow box on this page).
===>>>> All information about airport buses in Prague: Click here
Prague Airport Leisure Activities
What do you do when you wait hours for the flight? Besides drinking coffee or going out for dinner, you can also play chess or other games at Prague Airport. There are huge playing areas and pieces at the back of Terminal 2.
You can also watch the activities on the tarmac on the visitor observation platform (see above under Going to the right meal).
Shopping is also possible, but there are far fewer shops at Prague Airport than at the major airports in Germany and Europe.
Our Prague tip: Private airport transfer without stressThe problem: Using public transport from the airport to the hotel in Prague is not easy. You first have to take the airport bus to the subway, then take the subway to the city centre and then usually take the tram to the hotel. Sometimes there are no escalators (carrying suitcases) in the subway. Above all, it is not easy to find the right bus or tram in a foreign city. The solution: A private, serious airport transfer directly from the airport to the hotel. The service in Prague is not too expensive and very popular. The airport transfer has very good ratings on the Internet. The journey begins without stress. More information about the well-known website Getyourguide.de: Click here You can also find many other tickets and bargains on the great Getyourguide.de website, such as tickets to Prague Castle, the famous Prague Card or great boat trips on the Vltava River. |
Further information Prague Airport
– There is a luggage storage at the airport, it is well signposted.
– Extreme caution when changing money: We have seen exchange offices at the airport that charge a total of more than 25 percent! Even when withdrawing money at ATMs, high fees are often charged in the Czech Republic. The proposed exchange rate at the ATM is often very bad, but you can reject it. Then the daily exchange rate is used, which is usually much better. For some years now: 1 Euro is between 25 and 26 Czech koruna (August 2018). This course can of course change, you should inform yourself before the trip. In good exchange offices in the Czech Republic you can get between 24 and 25 koruna per euro for a cash change. In many tourist exchange offices in Prague you can only get 17 or 18 crowns, so if you change 100 euros you lose about 30 euros! We have seen such extremely bad exchange rates mainly at the main railway station in Prague, in the tourist old town and at the airport. Meanwhile it is even difficult to find an “Exchange Office” with reasonable conversion rates in certain areas.
– There are also some hotels near the airport. These can be useful, as there are no airport buses at night (about 23:00 – 24:00).
– The name of Prague Airport is: Václav Havel Airport Prague. The Czech name is: Letiště Václava Havla Praha (letiště means airport). Václav Havel was a well-known critic of the regime in socialism and later for a long time president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. He died in 2011. Prague Airport has been named after him since 2012.