Car in prague

There are buses(some with limited service) from outskirt towns that connect to either the farthest outlaying Prague tram or in some cases to the farthest out Metro. Some buses on the outskirts will let you buy the ticket from the driver but many will not let you do so & then you would have to buy a ticket from a tabak. This option takes a bunch of time to get into the town center area by doing this. Plus, unless you can understand and speak passable Czech I would not recommend you try this as most of the over 30 crowd outside Prague (including the bus drivers) do not speak any English at all. I say this from experience as I visit my inlaws there at least once a year. Truthfully, you should rethink the car & stay in Prague. You don't have to stay in town center. There are many inexpensive places to stay in Prague 4 or Prague 6 that would be enough of an adventure for someone with no Czech language skills. You can use Trip Advisor to help decide. You can easily catch a bus or train from Vienna to Prague and then take a train from Prague to Berlin. This would be way less expensive. Travel time of bus or train vs. car is pretty much the same.

Car is not useful for travel between Vienna, Prague and Berlin. Actually it is a burden. The only justification for car is if you intend to stop in small towns on your way. Otherwise take a train. I personally haven't been at guest house Lida but everybody is praising it. They are advertising protected parking. Google guest house Lida Prague. Four years ago I stayed in Pension Hattrick. It is few stops by bus 188 to subway station Strasnicka. Altogether about half an hour from the center. They have a parking in the fenced courtyard. Check : www.pensionhattrick.cz

Thank you for your reply. Perhaps I'm being a traveling snob, but I was hoping to stay somewhere that is less 'American'. Rick Steve's book suggests lodgings that are located in the little villages outside of Prague. Is mass transit opportunities into Prague a possibility from these outer villages? Or, are there safe and convenient places to park the car in the city if we stay in the outskirts? Or! are there any pensions or B&Bs that offer garages in the city?
Appreciate any advice or suggestions you might offer, thanks again. Pam

I stay at Guest House Lida at least 1 night every year to decompress from family. In fact I will be staying there for 3 nights later this month. The brothers are awesome. They are in Prague 4 in a neighborhood. Walk to the river to catch the 17 or up the hill a few blocks to catch the 18 or the metro. Jiri or Jan at Lida usually have tickets for to purchase at cost so no fiddling with machines or trying to get them from tabaks. Also, they will pick up folks from the airport, train, or main bus station at a small fee per person if you need it. Just arrange at the time of reserving the room. They only have room for one car in their locked garage, so if you are absolutely determined to take a car you would have to reserve it well in advance. They hand you the keys to the garage with the keys to the guesthouse & room. Personally, I have parked on the street in front of the guest house many times with no issues but there's always a first time for trouble. In my case I'm usually all over the countryside visiting inlaws so a car for 1 night is not too bad. But in your case again I stress you take the train or bus into Prague. I've been to all of the cities you mention numerous times and I can tell you a car is a real pain in the butt & expensive to park safely.

I can't thank you all enough. Really. Unfortunately, we are stuck with the car and we will have to make due, but your input and feedback has been most helpful. Thank you for taking the time to help.

Hi Pam...Not sure what your situation is but unless you actually OWN the car there's no reason to be stuck with one. If you are in Vienna right now you can turn the car into the rental car company's location. Most car companies will work with you in the case of change in travel plans. Travel in our experience with old folks with medical problems and babies was much better for all concerned by train.

Actually, we've crunched the numbers and have found that for the three of us, traveling for 3-weeks from Frankfurt to Berlin renting is actually less expensive than the train for 3-adults. It can be argued (what with gas prices and the poor exchange rates etc.) but until we get over there and see that it isn't cheaper I think we'll stick with Plan A and have the luxury of making stops along the way. Nice to know that we can dump the car in spite of our reservations though.

IMO, traveling around Prague by tram, bus, etc., is preferable to trying to navigate with and park a car. We drove into Prague, parked the car in the hotel garage for 5 days and used the transit system. Worked fine. Location? With good transit system, lots of flexibility. We enjoyed the Hotel Roma, not too expensive and pretty good location. Enjoy Prague. Great city!

We stayed at the Dum u Velke Boty which is an RS pick, across the street from a couple of embassies and in a quiet Neighborhood on the Castle side, 4 blocks from the Charles Bridge. Easy to catch streetcars at the bottom of the hill. There is parking at his hotel in the square in front, seems very safe due to the embassies. You can park the car and take the public transit easily until you leave town.
We've also stayed in the crowds and congestion across the river, and much prefer Jacob and his family at the Dum. Nice fresh breakfast at his hotel, he will cook you bacon and eggs if you wish.

http://www.dumuvelkeboty.cz/en/gallery
Look at image 15, where you can see the parking in front of the hotel:the Dum has the gorgeous windowboxes and no real sign. To be sure you can get parking there and of the cost, you could email him.

Thank you so much. You are so kind to offer favorable places that provide parking and nice accommodations. This is exactly what we intend to do - arrive, park the car and not look at it again until we drive out of town. Can't wait.

Hi, We currently live in Germany and have driven to Prague twice. It is not a problem to drive, and to find parking in Prague. We stay at Hotel Waldstein. They are near all the embassies and have a few parking spots that need to be reserved, they are tucked away in a little corner with minimal traffic and plenty of security. We have never had a problem. Also the hotel is about 2 blocks from Charles Bridge and just below the castle, in easy walking distance.
Gas prices are hovering around the 1.65 Euro per liter right now, which figures out to around 7 euros a gallon which is approx. $10 a gallon. So with those figures you may want to rethink your car vs train situation again and booking ahead of time for the trains, you can usually get a decent price. You are also going to have tolls in Austria, another added expense. The Vignette which is required is about 10 Euros for 7 days, but it does not cover all the toll booths, which can run about 5-10 Euros each. Good luck with your trip and enjoy Prague, it is a fantastic city~! Christina

Here is a link to the hotel for booking if interested. http://www.avehotels.cz/en/index.html Christina

We have stayed in the Marriot Hotel Flora that James suggested. It is great, but as you assumed not
very different from a Marriot in the US. We have also stayed in the Hotel Julian which would be much more what you seem to want and has an adjacent parking lot. The Julian is a RS recommendation and I understand where he stays when in Prague. It is also close to public transportation if you want to leave your car there and go into old town by bus or tram.

Our family of 4 did a similar trip in the summer of 2004 flying into Frankfurt and out of Berlin. Picked up our rental car at the airport and after spending some time in Germany headed to Vienna. Luckily we had no problem getting to Pensione Schwizer (sp?) where we were staying but did not do any driving in Vienna. Used public transportation which was very easy to do. Got rid of our rental car in Vienna and used a driver service with minivan that R.S. had in his book back then. Upon leaving Vienna we went to Cesky Krumlov for one night, beautiful place and highly recommended and then onto Prague. We personally would not want to have had a car in Prague and my husband has driven many places in Europe. From here it was onto Berlin, again we would not have wanted to drive here. Can't remember what we paid for this service but it was well worth it.