CZECH TRAIN TRAVEL

You can walk right up to the ticket window in the Prague train station and buy a ticket for wherever you want to go. There is an ATM in the station. We took the train down to Plzen and stayed for four nights. Its not so touristy, and has the wold famous Pilsen Urqual brewery. Let me know if you'r interested and I'll help with a memorable hotel. I can also tell you something about Plzen. You should get a Lonely Planet gudiebook for the country. Forget the pass. Train tickets in the Czech Republic are very reasonable and second class is good enough for local travel. It might be a good idea to have a little pocket notebook hand to write down there you want to go so you can show it to the ticket person if you don't know Czech and they don't know English. It does happen.

1) It's definitely not worth rail pass. 2) Local trains have only second class. Expresses have also first class but second class is perfectly OK and first class cost 50% more. 3)It is very easy to buy ticket at the station. Ticket is valid for any train going to your station that day. With the exception of certain expresses when you reserve seat. Monte has a very good advice: write the name of station where you are going on the piece of paper and show it to the ticket seller because you will probably mispronounce it enough for ticket seller not to understand. If you want the ticket for other day in future, write the day there, too. Important: day first then month not the other way as we do it here.

Excellent advise by two previous persons. I carry a small pack of 3x5 cards for doing just as described above. That way I can prepare them in advance of the trip. Use the native country's language, spelling, and date system.
wayne iNWI