Should we book these tickets before we leave or could we book a few days before while we are in europe? How do you think this would affect the price?  Thanks for your help.

The regular basic price for Berlin-Prague segment is €50.40 or CZK 1286. This can be bought right before the departure. If you use your railpass for the German part of the trip, you just need to buy a ticket for a segment Bad Schandau Gr.-Prague, since the Eurail pass will not be valid on Czech territory. That ticket should cost €11.20.

The trains for Prague leave Berlin Hauptbahnhof (the new main station) at 6:46 and then every two hours until 16:46 and arrive to Prague Holešovice station 4 and 3/4 hours later.

The regular price for Prague-Munich (via Plzen-Furth im Wald-Schwandorf-Regensburg) segment is €53.50 or CZK 1360. If you like the idea of “cheaper is better” then you may try to do this trip on Saturday or Sunday. The Czech railways offer, on these weekend days, a railpass called SONE+ and SONE+DB. The SONE+ allows you to travel without limit until midnight on the territory of Czech republic and to the first station beyond Czech border in any direction. The SONE+DB is the same, except it extends to German railways lines close to Czech border as well. In direction to Munich, the closest stations to Munich where SONE+DB is still valid, are Regensburg and Plattling on the Nuremberg-Passau line. From there you can travel to Munich for a basic fare or buy some kind of German discount weekend ticket (Wochenende ticket).

Information on SONE+ in English can be found here: http://www.cd.cz/sta… , unfortunately, the Czech railways forgot to translate the page about SONE+DB.

The price for SONE+ is CZK 130 for slow trains, CZK 390 for all trains.
The price of SONE+DB is CZK 230 for slow and CZK 490 for all trains.
(1 US dollar is about CZK 16. 1 euro is about CZK 25.)

This SONE+ ticket can be used by up to two adults accompanied by up to three children, all on one single ticket for the price above. It can be bought only on the day of its validity, which must be a Saturday or Sunday and expires at midnight the same day.

For your trip to Munich I suggest you use the SONE+ (Czech-only, all train variant for 390 crowns) until the first German stop and use one day of your Eurail pass for the rest of the trip. Usually you have to change at least once (in Schwandorf) on the way from Prague to Munich, but there is one direct fast train No. 456 “Albert Einstein” leaving Prague main station at 17:16 and arriving to Munich main station at 23:21.

You can use the Czech railways search engine to find all the connections or use www.bahn.de .

If you’re satisfied with Regensburg instead of Munich (Regensburg is also a cute Bavarian city on the Danube with a nice cathedral), don’t use up the day of your Eurail and buy SONE+DB all train version for CZK 490 and it will take you right there.

Hope I made it comprehensible If not, or if you have any further questions regarding travel in Czech republic and its vicinity, just ask.

Thanks Papyr, I’m sure this information will prove useful to lots of folks.

Wow!! Thank you everyone for your help.  This helps alot.  I know I do not want to miss out on seeing Prague, i’ve just heard way too many good things about it.  I also found a Prague excursion pass from eurail but it seems as if it is only good from the border of Czech republic so I’m not so sure it would save me anything.  What do you guys think?

http://www.raileurop…

Thanks again!

In a land far, far away, nested in a cute hilly land among the forests, there is a railway station that is located right on the border. So actually it is in two lands, far far away. The building, the tracks, and the platforms are divided by a white line that marks the national border. One part of the building is in the Czech republic, and the other is in Germany.

For long forty years of the Communist rule, that station was divided not only by a border of two nations, but also a border of two enemy social systems – democratic and capitalist West Germany on one side, communist Czechoslovakia on the other. Barbed wire ran through the tracks and while on one side, folks were getting on and off the trains and drinking soda on the platform, on the other side stood a bunch of heavily armed soldiers, observing the border with the capitalist pigs, and guarding a three-mile zone of no man’s land. Naturally no trains came from Czech side. All of them ended 5 km further inland.

Now tables have turned, and the station is again open to public from both sides. Since both countries are in Schengen area now, no-one bothers to stop you to check your travel documents. But it is still a memorable place, documenting the once-impenetrable Iron Curtain that descended across the continent. The station has two names: Železná Ruda-Alžbetín in Czech, and Bayerisch Eisenstein in German. Strangely enough, it means “Iron Ore” in both languages (Iron Ore-Elisabethville and Bavarian Iron Ore).

Through this station runs the shortest way from Pragueto Munich, even though you need to change trains twice. The advantage of this station is, that you can reach it in both ways using cheaper domestic tickets instead of more expensive international ones.

Let’s take a virtual trip through this station. At 7 in the morning, we enter Prague’s Main station (Praha-hlavní nádraží), go to the domestic ticket office and buy a single ticket to Železná Ruda-Alžbetín. It will cost 197 crowns ($12.30) in second class, but if we detest drab leatherette seats in 2nd class Czech cars, we might buy the first-class ticket for 294 crowns ($18.40) and enjoy better seats, better legroom and fewer passengers.

The fast train No. 850 leaves at 7:16 every morning. We board it, find a seat and watch the country (and the engines) change. The hills begin to be higher, and finally we pass a tunnel under Spicak mountain, which separates the Baltic sea basin from the Black sea basin, the highest point on the track. Moments later, at 11:15, the train stops at its end station, Železná Ruda-Alžbetín.

We descend to a platform and walk across the white line, crossing the national border. On the German side of the building, we walk up to a vending machine that sells tickets and press the button marked “Bayern-Ticket-Single”. The sum of €19 lights up on the display. We throw 19 euros ($30) into the machine and the ticket comes out. (See English info on this Bayern Ticket here http://www.bahn.de/p… ). This thing is valid within the territory of the federal land of Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital. It is also valid on public transportation (buses, trams, subway, S-bahn) of Munich itself, so we’ll be able to get to our very hotel with this. Expires at 3 in the night tomorrow. Or we can use a day of our Eurail and not buy anything.

On the German end of the platform, we can see a modern, low-floor diesel train unit, leaving to Plattling. This is our train. But it leaves at 11:43, so we have half-an-hour to waste. If we have any Czech crowns left, we might visit a shop on the Czech side of the station and spend them there, like on a beer or great spa waffles.

The name “regional train” in Germany is somewhat confusing. The second class is as comfy as Czech first class, and even though we arrived on the Czech “fast” train, this “regional” German thing goes faster. At 12:52, we reach Plattling, the end-station.

Just minutes later, a RegionalExpress train from Passau arrives to Platform 4, which, at 12:58, continues further to Munich main station (München Hauptbahnhof). It will reach Munich at 14:36. Now it’s time to visit the Reisezentrum (Travel Centre) and ask the clerk what public transport line to use to get to our hotel. The journey is safely over

If you want to hitch hike, then let me reveal the best place to stand to you. It’s where the D5 highway from Prague to Bavaria begins with a dead end (or a dead beginning — is there such a word?). Take metro A to Hradcanska station and then bus 174 to “K Vidouli” bus stop. Or take metro B to Nove Butovice station and then buses 179 or 184 to “K Vidouli” bus stop. That stop is located right beside the first possible entry point to the D5 highway. Step to the on-ramp with a sign that says Munich. Everyone goes slow there, there’s plenty of space for them to stop safely and it’s technically not on a highway so it’s not illegal to hitch hike there. I often used this spot to hitch hike to Pilsen and I never waited more than 15 minutes.

There are actually just two spots for hitchhiking on the D5 (D5 being the only highway leading to former West Germany). Both of them are quite popular. One of them is the one I described (K Vidouli), harder to get to by public transport, but much easier to get a ride, since most people from central Prague get on the D5 here. And there is this other one, conveniently reachable by taking metro B to the end station Zlicin, but there is usually more hitchhikers, it’s further from the centre (so cars willing to take hitchhikers are already full), and it’s on perfectly straight segment, where everyone rides so fast that they don’t want to slow down.

I suggest you stand on the first one, K Vidouli. I made you a pic where to stand. People there have to go slow because it’s on a turn. Carry a sign MÜNCHEN. Unfortunately, German drivers don’t like to take hitchhikers in a foreign land, so probably you’ll have to wait a little for a Czech driver heading to Germany.

There are no good spots for hitchhiking on the D1 highway (to Bratislava and Vienna). One often used spot is located about 100 meters away from metro C stop Chodov. But a six-lane highway with a high speed limit and lots of local traffic makes that place extremely unpleasant for hitchhikers, especially long-distance ones. The most likely car you’ll manage to stop there will be a police car with unpleasant men-in-black, ignorant of any foreign language, who will give you a fine for hitchhiking on a motorway, which will be more expensive than a bus ticket to Bratislava or Vienna. And you won’t outrun the cops with a backpack. I strongly advice NOT to hitchhike on the D1 motorway.

On the northbound D8 highway that leads to Saxonia (and Berlin) there is only one popular spot for hitchhiking. It is located next to the newly opened station Strizkov on metro line C. I had to unskillfully draw the location of the station with red color, since it opened just last week and was not yet presented on the map. Just walk along Vysocanska street on the same side where the metro station is, when you come to the bridge above the motorway, there is a surprising half-abandoned staircase that leads down to the hitchhiking spot – and nowhere else!

To Bratislava and Vienna, it’s cheapest, fastest and most comfortable to take a bus. Just go to the Prague Florenc bus terminal (station Florenc on metro lines B and C) and ask when the nearest bus for these cities leaves. Adult ticket to Bratislava, or to Vienna, costs about 300 Kc ($18.50) depending on carrier. The duration of journey is the same as on the train, 4-5 hours, unless there is a jam or maintenance works on the damn D1 motorway. There’s about 10 direct buses to Bratislava every day (first one at 5:30 AM, last one at 10 PM) and about 4-5 direct buses to Vienna.

To Berlin, take a train, there’s a two-hour interval from station Praha Holesovice (metro station Nadrazi Holesovice on line C). Buy a domestic ticket from Prague to Bad Schandau Grenze (borderpoint) and an InterCity supplement, and use the day of your Eurail for the German part of the trip. Should be under 200 Kc ($12.50).

Basically it’s like this: Look at the overview map of Czech republic’s main roads (thin grey or light blue – just number), rapid highways (green – R letter) and long-distance motorways (dark blue – D letter) here:

http://www.rsd.cz/sd…

R and D roads have at least four lanes and hitchhiking on them is forbidden. You can only hitchhike on the connecting roads, on-ramps, or roadside gas stations, but not on an open highway.

You can clearly see that the D1, leading southeastbound from Prague, is the way to reach

- Bratislava (D1 – Brno – D2 – Breclav border crossing – continues as Slovak D2 – Bratislava),

- Vienna (D1 – Brno – R52 – 52 – Mikulov border crossing – continues as Austrian B7 – Vienna)

- and also Cesky Krumlov (D1 – 3 – Ceske Budejovice – 39 – Cesky Krumlov).

In Prague, there is a perfect hitchhiking spot at the beginning of D5, R10 and D11, a bit worse at R4, R7, D8, and it’s horrible at D1. This division doesn’t have much to do with where the roads lead, it’s more about where in Prague they begin or are accessible.

But you can always take a cheap and frequent suburban train from Prague to Benesov (runs every half hour or every hour off-peak), and try to hitchhike from Benesov on a simple two-lane road No. 3. If you want to reach Cesky Krumlov, just have a cardboard with capital letters CK, that’s the old license plate abbreviation of Cesky Krumlov and people still recognize it.