UK citizens do not need a visa to visit the Czech Republic.
Page last
updated:
9 January 2012. Train times valid from 11
December 2011 to 9 June 2012.
Travel to Prague by train...
Prague's historic old town square is just 15 minutes walk
from Prague Hlavni station where you arrive by train
from London.
A few more photos...
It's easy to
travel from the UK to Prague
by train, and it's both affordable & time-effective when
compared to an afternoon of airport buses, airports,
flights, taxis and then a hotel. Take an afternoon Eurostar
from London to Brussels
and a connecting high-speed train to Cologne, then the excellent
'Phoenix' City Night Line sleeper train to Prague,
arriving right in the city centre just after breakfast next
morning. The deluxe sleepers on
this train even have a private shower & toilet, with
breakfast included, served in your compartment. Or
take an afternoon Eurostar from London to Paris, the
overnight sleeper to Berlin, then a scenic EuroCity journey
from Berlin to Prague with lunch in the restaurant car.
Or use daytime trains with an overnight stop. The
choice is yours...
On this page...
You'll find a
step-by-step guide to planning, booking & making a UK to
Prague train journey:
Option 1: London to Prague
using the
Cologne-Prague City Night Line sleeper...
This is usually the cheapest &
most time-effective option, with a arrival in Prague just
after breakfast and a departure back to London in early
evening. It may even save you a hotel bill or two
compared to flying.
London ► Prague
Travel
from London to Brussels by
Eurostar, leaving London St Pancras
daily except Saturdays at 15:04, arriving
Brussels
Midi at 18:05. On Saturdays, depart London
at 12:57 arriving Brussels Midi at 16:08.
Travel from Brussels to
Cologne by ICE
high-speed train leaving
Brussels
Midi at 18:25 and arriving Cologne at 20:15. On Saturdays you can
also take the earlier 17:28 Thalys
train arriving Cologne at 19:15. You've time
for a meal in Cologne.
Travel from Cologne to Prague by
City Night Line sleeper train, leaving
Cologne daily at 22:28 and arriving in Prague's central Hlavni station at
09:26 next
morning. This train is the excellent City Night
Line 'Phoenix' with modern Czech sleeping-car, couchettes & seats,
see the photos & information below.
There's no restaurant car, so feel free to take you own
picnic and bottle of wine aboard. Next morning south
of Dresden (around 07:00) the train starts winding along the scenic
River Elbe, well worth putting
the blind up for! The train arrives at Prague Hlavni
station, just 15 minutes walk from Prague's historic old
town.
Map of Prague showing Holesovice station,
Map of Prague showing Hlavni station.
Prague Hlavni station
information.
Prague ► London
Travel from Prague to Cologne
by City Night Line sleeper train, leaving
Prague Hlavni station at 18:29 or Prague Holesovice station
at 18:38 and arriving in Cologne at 06:14 next
morning. This train is the 'Phoenix', with
sleeping-car, couchettes & seats,
see the photos &
information below. In summer when it's light, sit
back in your compartment with a glass of red and enjoy the
scenic trip along the Elbe river valley towards Dresden.
Travel from Brussels to
London by Eurostar. Daily except Saturdays, a
Eurostar
leaves Brussels
Midi at 12:56 and arrives London St Pancras at 14:03.
On Saturdays and also Mondays & Tuesdays from 18
February onwards, also Wed, Thurs & Fri from 2 April
onwards, a Eurostar leaves Brussels
Midi at 10:56
and arrives London St Pancras at 11:57.
Take Eurostar to Brussels, then a
German ICE high-speed train
to Cologne...
An ICE to Cologne & Frankfurt waiting to leave
Brussels Midi.
More ICE information.
ICE3
2nd class. ICEs are perhaps the most comfortable daytime trains
in Europe...
ICE3 1st class, with real leather seats. All seats in
both classes have power sockets.
The City Night Line sleeper train 'Phoenix' has a
modern air-conditioned Czech sleeping-car (1, 2 & 3-berth
deluxe rooms with private shower & toilet, 1, 2 & 3-berth
standard rooms with washbasin, there is a shower at the end
of the corridor for passengers in standard rooms, all rooms
have vingcard locks and power sockets for
laptop computers & mobiles, a sleeper is the recommended
option if your budget allows), air-conditioned German couchette cars
(simple but comfortable berths in 4- or 6-berth compartments), and
ordinary seats in 6-seat compartments (not recommended). The
sleeping-car fare includes a light breakfast.
More pictures &
information about this train.
The Phoenix actually starts its journey in Amsterdam, so
if you're coming from the north of England or Scotland, you
can take the overnight ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam or
Hull to Rotterdam, spend a day in Amsterdam, then travel
overnight to Prague from there,
see
here for details.
Dinner in Cologne
before you board? For a traditional German meal in
Cologne before boarding the sleeper to Prague, try the
Brauhaus Sion (www.brauhaus-sion.de),
5 minutes walk from Cologne hauptbahnhof, or the Malzmuehle
restaurant (www.muehlenkoelsch.de),
10-15 minutes walk from Cologne Hauptbahnhof.
Alternatively, there's a
restaurant inside the Hauptbahnhof itself at the Schweinske,
www.schweinske.de.
Feedback is always
appreciated!
1, 2 or 3 bed sleeper: The most comfortable &
civilised option, standard with washbasin or deluxe with
shower & toilet.
4-berth couchettes: Ideal for families,
much more space per person than 6-berth couchettes.
6-berth couchettes: A very economical
option, far better than a seat for just a few euros
more...
Above: As evening falls at Prague's Hlavni station,
the sleeper attendant on the 'Phoenix' greets passengers
for Cologne & Amsterdam.
The cheapest
way to book a London-Prague train journey is online, and
here's an easy step-by-step guide to buying the right
tickets on the best websites. You can't book from
London to Prague all in one go, so I recommend doing a 'dry
run' first, following the steps below to check availability
on each train before booking for real. Remember that
booking opens 90 days before departure.
Step
1, book the City Night Line sleeper train from Cologne
to Prague & back...
Two
websites can book the City Night Line sleeper train,
www.raileurope.co.uk
&
www.bahn.de.
It's a good idea to compare prices on both sites as they
can differ.
www.raileurope.co.uk
is arguably the easiest to use, it's for UK residents
only and prices are in pounds. One drawback is
that it won't book 4-berth couchettes so use
www.bahn.de
if you want these. Tickets will be sent to any UK
address, for which they charge a small fee. Only
UK credit cards are accepted.
www.bahn.de
is the excellent German Railways website, it will book
all types of couchette and sleeper on this train, it can be used
by residents of any country, prices are in euros and you
simply print out your own ticket. Obviously, look
for the direct CNL train with 0 changes and check
availability of the cheap 'Savings' fares. One
minor quirk is that it won't offer you a berth in a
3-bed sleeper if you're travelling alone, so if that's
what you want, use
www.raileurope.co.uk
instead. I strongly recommend registering when
prompted, so you can log in at any time to see all your
bookings and reprint tickets as necessary.
Step 2,
book your trains from London to Cologne & back...
First,
check to see if there are any cheap 'London Spezial' fares
from 49 euros between London and Cologne at the German
Railways website using the special links I'm about to
give you. I recommend booking a round trip as two one-ways,
as it's easier to see where the availability is. I
also recommend registering when prompted, so you
can log in at any time to see all your bookings and reprint
tickets if necessary. Here are some links I've set up
with all the details necessary to bring up the cheap fares,
just enter your departure date, remembering that on the
inward journey, departure from Cologne will be the day after
departure from Prague:
You may or
may not see any cheap 'Spezial' fares available on your date
of travel, as availability
is very limited because DB
only have a small allocation of seats on Eurostar. If you
find a cheap ticket, great, if not, move swiftly on to the
following paragraph.
Next
we check London-Cologne prices on the
Belgian Railways international website
www.b-europe.com. It can book both Eurostar+Thalys
and Eurostar+ICE, their booking system handles this two-leg
journey pretty well and frequently seems to offer the
cheapest fares (when there's no 'spezial' fare available at
the bahn site, that is).
www.b-europe.com allows you to print your own
tickets and accepts credit cards from anyone in any country.
Finally, you can
also check London-Cologne fares at
www.raileurope.co.uk
(UK residents only) and
www.eurostar.com.
Annoyingly, the Eurostar site can only book Eurostar+Thalys,
not Eurostar+ICE, but the Rail Europe site can book both
options. By all means
try booking London to Cologne on these sites sites, but a
major quirk of the French reservation system on which
they're based is that it can't mix & match fare types and
may come up with silly-money fares as a result. The
solution is to split the journey into London-Brussels and
Brussels-Cologne as follows:
UK residents
should go to
www.raileurope.co.uk,
and using the Eurostar & ICE times given above as your
guide, first book the train from London to Brussels & back,
add it to your basket, click 'continue shopping' then book
Brussels to Cologne & back. Add this to your basket
and checkout.
Another way
to split the journey, which can be used by anyone from any
country is to book London-Brussels at
www.eurostar.com
(with self-print tickets) and the Brussels-Cologne ICE at
www.bahn.de
(also with self-print tickets). Brussels-Cologne
Thalys trains can be booked at
www.thalys.com.
If you'd like someone book it all for you,
just click here and a booking form will appear which lists
all the
trains you
need to book for any of the options on this page. Fill
it in & email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. European Rail will make
the reservations and call you back to confirm the cost.
If you're okay with the price you can give them your credit card details and
they will send you
the tickets. European Rail is an experienced agency
equipped with the German Railways reservation & ticketing
system, so they have access to all the cheap fares for travel via
Germany. They charge a £35 booking fee which includes
postage to any UK address, or they can send to any address
worldwide if you pay the courier fee. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy tickets using this form.
How to buy tickets by phone...
If you prefer to book by phone, call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66
(lines open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday,
09:00-13:00 Saturday & Sunday, no booking fee, 2% credit card
charge, no charge for debit cards) or www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00
Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday, £35 booking fee but may have more time to
help). Click
here for a list of
agencies and other useful information on how to buy tickets
to Europe.
Tailor-made travel & hotel arrangements...
If you want a compete tailor-made
trip with all your rail travel expertly booked for you and
good quality hotels arranged, UK residents can call
www.railbookers.com on 020 3327 0761. US
residents can call them on (646) 770 2894 (please
quote seat61) and Canadian residents on (416) 800 0732
(please quote 'seat61'). If you live in Australia you can call
their Australian office,
www.railbookers.com.au on 02 8096 0550. Just tell them
what you want, and they'll advise you on the best trains,
routes & hotels and sort it all out for you, hassle-free. They get
very positive reviews and take good care of their guests.
Browse suggested itineraries &
prices.
Option 2: London to Prague
using the Paris-Berlin City Night Line sleeper...
This is also a good option, though
a bit slower, with a mid-afternoon departure from London and
an arrival in Prague after lunch next day, after a pleasant
ride along the river Elbe between Berlin and Prague.
London ► Prague
Travel from
London to Paris by Eurostar, leaving
London St Pancras at 16:01 (15:31 at weekends), arriving Paris Gare du Nord at
19:17 (18:47 at weekends).
It's then a
10 minute walk
from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l'Est. By
all means take an earlier Eurostar if you'd like to spend
some time in Paris, or if it has cheaper seats available.
Travel from Paris to Berlin by the City Night Line sleeper
train 'Perseus', leaving Paris Gare de l'Est daily at 20:05
(20:20 at weekends) and
arriving at
Berlin
Hauptbahnhof at 08:26 next morning. The 'Perseus' has sleepers, couchettes
and seats. More pictures
& information about this train.
Travel
from Berlin to Prague
leaving
Berlin
Hauptbahnhof at 10:45 and arriving Prague
Hlavni station at 15:26. The is the EuroCity
train 'Jan Jesenius' with modern air-conditioned
coaches and a restaurant car selling drinks, snacks and
affordable full meals - treat yourself to a sit-down lunch! It's a scenic journey, too, all
along the Elbe river valley between Dresden and Prague.
Map of Prague showing Hlavni station. By
all means take a later train if you'd like to spend some
time in Berlin.
Prague ► London
Travel from Prague to
Berlin, leaving Prague Hlavni station at 12:29 and
arriving in
Berlin
Hauptbahnhof at 17:13. This is
the EuroCity service 'Jan Jesenius' with modern
air-conditioned coaches & restaurant car. Treat
yourself to lunch! Have dinner in Berlin.
Travel from Berlin to Paris by City Night Line sleeper
train 'Perseus', leaving
Berlin
Hauptbahnhof daily at 20:07 and arriving Paris Gare de
l'Est at 09:24 next morning. The 'Perseus' has
ordinary seats, couchettes (4-bunk or 6-bunk) and modern
sleeping-cars (1, 2 or 3-berth standard rooms with
washbasin or deluxe rooms with private shower & toilet,
highly recommended).
Breakfast is included in the fare for sleeper passengers.
More pictures
& information about this train.
Travel
from Paris to London by
Eurostar, leaving Paris Nord
daily at
11:13 and arriving London St Pancras at 12:30.
The Paris-Berlin
overnight train is one of the
German Railway's excellent 'City Night Line' sleeper trains.
Called the 'Perseus', it
has modern 'Comfortline' sleeping-cars
(1, 2 & 3-berth deluxe rooms with private shower &
toilet, 1, 2 &
3-berth standard rooms with washbasin, shower at
the end of the corridor, all rooms with power points for
mobiles & laptop computers),
modern air-conditioned couchettes (choose between a berth in
a 4 or 6-berth compartment), and ordinary seats (not
recommended, as a couchette is far better). Inclusive fares are charged covering
travel plus sleeping accommodation. The
sleeping-car fare includes a light breakfast served in
your compartment.
More pictures
& information about this train.
Travel tip: For a good meal in a classic
Parisian brasserie before boarding the sleeper train in
Paris, catch the earlier 14:02 Eurostar from London & dine at the
Brasserie Terminus Nord directly across the road
from the Gare du Nord.
1, 2 or 3 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable & civilised option, standard with
washbasin or deluxe with shower & toilet.
4-berth couchettes:
Ideal for families, much more space per person than
6-berth couchettes.
6-berth couchettes:
A very economical option, far better than a seat for
just a few euros more...
The Night train to Berlin... This
is the
'Comfortline' sleeping-car of City Night Line
sleeper train 'Perseus' boarding at the Gare de l'Est
in Paris...
More pictures &
information about this train.
On board the
EuroCity train 'Jan Jesenius'...
The 'Jan
Jesenius' for Prague about to leave Berlin Hauptbahnhof
platform 1...
The Jan
Jesenius has air-conditioned German InterCity coaches...
...and a
Hungarian restaurant car. Treat yourself to lunch!
This is
probably the easiest way to book. Booking this way
involves two websites, so do a 'dry run'
first on both sites to check prices and availability before
booking for real. I recommend checking fares for the
Paris-Berlin train at both
www.raileurope.co.uk
and
www.bahn.de
as they can differ.
Step 1, go to
www.raileurope.co.uk
and book the sleeper from Paris to Berlin.
Tickets can be sent to any UK address or can be collected at
the station. Only UK credit cards are accepted. It's best to book the Paris-Berlin sleeper
train first and double-check arrival and departure times before
booking the Eurostar connection, in case times vary from the
ones shown above. For some reason, it won't book
4-berth couchettes.
Step 2, after booking
the Paris-Berlin train, add it to your basket & click 'continue shopping'.
Now book
the Eurostar from London to Paris and back, using the recommended Eurostar times above as a guide.
By
all means book an earlier Eurostar outward or a later
Eurostar on the way back if these have cheaper seats
available or if you'd like to stop off in Paris.
Step 3, now go to the German
Railways website
www.bahn.de, and use the journey planner to
bring up the Berlin-Prague trains shown in the
train times above, and buy the ticket. It will show if
any cheap special fares are available. Tickets can be sent to any address,
or in some cases printed out yourself. In fact,
www.raileurope.co.uk
can also book the Berlin-Prague train, but only at full-fare
prices with no special deals available, that's why it's
better to use
www.bahn.de for this bit.
Sometimes
www.raileurope.co.uk
has the cheapest fares for the
Paris-Berlin sleeper, sometimes
www.bahn.de
is cheaper, so it's worth checking both sites.
Bahn.de can book all accommodation, including 4-berth
couchettes. If you book using the bahn.de site,
children under 6 go free, children under 14 can get the
child rate.
However, if you book the Paris-Berlin sleeper using
www.bahn.de you'll need to book the
Eurostar separately at
www.eurostar.com, so do a 'dry run'
first on both sites to check prices and availability before
booking for real.
Step 1, go to
www.bahn.de, the German Railways website, and book from Paris to
Berlin and back on the direct overnight sleeper train.
Availability of cheap 'savings' fares and
fully-flexible fares will be shown, for each type of
seat, couchette & sleeper. You pay by credit card and print out
your own tickets in .pdf format. Easy! Note that
the prices shown on
www.bahn.de are in euros, and are the
total cost for all passengers selected, not per person. Always book the
sleeper first and check its actual arrival & departure
before booking the Eurostar connection, as times
occasionally
vary. I recommend registering when it asks you before
completing the purchase, so you can easily make the next
booking and retrieve any bookings later.
Step 2, still on
www.bahn.de,
use the journey planner to bring
up the connecting Berlin-Prague trains shown in the train
times above, and buy the ticket. It will show if any
cheap special fares are available. Tickets can be sent
to any address, or in some cases printed out yourself.
You can also book this bit online at the Czech Railways
shop,
www.cd.cz/eshop, and
print out your own ticket
Step
3, go to
www.eurostar.com to book your connecting Eurostar
tickets between London and Paris, using the Eurostar times
above as a guide. By all means book an earlier
Eurostar outwards, or a later Eurostar on the way back, if
this has cheaper seats available of if you'd like to stop
off in Paris for a while. Eurostar tickets can be sent to any UK
address, self-printed or picked up at the station.
How to buy tickets
by email...
If you'd prefer to have someone book it for you,
just click here and a booking form will appear which lists
all the
trains you
need to book for any of the options on this page. Fill
it in & email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. European Rail will make
the reservations and call you back to confirm the cost.
If you're okay with the price you can give them your credit card details and
they will send you
the tickets. European Rail is an experienced agency
equipped with the German Railways reservation & ticketing
system, so they have access to all the cheap fares for travel via
Germany. They charge a £35 booking fee which includes
postage to any UK address, or they can send to any address
worldwide if you pay the courier fee. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy tickets using this form.
How to buy
tickets by phone...
If you'd prefer
to book all these trains by phone, simply call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday,
09:00-13:00 Saturday & Sunday, no
booking fee, 2% credit card charge, no charge for debit
cards), or a booking agency such
as
European Rail
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00
Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday, £35 booking fee).
Tailor-made travel & hotel arrangements...
If you want a compete tailor-made
trip with all your rail travel expertly booked for you and
good quality hotels arranged, UK residents can call
www.railbookers.com on 020 3327 0761. US
residents can call them on (646) 770 2894 (please
quote seat61) and Canadian residents on (416) 800 0732
(please quote 'seat61'). Australian residents can call
their Australian office,
www.railbookers.com.au on 02 8096 0550. Just tell them
what you want, and they'll advise you on the best trains,
routes & hotels and sort it all out for you, hassle-free. They get
very positive reviews and take good care of their guests.
Browse suggested itineraries &
prices.
Regrettably, Eurostar, Thalys & DB's poorly-coordinated
timetable changes from 12 December 2010 significantly
worsen connections between London & Germany. For
all practical purposes, it is not possible to
travel between London & Prague in a day, although it
can just about be done in the other direction, but with
some tight connections that I wouldn't recommend. Please
either use a sleeper train, or travel the scenic route
by day with an overnight hotel stop, as shown
below.
You may prefer
to use daytime trains. London to Prague is too far to
go in one day, but you can break the journey up with an overnight
stop in either
Cologne or Berlin. By all means go one way by sleeper, the
other by day trains with a stopover. Or one way with stopover in
Cologne, the other with stopover in Berlin.
Step 1,
London to Cologne or Berlin: See the
Germany page for train times
between London & Cologne or
between London & Berlin. London to Cologne takes
as little as 4 hours 16 minutes, centre to centre with one
change in Brussels.
London-Berlin takes a day. Take any service you like.
Stay overnight in a hotel in Cologne or Berlin.
Step 2,
Cologne or Berlin to Prague: Now use
the German Railways website
www.bahn.de
to find train times between Cologne or Berlin & Prague &
back. Cologne-Prague is an 8 or 9 hour journey on
superb German
ICE trains & EuroCity trains with
bistro or even a proper restaurant car (treat yourself!),
but feel free to take
your own food and even a bottle of wine.
Top tip:
If you're going from Cologne to Prague, make sure you put
'Berlin' in the 'via' box on
www.bahn.de to force it to find train services via
Berlin, as the best Cologne-Prague services involve just one change of
train in Berlin and involve trains all the way. If you
don't do this the system has an annoying habit of only
suggesting that awful railway-run bus connection from
Nuremberg to Prague, and you don't want a bus!
Fares & how to
buy tickets...
London-Cologne
starts at £97 return, Cologne-Berlin-Prague starts at 39
euros (£35) each way.
First decide what trains you want on what
dates. Then use either
www.eurostar.com or
www.raileurope.co.uk
to book from London to Cologne & back on your chosen trains
on your chosen dates. Check both websites as prices
can vary between the two. Also try
www.bahn.de to book London-Cologne or London-Berlin, as
this sometimes has fares from Just 49 euros from London to
anywhere in Germany, if you use the 08:27 (Mon-Fri) or 08:57
(Sat, Sun) or 12:57 (Mon-Thurs, Sat) or14:34 (Fri, Sun)
Eurostar from London connecting with the German ICE from
Brussels to Cologne. Booking tip: If you
want the 12:57 on a Monday-Thursday or Saturday, put
'Brussels' in the 'via' box and '02:00' in the 'stopover'
box when using
www.bahn.de as otherwise it won't offer the Eurostar+ICE
combo with the special fares because there's a faster Thalys
connection which it finds first.
Now use
www.bahn.de to book from Cologne to Prague & back on
your chosen train & dates (Booking tip: Put
'Berlin' in the 'via' box to force it to find train services
via Berlin, not that annoying railway-run bus connection
from Nuremberg! If you want to stop off in Cologne one
way, Berlin the other, just book this as two one-way trips
not a 'return').
To stop off for up to 24 hours in Berlin, type 'Berlin' in the
'via' box and put (say) 10:00 (= 10 hours stopover, adjust
this figure as you like) in the 'hh:mm' stopover box.
That way, it'll still give you a cheap fare from Cologne to
Prague from just 39 euros each way, but with a 10-hour
stopover in Berlin. It's not rocket science, just keep
your wits about you to book the right trains on the right
dates. Easy when you know how!
You can also
book by phone. Call call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday,
09:00-13:00 Saturday & Sunday, no
booking fee, 2% credit card charge, no charge for debit
cards), or a booking agency such
as
European Rail
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00
Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday, £35 booking fee).
Tailor-made travel & hotel arrangements...
If you want a compete tailor-made
travel service with all your rail travel booked for you and
hotels arranged, contact
www.railbookers.com, 020 3327 0761. Just tell them
what you want, and they'll advise you on the best trains,
routes & hotels and sort it all out for you. They get
very positive reviews.
Browse suggested holiday itineraries &
prices.
Prague's old town
square with the old town hall & cathedral...
The old town hall
clock...
Crossing the King
Charles Bridge...
No
flights were involved in the taking of these pictures -
Prague is just a train ride away from the UK!
London to the Netherlands by 'Dutch Flyer' train &
ferry... Take a train from
London's Liverpool Street station directly to the
ferry terminal at Harwich. You walk off the
train, into the terminal, get your
boarding card & cabin key at the Stena Line
check-in desk and walk straight onto the overnight
ferry to Hoek van Holland. The new superferry
'Stena Hollandica' is the largest ferry of its kind in
the world. See the
Netherlands page.
Cosy cabins: The overnight Harwich-Hoek ferry is a
floating hotel. All passengers travel in a cosy private
cabin with
en suite shower & toilet and satellite TV. This is the
cheapest 2-berth
cabin...
... and this is a Captain's Class cabin with double
bed & complimentary bubbly in the minibar.
The luxury ferry to Hoek van
Holland, a useful alternative to Eurostar...
You might prefer
to travel by train & ferry to reach Prague, for example to avoid the Channel Tunnel if
problems affect the Eurostar service or if you suffer from
claustrophobia. This route is handy if you live in East
Anglia as you can travel direct to Harwich avoiding London. Indeed, you may simply
prefer a relaxing journey,
cruising overnight on the Stena Line superferry in a luxury en suite cabin
with shower, toilet, satellite TV and free WiFi, spending a
day at leisure exploring Amsterdam, then travelling to
Prague overnight on the direct City Night Line sleeper train
'Phoenix'. It's a great way to reach Prague and see
Amsterdam on the way!
London, East Anglia & Harwich ►
Prague
Day 1,
evening: Travel
from London to Amsterdam overnight by 'Dutch Flyer' train & ferry
service. You leave London's Liverpool
Street station at 19:32 by train to
Harwich International. At
Harwich, the station is right next to the
ferry terminal and you walk off the train into the
terminal, check in at the Stena Line desk and walk straight onto the Stena Line ferry to Hoek
van Holland. All passengers travel
in cosy private cabins with en suite toilet & shower,
satellite TV & free WiFi.
Deluxe 'Comfort class' or 'Captains class' cabins are also
available, with complimentary minibar. You
can get on board the ferry before 9pm, have a late
dinner in the restaurant and settle into your cabin. The
ferry sails at 23:15 and arrives at Hoek van Holland at
07:45 Dutch time next morning. At Hoek, the station
is right next to the ferry terminal. You hop on
the frequent local train to Rotterdam and change for an
InterCity train to Amsterdam Centraal, arriving 10:14.
See the Netherlands page for
full details. Dutch Flyer tickets are valid
not just from London but from any National Express East
Anglia railway station, for example, Cambridge, Norwich
or Chelmsford.
Day 2, evening: Travel from
Amsterdam to Prague overnight by City Night Line sleeper train
'Phoenix', leaving
Amsterdam daily at 19:01 and arriving in Prague's Hlavni station
in central Prague at
09:26 next
morning (day 3 from London). This train has a modern Czech sleeping-car, couchettes & seats,
see the photos & information
here.
There's no restaurant car, so feel free to take you own
picnic and bottle of wine aboard. Next morning south
of Dresden (around 07:00) the train starts winding along the scenic
River Elbe, well worth putting
the blind up for! The train arrives at Prague Hlavni
station, just 15 minutes walk from Prague's historic old
town.
Map of Prague showing Holesovice station,
Map of Prague showing Hlavni station.
Prague Hlavni station
information.
Prague ►
Harwich, East Anglia & London
Day 1, evening:
Travel from Prague to Amsterdam
by City Night Line sleeper train 'Phoenix', leaving
Prague Hlavni station at 18:29 or Prague Holesovice station
at 18:38 and arriving in Amsterdam Centraal at 08:56 next
morning. This train has a modern Czech
sleeping-car, couchettes & seats,
see the photos & information
here. In summer when it's light, sit
back in your compartment with a glass of red and enjoy the
scenic trip along the Elbe river valley towards Dresden.
Day 2, evening: Travel from Amsterdam to London
overnight by 'Dutch Flyer' train & ferry service. You take the 18:46 train from Amsterdam to Rotterdam
and change onto the local sprinter train to Hoek van Holland.
The ferry terminal is right next to the station. Walk
onto the ferry and sail overnight in a snug private cabin to
Harwich. The ferry sails at 22:30 Mondays-Fridays or
22:00 Saturdays & Sundays and arrives at Harwich
International at 06:30 next morning, UK time. Take a train on to London next morning (day 2)
arriving 08:48-08:59.
See the Netherlands page for
full details.
How much does
it cost?
London to
Amsterdam starts at £39 per person each way,
plus the cost of a cabin. Cabins start at £30 for
a single berth cabin or £43 per cabin for a 2-berth, and
are compulsory on the night sailing. The fare
covers the train from London to Harwich, the ferry, and
onward Dutch trains from Hoek van Holland Haven to any
station in the Netherlands, see the
Netherlands
page for full details of fares and cabin types and
costs.
Amsterdam to
Prague by City Night Line sleeper train starts
at 59 euros one-way with a couchette in a 6-berth
compartment, 69 euros
with a couchette in a 4-berth, 99 euros with a bed in a 2-bed
sleeper, or 139 euros with a bed in a single-bed sleeper.
Step 2, now
book the
sleeper train from Amsterdam to Prague. To buy tickets
online, simply go to
www.bahn.de
- I've set this link up for you to book this train easily,
just enter your dates of travel and look for the direct CNL train with 0 changes
in the search results. Alternatively, you can book by phone with DB's UK office on 08718 80 80 66,
lines open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00
weekends.
DFDS Seaways 'Princess of Norway' about to sail
overnight from Newcastle to Amsterdam...
A Commodore deluxe cabin with minibar, satellite TV,
shower & toilet.
See the video...
A standard 'Seaways' class cabin with shower & toilet on
DFDS 'Princess of Norway'...
If you live in
the North of England or Scotland, the fastest option is to take a train
up to London and travel from London to
Prague
using Eurostar, as described above. If you
choose this option,
see this advice on buying
cheap connecting train tickets to London. But
there are some useful ferry alternatives which allow you to
by-pass London, and spend a day in Amsterdam on the way.
DFDS Seaways run an excellent daily overnight
cruise ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam, and
P&O Ferries run a daily overnight cruise ferry from
Hull to Rotterdam. So take the overnight ferry to
Holland, spend a day exploring Amsterdam,
then take the excellent City Night Line overnight sleeper
direct from Amsterdam to
Prague. A wonderful combination!
Scotland & North of
England ► Prague
Day 1, take a train to either
Hull or Newcastle, whichever is most convenient for where you
live. Transfer to the P&O overnight cruise ferry from Hull
to Rotterdam or the DFDS Seaways cruise ferry from Newcastle
to IJmuiden, the port of Amsterdam. Both ferries have
bars, restaurants & comfortable en suite cabins, arriving
next morning. For details of timetables, fares & how
to buy tickets for travel to Amsterdam via each of these
ferry routes, see the Netherlands page.
Day 2, spend
some time in Amsterdam, all the sights are easy walking
distance from Centraal station.
Left luggage lockers are available.
Day 2 evening, take
the daily City Night Line sleeper train 'Phoenix'
from Amsterdam to Prague, leaving Amsterdam at 19:01 and
arriving at Prague Hlavni station at 09:26 next morning (day
3), just 15 minutes walk from the historic old town.
This train has a modern Czech
sleeping-car, couchettes & seats,
see the photos & information
here.
Prague ►
Scotland & North of England
Day 1 evening: Take the
City Night Line sleeper
train 'Phoenix' from Prague to Amsterdam, leaving Prague Hlavni daily at 18:29
and
arriving at Amsterdam Centraal at 08:56 next morning.
This train has a Czech
sleeping-car, couchettes & seats,
see the photos & information
here.
Day 2, travel overnight by cruise ferry
either with P&O Ferries from Rotterdam to Hull or with DFDS
Seaways from IJmuiden (near Amsterdam) to Newcastle, whichever is
most convenient for where you live. Next morning (day 4)
transfer to the station and take a train home. For full
details of train & ferry times and how to buy tickets for each
of these routes, see the UK-Netherlands page.
Fares & how to
buy tickets...
For journeys via P&O
Hull-Rotterdam or DFDS Seaways Newcastle-Amsterdam, first
check the ferry times and buy tickets online at
www.dfds.co.uk (Newcastle-Amsterdam) or
www.poferries.com (Hull-Rotterdam). Then check train fares and
buy train tickets to Hull or Newcastle using
www.thetrainline.com or
www.nationalrail.co.uk;
Amsterdam to
Prague by City Night Line sleeper train starts
at 59 euros one-way with a couchette in a 6-berth
compartment, 69 euros
with a couchette in 4-berth, 99 euros with a bed in a 2-bed
sleeper, or 139 euros with a bed in a single-bed sleeper.
To buy tickets
for the
Amsterdam-Prague sleeper train online, simply go to
www.bahn.de
(I've set this link up for you to book this train easily,
just enter your dates of travel and look for the direct train with 0 changes
in the search results). Alternatively, you can book by phone with DB's UK office on
08718 80 80 66.
Above: Czech Railways (CD) link all main
towns & cities in the Czech republic...
You can easily reach anywhere in
the Czech Republic by train, travelling from London to Prague
as shown above, then using domestic
Czech trains onwards from Prague.
www.bahn.de will give you train times within the
Czech Republic, and
www.cd.cz will also give you fares. On all these
routes, trains run regularly, at least every hour or two.
Don't worry about buying a ticket in advance, just book as far
as Prague then buy an onwards ticket at the station when you
get to Prague, this is easy. Or buy online at
www.cd.cz/eshop. There are two main stations
in Prague, Praha Hlavni (= central) near the city centre and
Praha Holesovice which is a little further out. Some
trains leave from Prague Hlavni, others from Prague Holesovice,
some serve both, so check which your train leaves from.
The sleeper trains from Frankfurt and Cologne to Prague both
stop at Prague Holesovice ten minutes or so before arriving at
Prague Hlavni, so get off at the one that's best for your
onward connection.
Ostrava: Prague
to Ostrava by
train takes about 3 hours 5 minutes, the fare is about 500 Kc
(£12). The best services are the tilting pendolino 'SuperCity'
trains, which are air-conditioned with bar car, see the photos
below. In addition to the regular Czech Railways (CD)
trains, at least one private operator now links Prague and
Ostrava, with more to follow, see
www.regiojet.cz (currently in Czech only).
Plzen: Prague
to Plzen by
train takes about 1 hour 40 minutes, fare about 130 Kc (£3).
Brno: Prague
to Brno
by train takes about 2 hours 30 minutes, fare about 400 Kc (£9).
Cesky Krumlov:
Prague to Cesky Krumlov takes about 4 hours 30 minutes by train
with one change of train at Ceske Budejovice. The fare
is about 225Kc (£6). Alternatively, you can travel from London to Linz in Austria (see
the London to Austria page) then travel by local trains
from Linz to Cesky Krumlov (2 changes of train are normally necessary,
one at the frontier and the other at Ceske Budejovice. Use
http://bahn.hafas.de to find train times from Linz to Cesky Krumlov.
Karlovy Vary: Prague
to Karlovy
Vary takes about 3 hours 15 minutes by train, the fare is
about 275Kc (£7). However, if you're travelling from
London, Paris or Amsterdam, change trains at Usti nad Labem,
an hour before arriving in Prague, for a local train to
Karlovy vary. This will save time over going into
Prague and out again. Use
http://bahn.hafas.de to find train times. You'll find
it easier to book to Usti nad Labem, then buy a local ticket
to Karlovy Vary when you get to Usti. Similarly, on
your return journey, travel from Karlovy Vary to Usti nad
Labem and pick up the sleeper to Cologne & Amsterdam, or the
EuroCity to Berlin, there.
Buying tickets
for trains within the Czech Republic:
www.cd.cz/eshop...
You can buy
tickets for train journeys wholly within the Czech Republic
online at
www.cd.cz/eshop,
complete with seat reservation, at cheap Czech prices with no
booking fees. You sign up and are sent a activation
email, you pay online and print out your own
ticket.
Feedback from anyone who uses this system would be
welcome.
www.cd.cz/eshop will also book daytime international
trains (but not overnight sleeper trains) from Prague to
neighbouring countries, including Krakow & Warsaw, Vienna,
Budapest, Bratislava, Dresden & Berlin, also at cheap prices.
However, don't try and use the e-shop for journeys in the
other direction (from countries outside the Czech Republic
to Prague), as these tickets aren't valid unless stamped
by the conductor on an outward journey from Prague.
SuperCity pendolino trains...
The pride of the Czech Railways, these modern
'pendolino' units operate the premium 'SuperCity' trains
linking Prague & Ostrava (the Czech Republic's second
city), also two daily trains between Prague & Vienna and
one between Prague & Bratislava. Left-hand picture
= 2nd class, centre picture = 1st class, with similar
seating, but carpeted.
Prague has two main stations, Prague Hlavni Nadrazi (main
station) & Prague Holesovice.
Prague Hlavni station...
Above: Prague's main Hlavni station, just
15 minutes walk from the historic old town...
Prague's main
Hlavni station is in the city centre, just 15 minutes walk
from Prague's historic old town and 20 minutes walk from the
famous Kings Charles Bridge. It actually has a grand
old station building, sitting on a hill overlooking the
city, but you now head downstairs from the platforms to a
modern undercroft which exits at a lower level closer to the
city, so you hardly see the old building at all.
Left luggage lockers are
available in one size that will fit a backpack or small
case but not larger suitcases. Lockers cost 60
koruna (about £2) per 24 hours, maximum permitted time 72
hours.
There are national and
international ticket windows, and major credit cards
are accepted. There's also a Wasteels travel agency
(www.wasteels.cz)
with helpful English-speaking staff, open 09:00-17:00
Mon-Fri, 09:00-16:00 Saturdays, and this can be a better
place to arrange tickets, whether national or
international. It's 1 level down from the platforms.
Toilets (10 Kr charge)
and hot showers (40 Kr charge) are available, 1
level down from the platforms.
Prague Holesovice station...
Holesovice station is just outside
the city centre, about 2km away and 3km from Prague Hlavni.
It sits astride the Berlin-Prague-Bratislava-Budapest line,
so many through trains call there as it saves them having to
head into Hlavni and reverse. You can take the metro
from Holesovice to the city centre or Hlavni station, see
the Prague official public transport site
www.dpp.cz
or (probably more useful)
www.prague.net/metro.
If you want a holiday to Prague by
train not plane, but would like someone else to organise all
the train tickets and hotels for you, several specialist
companies do just that, for a holiday with no airport hassles
or whole days in cramped coach seats on motorways.
Railbookers offer tailor-made individual holidays with
departure on any date you like, Treyn Holidays & Great Rail
Journeys both offer escorted tours with specific departure
dates.
Railbookers can
tailor-make a flight-free holiday to Prague for you, with
train travel, transfers & hotels included, for however long
you like, leaving on any date you like. For example, a
6-night holiday to Prague, Vienna & Budapest starts at £669
per person with daytime train travel by Eurostar & TGV.
See their Prague page for details. You can use
London-based
www.railbookers.com to arrange a European train tour
whatever your country of residence, in fact they now have an
office in Sydney Australia (www.railbookers.com.au,
02 8096 0550) or you can call their London office
from overseas on +44 20 3327 0761.
Treyn Holidays
offers a 10-day tour to Vienna, Prague and Berlin from £795
per person, with 3* hotels and overland travel
by Eurostar, sleeper train and EuroCity trains. Check
details at
www.railholidays.com,
then book online or call 01904 730 727.
GRJ offers
a 13-day tour to Vienna, Budapest & Prague from £1,750 or a
12-day tour to Berlin, Dresden & Prague from £1,550, with 1st class train
travel and 5* or 4* hotels.
Great Rail Journeys also offer
holidays by train to other European countries. Check
the tour details online, then call 01904 527120 to
book or use their
online
booking form.
The Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
Winter/Spring 2011/12 edition (Dec 2011 to June 2012) or
(when available)
Summer/Autumn 2012 edition (June to Dec 2012)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at
www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
Paying
for a guidebook may seem an unnecessary expense, but it's
probably only a tiny fraction of what you're spending on
your whole trip. You will see so much more, and know
so much more about what you're looking at, if you have a
decent guidebook. The Lonely Planets and Rough Guides
are about the best out there for independent travellers.
Both have everything you need - lots of background
historical and cultural information, lots of practical
information. You won't regret buying one! My own
book, an essential handbook for train travel to Europe based
on this website called "The
Man in Seat 61", is due to be published in June 2008, and Amazon
will let you pre-order now.
www.hotelscombined.com
is probably the best hotel search system I've seen, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Opodo, Expedia,
Booking.com, Hotels.com, AsiaRooms, Travelocity, LateRooms and
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates. Set up in
2005, it's probably the best place to start for booking any
hotel online in any country, worldwide.
Other hotel sites
worth trying...
www.tripadvisor.com
is the place to find
independent travellers' reviews of all the main hotels.
www.booking.com is my own preferred hotel booking system
(Hotels Combined being a search/comparison system). It
has a simple interface, a good selection in most countries
worldwide, useful online customer reviews of each hotel, and
decent prices, usually shown inclusive of unavoidable extras
such as taxes (a pet hate of mine is systems that show one
price, then charge you another!).
www.mrandmrssmith.com (no relation!) is the place to start
if you want something special for an anniversary, honeymoon,
romantic break or other special occasion.
www.mrandmrssmith.com lists a number of hand-picked
boutique hotels in Prague.
Backpacker hostels...
www.hostelbookers.com: If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget about backpacker hostels. Hostelbookers
offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in
backpacker hostels in Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck and most
other European cities at rock-bottom prices.
Travel insurance, health card, SIM card
Get travel insurance, it's essential...
Never travel without insurance from a
reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself).
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
Feedback from using
insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome. Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get a spare credit card, one designed for foreign travel with no currency
exchange loading & low or no ATM fees...
It costs nothing to take out an extra credit card.
If you keep it in a different part of your luggage so you're
not left stranded if
your wallet gets stolen, this is a form of extra travel insurance in itself. In addition,
some credit cards are significantly better for
overseas travel than others. Martin Lewis's
www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money explains which
UK credit cards
have the lowest currency exchange commission loadings when you buy something
overseas, and the lowest cash withdrawal fees when
you use an ATM abroad. Taking this advice
can save you quite a lot on each trip compared to using your
normal high-street bank credit card! You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency Visa Card, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' Visa Card,
find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card
to save on mobile data and phone calls...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
In
the UK, try
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, try
If you live in the USA or Canada, try
