How to get from Prague Airport to the City Centre

The Vaclav Havel Prague airport is located 17km (11 miles) northwest from the city centre. It is the main international airport for the Czech Republic and the only airport serving Prague.

There are 2 main terminals. Terminal 1 is where international non-Schengen flights arrive. Terminal 2 is where international Schengen-zone member flights arrive. So if you're flying from Europe, you're likely to arrive at Terminal 2. Passengers from North America will be arriving at Terminal 1.

There are several ways to get from Prague Airport to the city centre, which we've set out in detail below.

The Prague City Card

Before proceeding, a huge travel tip from us: consider buying the Prague Card. Prague has so many excellent sights to take in, it can be quite overwhelming. We highly recommend preordering your Prague Card online which includes free entry to most museums, attractions like Prague Castle, the Zoo and even a free riverboat cruise on the Vlatava. Each order also comes with a guidebook to Prague with detailed maps.

Note that the Prague no longer includes public transport.

You can purchase the Prague Card for 2 days for €58, 3 days for €68 or 4 days for €78. You can simply order it online then collect it at either Prague Airport or from the Prague City Tourism Info Centre located in the heart of the city.

The AE Airport Express bus

The AE bus service is the fastest and most convenient way to get between Prague airport and the city centre. Tickets cost €2.34 for a one-way adult ticket and it takes around 25-40 minutes depending on traffic.

There is an AE bus stop located just outside Terminals 1 and 2 indicated in the image below. The final stop for the AE bus shuttle in Prague city centre is at the main station called “Praha Hlavni Nadrazi”.

You can purchase tickets online, directly from the driver on board, or at the Prague Airport Info Centre. There is an Info Centre in each terminal in the arrivals hall, both open daily from 7am to 10pm.

The Airport Express bus shuttle is faster and more convenient than the public bus/metro, especially if you’re travelling with a lot of luggage and don’t want to bother changing.

The AE schedule runs everyday in both directions from around 5:30am to 9pm. There is a bus leaving roughly every 30-60 minutes depending on time of day. The most up to date information about ticket prices, schedules and journey times can be found on the Prague Public Transit's website.

Public transport from Prague Airport to the city centre

There are two other buses running running between Prague’s city centre and the airport: #119 and #100. The bus stops are located directly outside each terminal where shown in the above image.

Bus #119 is the most popular because it goes to “Nádraží Veleslavín” where you can transfer to subway line A (the green line) and continue on to the downtown area called “Můstek”.

Tickets cost €1.25 and are valid for a 90 minute period on both buses and the metro.

The buses between Prague Airport leave every 5-10 minutes and operate daily between around 4:30am to 11:30pm.

Public taxi or Uber

Unfortunately, there are many dubious taxi drivers across Prague who frequently rip off tourists. Therefore, whenever we visit Prague, we now just use Uber.

Uber has been operating successfully in Prague since 2014 and is both more reliable and popular than regular taxis. We love it because you can easily calculate the cost of the journey within the app and not have to worry about anything. An Uber from Prague Airport to the city centre costs around €20, depending of course on the time of day, and severity of traffic.

The official taxi operators as recommended on the Prague Airport website are: FIX TAXI and Taxi Praha who will give a fair quote based on number of kilometres. You can find their counters in each terminal in the arrivals hall.

Private transfer

A private transfer from Prague airport to the centre centre costs more or less the same as an Uber, but comes with the added advantage of knowing you will be getting a hand-picked and well-trained driver. We book this when we just want to minimise stress or if arriving late at night and know we will be tired and grumpy!

For private transfers from Prague Airport to the city centre we use Welcome Pickups, who will arrange a driver to wait for you at the terminal exit with a sign.

Rent a car from Prague Airport

Another way to get from the Prague airport to the city centre is to rent your own car. This is an especially good idea if you're planning to do visit more places in the Czech Republic, beyond Prague.

Personally, we don’t really recommend hiring a car if you're simply planning to stay in Prague city centre because parking is a nightmare, and traffic can get quite hectic.

When we rent cars on our travels we like to use EasyRentCars.com to search and compare different rental companies for the area.

Arriving at night at Prague Airport

If you're on that delayed Ryanair flight and arrive late, having missed the last AE shuttle bus, we suggest either booking a taxi/Uber or a private transfer with a company like Welcome Pickups.

Otherwise, there is a night bus service #910 running between midnight and 4am.

For more inspiration, be sure to check out our gay guide to Prague.

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