@@tlacorp.3813 I didn't stick around to find out tbh. I straight-up got _lost_ in the Prague central station when I arrived and at one point I tried to leave it through a small exit in front of which was an overpass (I think?) and a couple of leisurely nondescript gentlemen who looked at me like 👀. I thought, "oh, alright, so here is the drug dealers spot of _this_ capital city train station", and went back inside.
Regarding the tram station btw if anyone preparing to go to Prague reads this - leave through the FRONT exit (that's the big one, next to the stairs down to the subway station) and walk RIGHT until you reach the street. There's a tram station there. I had to ask an employee to find out.
@@tlacorp.3813 I didn't stick around to find out tbh. I straight-up got _lost_ in the station when I arrived and at one point I tried to leave it through an exit in front of which was an overpass (I think) and a couple of men who looked at me like 👀. So I thought, 'oh ok, so that's the drug dealer spot of _this_ capital city central station', and went back inside.
@@tlacorp.3813 I didn't stick around to find out tbh. I straight-up got _lost_ in the station when I arrived and at one point I tried to leave it through an exit in front of which was an overpass (I think) and a couple of men who looked at me like 👀. So I thought, 'oh ok, so that's the dr*g de*ler spot of this capital city central station', and went back inside.
We used public transport to get to the airport from that station on Friday. The lady in the ticket office was awesome. Sold us a 90 minute ticket for 40czk and gave us a slip of paper with what metro and trolley bus (the 59) we needed to catch. Was so easy and cheap at £1.34. Also, we saw you getting into an old car on Friday. We didn't approach you though as you seemed busy. Hope its for another video :)
@@mikeklein1779 Even total strangers in the street. We asked a few people if we were unsure what tram to catch and they were happy to help us, point us in the right direction.
As someone who's been in Hlavak a ton of times and never illegally crossed but just... dealt with it, I didn't even know they had escalators to cross there, I thought these were service buildings. This is insane!
it's not illegal crossing, if there is no "zebra" within 50 meters from you and it's not a highway. As he said in the video, it's dangerous and certainly not recommended, but it's legal.
I recently took advantge of having watched your ATM scam video. I needed an ATM in Cyprus, and it was the same 'cash&balance or other' type. Man, I SMASHED that Other option and declined conversion like a hero! You'd have been proud, Janek!
it's more complicated even than just "take the elevator", because one of them is locked shut at the top. So you can take it, but you cant leave afterwards, and have to go back down, over to the other one and up again. Of course nobody thought to unlock it, or put it out of order. So you can just go for a pointless ride up and down.
I have been to prague and Brno 15 times and even before I saw your show I went to get a taxi from the trains station to basically the main square by the clock tower... I cannot remember the price but it was 4 times more then the price I got after walking across the street to a local hotel and having them call a cab for me (pre uber being available) I could have walked but did not want to after my long travel day
Wait. There's a well marked route that takes 2 1/2 minutes? Even with a crosswalk the waiting time would presumably be longer that that at most times. What the hell is wrong with people?
I only visited Prague once, but I feel that I know much more about your city than mine. It's not only interesting things that you guys tell, it's more the way you film these videos that makes it entertaining and educational at the same time! You guys do such a great job!
I literally crossed this highway with a 60 Liter bagpack and almost died because I couldn't find the stairs up and my flixbus was about to leave the station. Ah and because you can't see the cars coming from a certain road that combines with the highway about 50 meters away from where you crossed.
It's not a highway. They are supposed to go 50 km/h, but a lot are driving much faster sadly. As someone who often drives there, even being in car going with the traffic, feels unsafe.
@@simonp37 Jeah just further proving the point that if you build a 6 lane highway, people are gonna drive highway speed, because they feel save on this big road. Nobody is gonna drive 50 on this, unless they're in a traffic jam....
@@NarcoSarco In Denmark they would, but this is Prague. They do however respect speed cameras. So just put up a permanent speed camera and everyone will slow down. It works in other parts of the city.
@@simonp37 Jeah, speed cameras are a band-aid fix for poor planning, cool for the government because it brings in millions of taxes... You could just not build a 6 Lane Road there. My compromised suggestion would be 2 car roads each way, 2lanes in the middle for bus/tram, isle with trams or bus stop and a crosswalk with traffic lights. So the pedestrians only cross 2 lanes at a time, with the safety of crosswalks / signals. :)
@HonestGuide Another problem in main entrance of train station is NO TOILET and NO ELEVATOR for reduced mobility passenger. In May-2024, I booked assistance and taxi dropped me at the main entrance at 4.30 AM. Left parent in wheelchair in hall, used escalator to go down to find info section then show them my booked assistamce request. So someone travelling alone on wheelchair will not get assistance because way from main entrance to info hall at lower grouns floor is NOT ACCESSIBLE
For tourists, I usually enter the train station on the lower level. It's accessed by the road Opletalova Much safer! The little cafe there on the right side is decent. Good svickova and Pilzen 😁
@@SmokeyBCNthe problem is with the people, who get there by taxi. AFAIR, cars cannot get close to the lower entrance. Getting there by metro though is way easier
All taxis are usually required by law to have the fares (determined by the city) displayed on the back seat, if the rule is not followed you get the activity suspended and after repeated suspensions you lose the license, how can that mayor not know how to deal with illegal taxis??? Sounds like she's just an idiot
I visited Prague a few months ago for the first time. I exited the station at the old town side and had no problems whatsoever. I probably walked a mile to my hotel, but the pavements were great for my luggage. I would visit again anytime, but for summer when it’s too hot for me. Oh, I never needed cash, I did everything on my debit card.
A couple of years back I missed my flixbus to Bratislava on the otherside of the traine station due to the fact that I used the under ground way to the other side through the train station. I suggest that the authorities should consider constructing a direct underground pass to the other side of the road for ease and time saving
@@cikuuzis Are you a judge? Jan.99 could have been planning to arrive an hour early and the train could have been 90 minutes late. The elevator is a farce and normal underpass should have been there ages ago.
They should design an at-grade, safe, pedestrian crossing. Pedestrians are more important than cars. The cars can wait. Pedestrians should not be required to go up and down stairs and ramps just to cross a street.
Had a brilliant time in Prague thanks to the knowledghe you shared, and my friends loved hearing about all the scams you've highlighted. The map on the patreon gave some genuinely lovely places too. And the stereotype that people in prague are grumpy couldn't be further from the truth - everyone was lovely including the service staff - maybe it's just that we treated them with respect and expected nothing of them they were more pleasant with us.
To cut a long story short, it was done by the communists a very long time ago and since then, a lot of politicians have tried to remove it but ultimately failed.
I've never understood why city planners like to put streets right next to train stations. You can't park there anyways?!?! The only way you would access a train station that way is if you get a taxi, or someone else drives you
There is a whole different entrance, that is easily accessible by foot, tram, bike, car/taxi. This road basically connects southern part with the northern part of Prague. Look on maps and search for Opletalova or Bolzanova, where the trams go. So there's no reason to cross the road or even use the elevators.
That highway was put into place under duress. After the 1968 invasion, the occupying forces (Russia) felt that they needed to be able to get military equipment into the city centre more efficiently. The bonus (for them) is that Wenceslaus square would also be 'broken' by this and remove the square as a space for any sort of national uprising or protest (it didn't seem to help in 1989). The damage done to the city by this road is beyond calculation in social, environmental, transportation and spiritual terms (the breaking of the square).
@HonestGuide Hello Janek, first of all thank you for your super interesting videos and tips for Prague. We were in Prague 2 weeks ago and received a "scam" service at the main train station on our return journey. We didn't immediately find our train or track. After we couldn't find any information, a “nice and helpful” guy offered to help us and took us to the train. When my wife had already gotten on the train, he then charged me 500 CZK for his service and only let me get on after paying. He took advantage of the time pressure regarding the departure. Otherwise we had a great week thanks to your great tips 🙂
Yeah, I saw this scam happen twice at the train station when I was in Prague last week. They look for lost tourists and then act like they are helping them.
@@BengVideo It was heavily renovated since then. Also, at least when I was there in 1991 there were still some Soviet troops walking around, wondering what to do.
Back then there were very few shops, there was an erotic cinema on the right side of the building, dimly lit corridors, luggage lockers were downstairs where they now sell tickets, lots of dodgy people hanging around both inside and in the park outside
My first experience was in February 1992, and I slept there as well, Worthing for my train to come in - as well as being quite a seedy place, the first refugees were starting to come from the former Yugoslavia, and that number increased massively as time went on. I was living in Brno then, and whenever I visited Prague there were more and more families camped out in the main concourse. BTW it never crossed my mind to cross the main road like that!
I had the exact same issue and didnt know about the underground tunnel through that lift at the time. I just walked around and from the front of the nearby museum to the train station instead. with my two suitcases!
Most banks now offer a global bank account, which allows you to load it up with most European currencies from your main current account. This comes with a debit card, which then operates as though it were a local card, using the local currency. This could be a better way of managing your money when abroad, with the added benefit of keeping your main current account insulated from fraud.
Just FYI, for the purposes of legally crossing a street, an underpass counts as a crosswalk, so crossing where you did was illegal because that elevator was right where you entered the street.
today in the morning, i got off the tram at Museum tram stop, and was walking to the main train station in Prague. the maps showed it was just 7 mins, so i thought “sure, why not?” and walked with my big suitcase. i was surprised to figure out that the road ended and i had to go down an underground passage. there was no elevator, or escalator of any kind. i had to carry the 20 kg bag down there, and up back to the road. I HAVE HERNIATED DISCS!!! and i didn’t have the time to go back and walk another way, i was fearing i could miss my train. what the hell😭
Video pecka a tento kanál mám moc rád, jako člověk nepražský se dozvídám spoustu informací, které se hodí i "našinci". Nicméně dva měsíce zpátky jsem byl v Praze a byl jsem ve Fantově kavárně... když pominu to, že to tam smrdělo jako když uklízečka v Tesku myje podlahu dávno neměněným smradlavým hardem, tak si nás obsluha za 10 minut nevšimla... erby atd jsou možná fajn, ale na kafe to fakt nedoporučuji...
Had a disappointing experience in the traffic system last week (was visiting for 3 days), as we bought electronic tickets, using a single phone. We shared digital copies of the tickets, but 2 in our group were fined because they split from us, and the officers in that route rejected their digital copies. So, may be better to have paper tickets, or have everyone in your group download the APP and keep their tickets in their individual phones. May be a good idea to make a video with tips to ride the traffic system, if one has not been made yet. Thanks for all you do, great job.
Yeah, unfortunately you can't just have a screenshot of the digital ticket. That way basically anyone could share the same ticket. As a tourist, it's probably the best to just buy a physical ticket and stick it in your phone case so you don't lose it or leave it anywhere.
I think it's like that everywhere. You can't use screenshot as a ticket. It should be the original in the app. You also can't take a photo of the paper ticket and use that.
I just moved to Prague a week ago; my first encounter with ANYONE in the Czech Republic was a guy who offered me Belarusian rubles in exchange for my larger notes I got from the ATM. Watch out for that guy!
“Only Americans” as if that’s not a significant percentage of English speakers worldwide 😂 Most people in the UK wouldn’t bat an eyelid if you referred to it as a “train station”.
There was a similar situation with Plzeň train station. I had to jaywalk three-lane roads to reach there from the city center while many other locals were doing the same. But hey, they were showing Janek's videos in tourist information office :)
7:52 The CoAs are (left to right) Praha, Firenze, Roma, Paris, don't know, Praha, Wien, Moskva (?), Berlin, Hamburg (weirdly using the Napoleonic version?), and Praha. 🙂
My last visit to Prague was 2 years ago and I spent nearly an hour trying to find where to get a taxi at the station! I ended up leaving by the low-level exit and walking through the adjacent park before I found a place to hail a taxi. Absolutely horrendous!
The most annoying thing in praque for me was the exchange of money. at the time i didnt really care that much but I probably been scammed many times over small amounts of money.
5:15 "The rate for a euro is 18.025 crowns. I wonder why that 0.25 is there; I guess so it sounds like it's 25 (crowns), which is closer to reality?" What the heck, I'd heard about psychological pricing befores (like the ones ending in 0.99), but that's devious.
Where exactly is "around here"? 🙂 Prague is capital city, there are dozens of buses, in working day in center, some bus or tram should go every like 3 minutes.
US infrastricture is terrible for public transport , just suburbs aren't accessible any other way than by car. It's not much about city not trying to improve it , it's just impossible
Greetings from Hungary! Some weeks ago I travelled to Dublin from Budapest and I travelled by train to Budapest where I had to change for a public bus outside the city centre, 5 minutes from the airport. There was a foreigner at the ticket machine so I helped him out. A single ticket costs 450 HUF (~1,15€) and when I switched the language to English on the machine, the very first ticket option was the Airport Shuttle ticket for 2200 HUF (~5,64€) that would be ideal directly from the city centre stopping only at a few stops towards the airport. I was surprised and got confused but then we found that cheaper hidden ticket and probably saved some money for the guy. I don't say it is a scam, but definitely misleading tourists - even me as a local. Keep exposing these tricks so people will be more aware of them. :) PS: I was skeptical in Dublin whenever someone said the tickets are sold out BUT we can manage to work out it. We did indeed without being scammed.
Just a random thought. Taxi drivers in Dubai never cheat you. Now that we are all Global (saving the planet from cows, saving the atmosphere from coal, saving the environment of space from 'space pollution', etc., we should decide at the next COP to legislate the global increase in Dubai taxi drivers. Laugh now.
I have visited czech republic multiple times, love Prague. First time was in 1997 and they already had problems with currency exchange, cab drivers, etc. Sadly they still can not fix it.
Thanks Janek and Honza for another very cool, informative and funny video. Your "production" skills are very good, although I miss the Spongebob " 20 minutes later" thing.
I caught a bus from TORONTO airport to TORONTO bus station I asked a taxi driver to take me to TORONTO train station he said thats five dollars, seemed fair so he drove me to the train station which was the same building as the bus station so basically he drove me round the building..when i could have walked through the building...😃🤣😛😜🤑
Why does that Mayor look like she wanted to bite our Honest Guide suggesting to remove taxi signs ? Also Pre-paid taxi tickets issued per taxi/driver/destination would solve the problem of taxi fraud ? Also why arent there more walkable and cycling infrastructure in Prague? It looks like Prague could be a wonderful walking,hiking, cycling destination!
Even though I now know the "correct" route, I will still take the 20 second jog over the stroad. Why? Beacause it's simpler and faster. Hope they make a crosswalk and implement proper traffic calming soon!
Well, you sound like the Americans that probably complain about your home town because US dollars are not accepted.. "Czech money" has a name by they way.
When I lived at Dresden, I used to be at Prague sometimes for a day trip. You do really tell all the bad things that I have noticed in that time. In comparison to all the other places in the CR Prague was always some kind of "beautiful hell" for me. Everywhere they try to scam you somehow, what I never experiences outside of Prague, even not at big cities like Brno or Ostrava. But in fact Prague ia a beautiful city with an impressing metro system (what wa salways tge reason to go there for me 😂). The smartest scam was always the TV tower where they did have an expensive price for everyone but also a much cheaper one "without brochure" foe people who notice that and so speak czech.😅 . Well, your videos do always remond me at that time 20 years ago. Thanks for your work and your infomations.
I once paid 101 EUR to go from this trainstation to the airport in an Opel from that previous century - luckily it was company money (which I usually take good care of), so 4 EUR with the iffy bus is ok with me :D
It's not a motorway. Just a regular road, but 6 lanes. It's quite vital and connects the southern part with the northern part of Prague. The "new" main entrance is actually a story below the road, while the "new" main lobby is located right under the road. If you come by tram or walked from the center, it's much better. This old entrance is "rarely" used, unless you arrive by bus or a taxi drop you off there. By far the most people use the other newer entrance.
@@simonp37 Well, yes, but a lot of people still have to cross to the other side, and at night the inside of the station is closed so you can't use the "new" entrance.
Couple of weeks ago I was in prague. Used Bolt as a taxi. You know exactly what you are going to pay before you leave. Worked great. Oh We did not use the exchange or ATM. You can go around Prague perfectly with using apple pay. We did not use any cash for 6 days just like in their Netherlands
I had no problem finding my way. Probably because I looked at the signs and not on my phone.. As to cheating taxis, I always ask for the maximum price for the trip, before I get into the car, in Prague and elsewhere. If I don´t get a straight answer, I take the next one. And yes, the Prague taxi drivers cheat.
Was in Prague last week. I took out about $60 usd via atm at the airport. I knew about the balance button and conversion bs. The atm still ended up charging $11 in fees but I was ok with that because my bank refunds the fee. But you really don't need much cash at all. I didn't come close to needing more than $10 in cash. I paid everything by card or contactless. I was there for 5 days.
Hello mr Janek how come you've never done a video in Slovenia? Are we just too boring? You could perhaps mill about lake Bled, check out Triglav national park etc
Is the airport express bus owned by the same company as the local buses? Otherwise why are they allowed to use the same colour? Here in Sweden we have a private bus company with express buses from the bigger airports called "flygbussarna" but they look nothing like any of the local buses.
Sadly prague public transport does not have good customer support. Got charged twice (paid on the bus) for my trip to the airport and they just ghosted me when I asked for a refund and provided all the info they asked for. Direct bus would have cost me almost the same :)
Using underpass to cross to road at night time was dodgy even as a guy, there was homeless people demanding money and lighting was very poor in the underpass. Also there are flixbus "stations" which are basically traffic signs and they are on the both sides of the road so if you are waiting on the wrong one you will miss your bus by the time you cross the road. There arent any clear signs what is what and it is even worse at night time. There should be a pedestrian overpass, it could make everything easier and safer.
Prague main train station is awesome, if you look for suburb trains it’s crazy display also on platform, on one platform depart trains in different directions. And the signs are very bad or only in Czech. No chance if you are in hurry. Very bad.
Since all the action is underground why would you go up other than to see the great architecture (which if I remember right is even written next to the escalator going upstairs). Last time I visited the most amazing thing was the LEGO model of the station on display (showing lots of traffic on the freeway).
I got scammed by a cabbie in prague last year after a night out. Was a bad tasting end to an otherwise good trip. Beautiful city, great food, friendly people, shitty scam-ass cabbies.
It can be kind of harrowing here when people cross the main road to get from Santa Claus village to the gas station across the road. The tunnel under the road is not super well sign posted and I think if I timed it it might take more than 5 minutes each way, whereas crossing is probably also like 10 seconds. Here however I believe crossing that street is illegal, even though it is a much smaller road and the speed limit was recently reduced from 60 to 50 kph
Yep this happened to us when we were waiting for an Uber to our hotel, we ended up cancelling the Uber, we ended up cancelling our Uber crossing the correct way and ordered another one, other than that our time in Prague was amazing and your videos were a massive help!!
had a taxi driver in bail press a button on his charge meter and bumped it up like 100000 rupiah up to 150k, when it was originally 50000. we were stopped outside our hotel luckily and the taxi did not pursue his undeserved cash... (we avoided the red taxis from then on)
I kind of expected you to mention Fantova kavárna as one of the scammy places, as they have the highest surcharge for replacing regular milk for lactose-free or plant-based I've seen in Czechia so far.
The traffic on this road is horrible. In general this is what I didn't like about Prague. Talking about motorized traffic it felt like a step back in time where cars have priority over everything else...
I was there in the station in November 2002 and then the place where he is drinking coffee was dirty, filthy and I think was full shady persons. If I am not wrong there was also a kind of casino in the station. It seems that the city is full of scams
the mayor thought she was being so smart by asking you what to do.. expect she wasn't.. shes paid to be in that position for the people... you're the people making a honest complaint and wanting something fix.. its her problem..
@@geirmyrvagnes8718 I don't blame anybody who doesn't know, but the hosts of this show know the easy way to enter and didn't show it in the video. Hence my comment.
@@dimitrijvolcov They could have. But that would not have informed all these people, and people would still cross this six lane road. The road is the problem, and no amount of information and underpasses will keep people from crossing it. The people crossing are not to blame. The hosts are just pointing out the problem. The drivers are not the problem. All these people are doing completely normal and dangerous things. The people who decided to put (and keep) a six lane road right in front of a train station are the problem. That is just wrong.
@@geirmyrvagnes8718 Then where would you have the traffic go? If you look on a map, you can see it's quite a vital road for traffic, connecting the southern part to the northern part of Prague.
Well, for example you're walking from the national museum and you end up there... or you exit the train station and you need to get to the other side to a bus. Or you exit the station at night, the lower entrance is closed and you've got to find a way to get to the tram. Or a taxi drops you off up there in the other side... quite a lot of reasons, actually.
@@MakkahLive777 it’s good that people with a name like yours don’t chose Czech Rep for a living. You should live in muzlim country, not in between us, Christians.
you guys seem to have exactly the same city issues like we do in Bucharest. the resemblance is shocking. maybe we have heavier traffic and no freeway in front of the train station, but we struggle with the same shaite like you do.
