Getting around Prague at Christmas

Christmas in Prague editorial team (DECOLED s.r.o.) · updated 21 September 2026 · 5 min read

Prague's trams, metro and buses are cheap and go everywhere the markets are, but the ticket system catches visitors out. Here is what a ticket costs, how to buy one, and how services change over the holidays.

The short version

Every Christmas market in this guide is reachable on public transport, and almost all of them are within a few stops of each other. You do not need a taxi and you certainly do not need a car. What you do need is a valid ticket before you board — the Prague metro has no barriers, tickets are checked by inspectors, and the fine from 1 January 2026 is 1,200 CZK paid on the spot.

For most visitors the sensible purchase is a 24-hour or 72-hour ticket, or a card tap on the terminal inside the tram if you are only making a couple of journeys.

What a ticket costs

Prices below are the Prague Integrated Transport (PID) tariff in force from 1 January 2026, for zones P, 0 and B, which covers the whole city. The cheapest price is always in the PID Lítačka app; paper and SMS cost a little more.

Children under 15 travel free in Prague; from 10 to 15 they must be able to prove their age with photo identification, and a passport counts. Passengers aged 65 and over also travel free in Prague on the same proof, and this applies to foreign visitors too. One adult accompanying a child under 3 travels free. Passengers aged 60 to 65 pay a reduced fare (18 CZK for 30 minutes, 70 CZK for 24 hours in the app).

Note that free travel for children and over-65s does not automatically extend to PID trains without the prescribed pass, and it does not apply to the Airport Express or the historic tram lines.

How to buy one

• PID Lítačka app — cheapest. Buy and activate it before you get on; validity starts after a one-minute delay, so activating as the inspector walks up does not work.
• Machines in metro stations and at some stops sell paper tickets. A paper ticket must be validated once in a yellow validator before you enter the paid area of the metro, or immediately after boarding a tram or bus.
• Card terminals inside vehicles — touchscreen terminals by the middle door of trams and the second door of city buses and trolleybuses sell 30-minute, 90-minute and 24-hour tickets by card. These are valid immediately and need no further validation.
• SMS tickets are the most expensive and are not valid on PID trains, the Airport Express or in the outer zones.

Tapping a bank card on a validator is not listed as a fare product on PID's own how-to-buy page — do not rely on it.

Which line goes where

Three metro lines cover the centre. Line A (green) runs from Nemocnice Motol to Depo Hostivař through Hradčanská, Malostranská, Staroměstská, Můstek and Muzeum — this is the line for the Castle side and Old Town Square. Line B (yellow) runs Zličín to Černý Most through Anděl, Národní třída, Můstek, Náměstí Republiky and Florenc. Line C (red) runs Háje to Letňany through Muzeum, Hlavní nádraží and Florenc. You change between A and B at Můstek, A and C at Muzeum, B and C at Florenc.

Tram 22 is the line visitors are always told about: it runs from Vinohrady and Náměstí Míru past the National Theatre and through Malá Strana to the Castle stops. It is genuinely useful. It is also an ordinary commuter line, not a sightseeing service — the stretch through Malá Strana is slow in traffic, it gets packed, and pickpocketing is reported on the busy sections. Keep your bag in front of you.

From the airport

Václav Havel Airport has no metro. The cheap way in is trolleybus 59 from either terminal to Nádraží Veleslavín, then metro line A into the centre; reckon on 35 to 50 minutes in total. A 90-minute ticket (46 CZK in the app, 50 CZK paper) covers the whole journey — a 30-minute ticket does not. Bus 100 to Zličín and metro B is the alternative.

The Airport Express is a separate product on its own tariff: 200 CZK one way for an adult from 1 January 2026, 100 CZK for a child aged 6 to 15, roughly every 20 to 30 minutes in the daytime, about 40 minutes to Praha hlavní nádraží. There is no night service.

A taxi or a ride-hailing car takes 25 to 35 minutes. Airport guidance has quoted around 800 CZK to the centre as a typical metered figure; app prices are shown before you book. Prague Airport's contracted taxi lane is operated by Uber under a concession stated to run to 25 September 2028 — anyone approaching you inside the terminal offering a ride is not part of that arrangement.

Late at night

The metro does not run all night. First trains leave the terminal stations at roughly 04:32 to 04:44 and the last ones leave at roughly 00:19 to 00:26, which means the last train through the centre goes shortly after midnight. After that the city runs night trams numbered 91 to 99, normally every 30 minutes, all meeting at Lazarská, and night buses in the 900 series every 30 or 60 minutes. The same tickets are valid. If you land late, the night buses are the way in from the airport — the Airport Express does not run at night.

The holidays themselves

As of September 2026 the operator had not yet published the Christmas and New Year timetables for 2026/27. The pattern published for 2025, which matched 2024, was this:

• 24 December — Saturday holiday timetable. Daytime trams, buses and ferries stop around 18:00. The metro keeps running until about midnight, at 20-minute intervals from about 18:00. Night trams run from about 18:00 until about 07:00 on the 25th.
• 25 and 26 December, and 1 January — Sunday holiday timetables, with daytime trams and buses from about 07:00 (the airport trolleybus 59 starts earlier, around 04:30).
• 31 December — holiday weekday timetable; the metro is extended to about 02:30 on 1 January at 10-minute intervals, daytime trams end about 22:00 and enhanced night trams run until about 07:00.

Treat those as the shape of what to expect, not as a promise. The operator publishes the real thing in December; check it then.

Common questions