Driving in Czech Republic
 

We are planning a trip to CR next year and are thinking of renting a car to drive from Prague to Vienna and around southern CR and back to Prague.

Is driving really that bad there? I think we would see more if we drove as opposed to taking the train.

Any tips on reputable car rental companies in Prague? I read the Turnip's report of a car he rented there and it sounded like a nightmare.

Driving IN Prague is a pain.
Driving OUTSIDE Prague is easy and casual. The roads are OK, traffic is light. Some cars (Skodas) are amusingly underpowered. Some drivers are nuts (pass in what we think are no passing situations). The only challenge is navigation, due to the (seemingly) vowel-free town names. Driving at warp speed can thus frustrate pilot-navigator communications. Other than that, there's lots of interesting stuff to see...history, castles, scenery,etc.

Agreed, it is very easy to drive through CR.

One thing to be careful of - you must have a toll sticker on your car to drive in Austria.

Kevin

We did not drive, but took a bus Prague to Vienna and the train back. Unless you plan to leave the highway and explore, there is not much difference between highway and rail as far as things to see. The highway seemed fine.

Sorry, I just saw you asked about car companies. We used Auto Europe, and have many times. Each time I have been more than pleased with them.

We used gemut.com

We had a little trouble following signs. Sometimes exits were not that clearly marked or were a bit confusing. Use a good map.

Why not experience a bit of the real Czech Republic? Take an hours driver lesson. The driving is not 'bad'. It is the unfamiliar visitors who cause the problems. Polish drivers have been singled out, they are not use to the good highways. The death rate is high.

An hour's lesson? No way.
You may have to drive closer to the car in front to keep the car in back from passing you, but when/if he does, brake and let him in (I didn't, she crashed me, VISA paid, but lost 8 hours).

Thanks for the information. How long did the bus take from Prague to Vienna and what was the cost.

Is gas as expensive in CR as in US?

Thanks for the toll sticker info.

Hi
I don't know the current gas price but it is probably almost twice as much. We've driven the CR and it wasn't horrendous. I wouldn't suggest driving in Prague but outside it is fine. Make sure you have an up todate road map. In the past I've found a map older than 2-3 yrs. outdated especially in Central Europe. They were building and renaming roads. If you drive visit Telc a small beautiful town.

The bus took about 3.5 hours including a rest stop. I don't recall the exact cost, but it was cheap - less than half the cost of the train. The bus lets you off in central Vienna near the city hall.

galeforce,

Please, rent a car. Driving is very easy - it really isn't even that bad in Prague. To be honest, I'd rather drive in Prague than in NYC, and I've driven in both :)

Driving in CR gives you a huge amount of freedom, and the country is relatively small so driving distances are short.

FYI, gas stations can sell you the toll sticker for your car, but lots of the larger rental companies give them to you also.

A previous driver recommended Telc - it is a pretty town. I would also recommend Cesky Krumlov - a great town with a castle that has a *bear* in the moat!. And, IMHO, a must see, the Bone Church about a 30min drive outside of Prague (Google for this...it is very cool).

Lastly, if you want more info, I have a trip report for CR and Austria. If you click on my name and scroll you'll find it (it was in March 2003), or you can go to http://reports.mathewsweb.net and in the lower left panel look for CR/Austria.

Oh yeah, gas in most European countries averages $4-5/gallon and has for some time.

Enjoy, you are going to a cool part of the world!

Kevin

Kevin, thanks for the info. I thought gas was probably about 4-5 gal. We were in England 2 years ago and that's about that it was. Hubby found it a little hard driving on the wrong side of the road, but he managed ok. learning to drive in Chicago, I can't imaging CR would be any real problem.

As of this month, gasoline in Czech Republic is about $5.38/US gallon (29.2 Kc/liter). Diesel is 27.2Kc/liter.

We drove from Germany to Prague and from Prague to Salzburg last month. Made a stop in Cesky Krumlov.

Had no real problem with the driving. You do need to be aware of directions and have a good map or navigation planned out.

The only real driving we needed to do in Prague was to get to our hotel. After that we walked and used transportation until time to leave Prague. I had used a European mapquest to plan the route to our hotel in Prague from Germany. I would recommend you do this as Prague is a large city and has some bridges under construction.

We usually drive a rental car while in Europe as we like to stop to explore different areas we discover on the way.

www.viamichelin.com is an excellent site for driving directions in Europe. Really no need for a map if you use this and print your itenerary out.

We enjoyed driving in general in the CZ. Driving in Prague itself wasn't much fun, but I would guess thats true in many big cities, European or otherwise. The rental car company used was a pain, but I truly think we got what we paid for that in that regard. Once we got outside Prague we had a great time and appreciated all the freedom that having our own car allowed us.

If I could do it all over again I would still drive, but I would crack my wallet open a little wider and go with a more reputable car company.

Cheers, the turnip

Would not recommend driving in Prague but the rest of the country is a snap - the very easiest country we have ever driven in. Ever. Many areas are much slower paced and less frantic. Very straightforward.

I would really, really recommend renting a car. We always rent with Auto Europe and while in the CR did the same.

We are not long back from Czech Republic - We drove from Dinklebuhl in Germany to Prague, then to Cesky Krumlov and then on to Durnstein in Austria. Driving around the countryside was very easy - roads good etc. As I had been very worried about driving in Prague itself we stayed in a hotel about 20 minutes out of Prague by train. Good idea in theory, but for all the driving around the edges of Prague, our maps were inadequate and we simply could not find our way to the hotel! Hopelessly lost is definately what we were! We finally ended up next to the Vlatva in some obscure part of town. Exploring by foot we found a large train station and taxi rank. I explained our dilemma to the very helpful taxi driver, one of us got in the taxi with him while the others followed in our rental vehicle! He was very good and some 15 or 20 minutes later we reached our hotel. Given that we ended up having to drive through a road closed by road works, I feel confident we never would have reached our destination without our kindly taxi driver!