Visas & entry
Czechia is in the EU and Schengen Area. EU/EEA/Swiss citizens may enter with a national ID or passport; U.S., Canadian, British, Australian, Japanese and many other visa-exempt nationals can generally visit for up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day Schengen period, shared across all Schengen countries. Visa-required nationals need a Schengen short-stay visa; check official Czech/EU guidance shortly before travel, including the eventual ETIAS launch date.
Getting in
- Václav Havel Airport Prague: The overwhelming main gateway, with the broadest European network and selected long-haul links. It is the obvious arrival point for Prague, central Bohemia, South Bohemia and most first trips.
- Vienna International Airport: Often the smarter open-jaw airport for South Moravia: Brno, Mikulov and Lednice–Valtice are more naturally paired with Vienna than with a return to Prague. Continue by direct bus, train via Vienna, or rental car.
- Dresden Airport / Dresden rail hub: A useful alternative for north Bohemia and the Krkonoše/Liberec side, though it is a niche choice rather than a default Czechia gateway.
Getting around
Treat Czechia as a rail-and-road country; domestic flights are irrelevant. Trains are excellent on the Prague–Brno–Olomouc–Ostrava and Prague–Plzeň spine, while buses are often better for Prague–Český Krumlov and smaller towns. Rent a car for Šumava, the spa-country back roads, vineyard villages around Mikulov, and mountain areas—but return it before staying in Prague or central Brno, where parking is expensive and irritating. Buy the required electronic motorway vignette before using Czech motorways.
Money
The currency is the Czech koruna (CZK/Kč), not the euro. Cards are widely accepted in cities, hotels, supermarkets and better restaurants, but carry some koruna for small-town cafés, markets, public toilets and rural businesses. Service is not automatically included: round up for casual service or leave roughly 5–10% for good table service, preferably stating the total when paying by card.
Daily budget · Czech koruna (CZK/Kč). Czechia does not use the euro.
- Value
- CZK 1,800–3,000
- Mid-range
- CZK 3,800–6,500
- High-end
- CZK 9,000+
- Bands exclude international flights and assume two people sharing a room.
- Value covers a hostel bed or basic double outside the peak center, bakery breakfasts, lunch menus, pub dinners, public transport and selective paid sights.
- Mid-range covers a well-located 3- or 4-star double, good restaurant meals, intercity trains, cafés or bars, and one or two paid attractions a day.
- High-end means top hotels or spa properties, tasting menus, private transfers, premium wine experiences and frequent guided tours.
- Prague—especially the historic core in summer, at Easter and during Advent—pushes costs up sharply. Brno, Olomouc and most of South Bohemia or Moravia outside peak weekends are materially better value.
- Accommodation is the main variable. Festival dates, Christmas markets, spa hotels, rental cars, and taxis in South Moravian wine country are the usual budget breakers.
Eating well
- Prioritize the weekday polední menu, the fixed-price lunch menu: it is usually the best-value meal and a better local test than an English-language dinner menu.
- Reserve Friday and Saturday dinner in Prague, Brno and Mikulov; book destination restaurants and winery meals earlier in summer and during the autumn harvest.
- Use Brno as the restaurant-city base for South Moravia, then stay in Mikulov or Valtice for wine country rather than trying to rush back to Brno after tastings.
- Markets are best for bread, cheese, pastries, snacks and seasonal produce, not necessarily for the country’s most revealing cooked food.
- Skip restaurants directly on Prague’s Old Town Square with photo-heavy multilingual menus and aggressive hosts.
Book before you land
- Do not assume prices are in euros: pay in Czech koruna and decline poor-rate ‘dynamic currency conversion’ when a card terminal offers to charge you in your home currency.
- Prague’s Old Town Square and Charles Bridge corridor is the country’s biggest tourist trap zone. Walk a few streets out for more credible food and less inflated bills; avoid photo-menu restaurants and aggressive hosts.
- Use weekday polední menu (fixed-price lunch menus) for the best-value Czech meal. For Friday or Saturday dinner in Prague, Brno or Mikulov, reserve rather than wandering at 8pm.
- Validate or activate local public-transport tickets correctly where required; ticket inspections are routine and visitors are not excused for misunderstanding the system.
- In wine country, do not plan to drive after cellar tastings. Public transport becomes thin late at night, so stay locally, cycle, arrange a driver or use taxis.
- For hiking in Bohemian Switzerland and mountain areas, check trail and access conditions locally: weather and fire-related restrictions can change routes.
Entry rules change — verify visa requirements for your passport before booking this country.
Season by season
March–May
March can still be properly wintry, while April and May bring blossom, green countryside and manageable crowds; expect cool, changeable weather rather than guaranteed terrace days.
Easter sharply raises Prague hotel rates and crowds, and early spring can be cold and wet.
June–August
This is the warmest season for hiking, cycling, river life, beer gardens and Moravian vineyard evenings, though cities can reach 35°C and thunderstorms are common.
Prague and Český Krumlov are at their most crowded and expensive; reserve festival cities and popular small-town stays well ahead.
September–November
September and early October bring warmish walking weather, harvest activity and lighter crowds; October turns wetter, while November has short days, possible frost and reduced hours in smaller towns.
Harvest weekends make Mikulov, Valtice and Lednice scarce and pricey, and many smaller attractions begin reduced schedules by November.
December–February
Expect cold, often below-freezing urban weather, short daylight and colder, snow-dependent mountain conditions; Prague remains lively through the festive season.
Christmas and New Year are peak-price periods, while castle gardens close and some historic interiors keep shorter winter hours.
Events worth planning around
Easter markets and holidays · March or April, depending on Easter · Prague, especially the historic centre
Prague becomes markedly busier and central hotels rise in price; book well ahead if visiting over the Easter weekend.
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival · Usually early July · Karlovy Vary
Rooms, trains and restaurants in the spa town become difficult to secure; book accommodation early or avoid Karlovy Vary during the festival.
Colours of Ostrava · Usually mid-July · Ostrava, centred on Dolní Vítkovice
A major music festival that fills Ostrava accommodation and puts pressure on transport; reserve rooms and rail travel early.
Christmas and New Year markets · Late November through December; New Year peak in late December and early January · Prague and major Czech cities
Prague in particular is not a low-season bargain: central rooms and popular restaurants need advance booking, especially around Christmas and New Year.
What to eat
Eat Czechia as a set of regional Central European cuisines, not as a generic parade of goulash and beer: Bohemia leans toward roast meats, creamy sauces, dumplings, mushrooms and lager, while Moravia shifts toward wine, orchard fruit and cellar-country cooking. Start with a proper pub lunch, especially a weekday polední menu, then use Prague and Brno for stronger restaurant meals and smaller towns for their specific specialties.
Prague and Bohemia: Beer-pub classics · Roast duck · Beef sauces and dumplings · Pickled sausages · Hermelín cheese
Plzeň: Pilsner beer in its home city
South Bohemia and Třeboň: Carp, pike and other pond fish · Autumn pond-harvest cooking
Karlovy Vary: Spa wafers · Mineral water drunk from a porcelain spa cup
Pardubice and east Bohemia: Pardubice gingerbread · Hořice wafer rolls
Olomouc and Loštice: Olomoucké tvarůžky, a notably pungent ripened cheese
South Moravia: Fragrant, crisp white wines · Cellar tastings · Seasonal vineyard cooking
Wallachia and east Moravia: Slivovice plum brandy · Frgál, a large filled pastry