practical information

Entrance to the Czech Republic and visas

The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union. Citizens of EU countries, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland may stay temporarily within the territory of the Czech Republic without any permit whatsoever on the basis of a travel document or ID card. A notification obligation does however apply for this group for stays longer than 3 months. You must notify the pertinent inspectorate of the foreign police service.

All citizens of countries with which an agreement on visa-less relations has been concluded require is a passport. A list of these countries can be found here.

Citizens of certain countries need to arrange a visa to enter the Czech Republic. A list of countries with a visa liability can be foundhere.

Currency, payments, tips and post

Currency

Although the Czech Republic is a member of the EU, it is not so far a member of the Eurozone and for this reason, the euro is not the official currency here (yet despite this it is possible to exchange euro for Czech crowns without any problems).

The official currency is called the crown, which is made up of 100 hellers. Small coins start at 1 crown coin, followed by the 2 crown coin, 5 crown coin, 10 crown coin, 20 crown coin and 50 crown coin. Banknotes begin with the 100 crown note, followed by the 200 crown note, 500 crown note, 1,000 crown note, 2,000 crown note and 5,000 crown note.

You can find out the crown exchange rate from the European Central Bank.

Exchanging money

There are three basic methods of changing money:

Banks ? they have a good exchange rate, but are not usually open in the evening or at weekends,
Hotels ? they have worse exchange rates, but smaller amounts in euro are not usually a problem almost any time of the day or night
Bureaux de change ? there are relatively large differences between them. For example, some bureaux de change do not charge a fee for the exchange, but have a worse exchange rate. The best idea is to first ask how much money you will get and calculate the actual exchange rate yourself.

If you have an international payment card, you can of course pay directly using this or withdraw cash from a bank machine.

Payments

Payment cards are regularly accepted in shops and also in some restaurants in large cities. Traveller?s cheques issued by internationally acknowledged companies are mostly accepted by Czech banks without any problems.

Tips

It is usual to leave a tip in restaurants ? especially as an expression of your satisfaction with the services of the establishment. A member of staff usually brings the bill and leaves. When he or she returns, it is up to you to say how much you actually want to pay. Another option is to pay the precise amount and to leave the tip on the table. Tips are usually left at the level of roughly 10 percent of the bill.

Post

The main supplier of postal services in the Czech Republic is Czech Post. They deliver letters and packages all over the world. You can calculate the price of a letter or package here.
Delivery and courier services also regularly operate in the Czech Republic, for example FedEx and others.

Language

The official language in the Czech Republic is Czech, which is a Slavonic language (the same as Slovak, Polish, Serbian, Russian, Croatian or Bulgarian). It is sometimes possible to make yourself understood in English or Russian. German is a little less widespread. The deaf can make themselves understood more easily, if they use Italian or Austrian sign language, which are to a certain extent similar to Czech sign language. On the contrary, ASL or Asian sign languages are very different from Czech sign language.

Time and climate

Time zone and time

The 24-hour clock is generally used in the Czech Republic in printed materials and on digital clocks. The 12-hour clock is also used when speaking colloquially or in relation to analogue clocks.
The week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. Saturday and Sunday are not working days. The time zone GMT (UTC) +1 applies throughout the territory of the whole Czech Republic, i.e. CET (+0). Winter and summer time are used in the Czech Republic. The clocks go forward on the last Sunday in March at 2:00 CET to 3:00 CEST. The clocks then go back on the last Sunday in October from 3:00 CEST to 2:00 CET. Summer time (an hour more) thus applies here from roughly April to October.

Climate and weather

This landlocked country in the centre of Europe does not abound in extremes. The climate is moderate with four seasons. People ski in the mountains in winter and the hot summer is excellent for bathing. When there is more substantial rainfall in the summer or when the snow and ice melt in the spring, there are sometimes problems here with local flooding, especially in the areas along the rivers (the same as in the whole of Europe). Cities are however well prepared for these situations and the capital for example has established a special system for protection against flooding.

Important telephone numbers

You should have certain telephone numbers with you at all times or know them by heart. The numbers of the most important institutions, which you might need, are mostly three digits. You can get through to these wherever you are at any time free of charge.
112 emergency calls (this number works throughout the whole of Europe and includes universal medical aid, the police and the fire brigade ? but it need not necessarily work on older mobile telephones without SIM cards)

Fire Brigade 150
Medical First Aid 155
Police 158
Municipal Police 156 (they have limited authority and resolve smaller, local problems