Czech Republic

From Germany

The border between Germany and the Czech Republic is not that easy to cross because it is formed mostly by mountain ranges and because of the iron curtain that was in place there for years. The border regions are still rather uninhabited because of that. A good place to cross the border on foot may be the twin towns of Železná Ruda / Bayerisch Eisenstein.

If you want to take an international train between the Czech Republic and Germany, consider taking advantage of the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket: (http://www.bahn.de/regio_...) or the Sachsen-Böhmen-Ticket: (http://www.bahn.de/region...). You can buy it at a ticket machine in Germany or have sent it to you by post if you plan to start your journey in the Czech Republic.

In the vicinity of the Czech-German-Polish three country border, you may profit from the unified fare of the ZVON transport system: (http://www.zvon.de/)

From Slovakia

When traveling on train between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, it is useful to buy a separate ticket for the part of the journey close to and crossing the border. The "minor border communication" Malý pohraniční styk in Czech and Malý pohraničný styk in Slovak; MPS for short is a special train fare which may be asked for tickets between stations that are situated closer than 40 sometimes up to 50 kilometers from the border. These tickets can only be bought at stations which themselves are situated in the respective area.

In the train station Vlárský průsmyk situated on the railway between Brno Czech Republic and Trenčianská Teplá Slovakia, both Czech and Slovak trains terminate and start, so that domestic Czech tickets can be bought to/from there and used in combination with Slovak tickets from/to the virtual border station Nemšová št.hr. In practice, though, because of the MPS see above, this place is just useful as a convenient shared transfer place between Czech and Slovak trains.

Rail traffic on the railway border crossing between Sudoměřice nad Moravou Czech Republic; the town itself is called just Sudoměřice and Skalica na Slovensku Slovakia; the town itself is called just Skalica has been discontinued. Czech trains stop in Sudoměřice nad Moravou on their way between Veselí nad Moravou and Hodonín, Slovak trains terminate in Skalica. Between the two stations, it's a short, straight and flat walk of 3 kilometers and you may choose whether you walk on the unused railway, the adjecent busy road or the parallel old local road situated a little more to the east.

By plane

Ruzyně Airport (http://www.prg.aero/en/) – located about 10 km west of the centre of Prague, Praha in Czech, is a hub of Czech national carrier – Czech Airlines ČSA, a SkyTeam member.

Other international airports are in Brno with flights to London, Moscow, Rome, Bergamo, Eindhoven and Prague, Ostrava flights to Vienna and Prague, Pardubice, Karlovy Vary flights to Moscow and Uherské Hradiště.

There are several low-cost airlines going to/from Prague e.g. EasyJet from Lyon. Ryanair flies to Brno from London and Bergamo. Other nearby airports are Nuremberg 200 km and Munich 320 km in Germany, Vienna having a bus shuttle to Brno city 260 km to Prague, 110 km to Brno in Austria, Wroclaw 200 km in Poland might be a good idea if you want to go to the Giant Mountains and Bratislava 280 km to Prague, only 120 km to Brno in Slovakia.

From Poland

In local, express and fast trains not IC or EC!, it is possible to buy a special cross-border ticket "bilet przechodowy" in Polish which is valid between the Czech and Polish or vice versa border stations and costs only 15 CZK or 2 PLN. You can buy it from the conductor on the train or completely ignore it if the conductor does not emerge before you reach the other border station, which happens and to your advantege combine it with domestic tickets of the two countries the one you buy before departure and another one you may buy if your train stops for an amount of time in the first station after the border and you have time to quickly reach for the ticket office - or you buy the other domestic ticket at the conductor with a low surcharge.

In the vicinity of the Czech-German-Polish three country border, you may profit from the unified fare of the ZVON transport system: (http://www.zvon.de/)

The railway between Harrachov Czech Republic and Szklarska Poręba Poland in the Krkonoše/Karkonosze mountains (http://www.zubacka.cz/) has been out of order since WW2 and is planned to reopen in summer 2010. There are trains terminating in Szklarska Poręba Górna and Harrachov, respectively. You can walk on foot between the two approximately 16 kilometeres by following the road which is good state, though meandering and going through a vast uninhabited area with a modest altitude peak in the middle. Or, if you are afraid of the passing trucks, you could follow the railroad under construction it is legal to follow it as long as it is not yet being operated, but it may not be very comfortable and won't spare you any significant distance in this case.

After a several-year-long period of electrification, there are now several trains a day again between Lichkov Czech Republic and Międzylesie Poland. Yet, if for instance you arrive by the last train of the day which terminates before the border, you may try walking to the other side. From Międzylesie, you can follow the trafic directions to Brno and reach the border by following the road and passing through the villages of Smreczyna and Boboszów. Soon after you've crossed the border, make a sharp right turn at the cross road and walk the rest to Lichkov. The terrain is quite flat there. This is a little detour and takes some 13 kilometers, but while the railway is somewhat shorter, you should not follow it because it goes through a dark forest and you would risk collision with night cargo trains, and of course the law.

The Polish train station of Głuchołazy is served by Czech trains passing between Jeseník and Krnov and can be reached with a domestic Czech train ticket with "Gluchlolazy" as the destination. You can also get a ticket starting in that station or a return ticket in advance, but you cannot buy Czech tickets in the station itself. There are Polish trains departing from Głuchołazy to inner Poland.

There are very few connections a day between Bohumín Czech Republic and Chałupki Poland; once called Annaberg and at the three country border of Czechoslovakia, Germany and Poland, but it is easy to cross the border on foot if you miss your connection. Bohumín is a major Czech train station and Chałupki a terminal of trains to inner Poland. Between the two places, you are passing through the Czech settlement of Starý Bohumín, situated right at the border which is briefly formed by the river Odra in this place, which you cross by an old pedestrian bridge. The walk is on a completely flat terrain, almost straight, goes almost exclusively through inhabited places and is short in distance 5 kilometers.

The divided city of Český Těšín Czech Republic / Cieszyn Poland is a very easy spot for border crossing. If you reach one of them, you can walk to the other very comfortably and at a short distance 20 minutes from one station to another. It's the river Olše/Olza in the city center that forms the border. The train stations in both Český Těšín and Cieszyn have good connections to other destinations.