Good to know before your trip — Czech Republic

There is no sticker on the windscreen and no barrier, so a driver can easily pass onto a toll section thinking everything is fine. Enforcement is carried out by reading the number plate, and the fine arrives later. All vehicles with at least four wheels and a maximum permitted weight of up to three and a half tonnes are required to have an electronic vignette on motorway toll sections. Motorcycles are not subject to this requirement. The vignette can be purchased online through the official state system with no service charge, at post offices, at selected petrol stations, and at self-service kiosks. Four validity periods are available: one-day, ten-day, thirty-day, and annual. The one-day vignette is valid until the end of the chosen calendar day, not for twenty-four hours from the time of purchase — this is the most common mistake drivers make. Driving without a valid vignette carries a fine of up to twenty thousand koruna. Prices change every year, so check them on the official system before you travel.

A traveller sees that the Czech Republic is in the European Union and assumes they can pay in euros. Some establishments do accept them, but at an exchange rate they set themselves — and that is where most money is lost without anyone noticing. The official and only currency is the Czech koruna. By law, the obligation to accept payment applies only to domestic banknotes and coins — no retailer is required to accept euros. When a retailer does accept them and returns change in korunas, this is not classified as a currency exchange operation under the central bank's interpretation: the rate is unregulated, and none of the protections you have at a licensed exchange bureau apply, including the right to cancel the transaction. In practice: plan to pay in korunas, use a card wherever possible, and exchange cash at a bureau de change or withdraw it from an ATM — not at the till. It is worth having small koruna coins on you, as payment with more than fifty domestic coins may legally be refused.

A traveller buys a paper ticket from a machine or a kiosk, boards a tram, and takes a seat. The ticket has been paid for but has not been validated, and inspectors treat this as travelling without a ticket — the fine is the same as if no ticket had been purchased at all. A paper ticket bought in advance must be stamped in the validator immediately upon boarding. On the metro, it must be validated in the entrance hall before descending to the platform — not on the platform itself and not on the train. A ticket purchased at a self-service terminal inside the vehicle does not need to be validated, as it already carries a start time. An unvalidated ticket is not considered valid under the transport regulations. The penalty for travelling without a valid ticket is substantial; it is lower if paid on the spot or within fifteen days than if paid later. Unvalidated luggage is also charged separately. In practice: validate your ticket within the first few seconds of boarding and check that the date and time have been printed on it.

A traveller reads that it is a public holiday and assumes they will not be able to buy anything — or, conversely, expects to walk into a hypermarket as usual. The Czech system is selective and easy to misread in either direction. The law prohibits trading in shops with a retail floor area exceeding two hundred square metres on seven specific days of the year: the first of January, Easter Monday, the eighth of May, the twenty-eighth of September, the twenty-eighth of October, and both days of Christmas. On the twenty-fourth of December the ban begins at noon and runs until the end of the day. Everything else remains open: smaller shops of up to two hundred square metres, petrol stations, pharmacies, outlets at railway stations and airports, and catering establishments. It is equally important to note what is not on that list — Good Friday is a public holiday, but it is not one of the seven days on which trading is banned. In practical terms: for those seven days, finish your shopping the day before; for Christmas Eve, finish by midday.

The Czech Republic has several national emergency numbers in addition to the pan-European 112, which means a traveller in distress can waste precious time choosing the right one — or call the wrong service altogether. 112 is the single European emergency number and in the Czech Republic it connects all components of the rescue system. For a foreign visitor it is also the most practical choice: it works without a SIM card, allows the caller to be located, and according to official information, calls can be handled in English, German, or Russian. If you know which service you need, there are also direct numbers: 155 for emergency medical assistance, 150 for the fire brigade and rescue services, 158 for the national police, and 156 for the municipal police. All calls are free of charge. A simple rule of thumb: if you are unsure whom to call or do not speak Czech, dial 112; if it is clearly a medical emergency, 155 is the most direct route.