Pedal Power - Prague by bike

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So this summer I am sticking two fingers up at Opencard, the terribly implemented new transport ticketing system for Prague locals, which has achieved nothing except making buying season tickets a far more complicated and slippery process. One day in March I logged onto the Czech version of Ebay and bought an old bike, which I have since lubed up and pimped out with a crafty little pair of speakers which you can plug an iPod into. Bike weather began the day after I returned from the Tatras, with temperatures soaring over 20 degrees and so I have been exploring Prague's cycleways.

Generally Prague is not a cyclist's paradise, the tricky cobblestoned streets, narrow streets with tram lines, ubiquitous one way systems and the sheer hilliness of most parts of the city is enough to put most people off using it as a method of transport. Not to mention the reckless attitude of Czech drivers, which peaks at a time dubbed by a friend of mine the "Cottage Rage hours" of 3-8pm on a Friday and 5-10pm on a Sunday, when tired and stressed panelák-dwellers will gladly endanger everyone else's lives just to spend another half hour at their countryside getaway.

However, the few parts of Prague which do offer off-road cycle paths are absolutely fantastic, mostly centred along the Vltava river and its tributaries. Cycle routes in the Czech Republic are numbered and very well signposted (far better than in London), and coloured either purple or pink if you see them on a map, which means on the road or on a cycle lane/off road, respectively. Route A2, which leads most of the way down the Vltava on the east bank except for a small section in the centre, is the best way to cross the city, as it is almost entirely off road and made for a lot of people. Generally the south of Prague on the east side of the river is the best place to cycle as this is where most of the tributary paths run, though if you don't mind a good work out there are plenty of paths going through the national parks on the far hillier west side (Divoká Šárka and Prokopské Údolí). The bend in the river (Holešovice and Letná) sports a decent enough road system for cycling to be okay and a fair amount of cycle lanes, and the river path of course extends to Troja and the zoo, but north of the bend away from the river is really not a good place to be cycling.

So firstly, my absolute favourite ride so far has been the one down the A2 to Závist, where the cycle path ends and joins onto the road, which also marks the Prague city limits. Remember though that Prague is small, and this path is flat and wide allowing you to cycle a bit more aggressively than you would normally. You're sharing this path with rollerbladers, who should as a rule be slower than you, so your journey down the river will just be non-stop bell ringing and overtaking.

It's very easy to do the full 15 odd kilometers from Jiraskovo Náměstí (outside the Dancing House), where the path starts, to the city limits in less than an hour. First you'll pass underneath Vyšehrad, and a word of warning - you're shifted onto the pavement at this point and required to get off your bike as you walk under the narrow bridge - policemen often lurk on the other side ticketing cyclists who don't. After this you're speeding down a wide cycle lane on the pavement and will pass the grand white palace-like Podolská Vodárna, then Žluté Lážně recreation park on the river side. After this the ride gets a bit more winding - some bits are way off road by the river and others are on road (or on the pavement) winding around certain buildings. You'll pass a big rollerskate club somewhere between Braník and Modřany where you can stop for a drink, and if you keep going, at the end of the cycle path (before it joins the road) you'll get to a big outdoor bistro/café at Závist where all the rollerbladers stop to turn back. You can continue down the road to Vrané nad Vltavou, the first medium sized town in the Central Bohemian region, or cross the bridge just before the café which will lead you to Zbraslav; it's quite a climb up the hill but worth it, as there's a very well visited chateau here.

You also have other options as to where to turn off. After Žluté Lážně when you come off the road, you go under Barrandovský Most (a huge dual carriageway bridge), and then you have a crossroad - you can go over the bridge, which takes you to Prokopské Údolí on the other side (you can also go this way on a road on the other side of the river to Zbraslav). The other way which leads further inland is the start of a very long trail along Kunratický Potok, which takes you to a few places of interest: Kunratický Les (a large forest, mainly made for walking but with a couple of cycle paths), Hostivař natural reserve and lake, where you can go swimming in summer, Jižní Město (I still maintain that seeing the largest housing estate in the Czech Republic is worth doing if you're a westerner) and out of the city to the chateau and park in Průhonice. If you're a hardened cyclist who doesn't mind long distances, you might continue down route 11 from Průhonice on to the Kozel brewery at Velké Popovice (I recommend doing the tour, but English tours have to be booked in advance).

There's then another turning off when you reach Modřany Zastávka railway station, this time along Libušský Potok. You follow the tram line for a little bit (on a separate cycle lane) then disappear into green as you follow the stream through a forest until it meanders south. Then you hit a junction with an on road lane and are faced with the choice of going north to Kunratický Les and joining the other path, or going south and out of the city. You can also reach Průhonice this way, but it's longer and less attractive.

The A1, which roughly follows the western bank of the Vltava, is a slightly more efficient way of getting quickly south (you can cross back over to the other side at Barrandovský Most) but isn't as attractive as the A2 and is mostly on road. Also, be careful! Do not, as I so very nearly did on my first go on it, nearly maroon yourself on one of the raised highway sections. You're likely to get onto it by crossing the railway bridge at Vytoň, just below Vyšehrad, and the road you should be cycling on until Barrandovský Most is the one with the tram going down it, which is NOT the first main road you come to but the next one further in. When you reach the bridge you can go over or continue down the road until the tram vires off onto its rather futuristic bridge section and the road brings you onto a path by the river. You can reach Zbraslav this way, or follow the Berounka, a tributary of the Vltava, past the industrial suburb of Radotín and to its first town outside city limits, Černošice (DO NOT attempt this if you're a hipster with a fixie bike, you'll need many gears to handle the wonky stone paths!). Hardened types can follow the path along the river to the town of Zadní Třebaň and then on an unfortunately awkward inland road diversion to the very well visited (and in my opinion over-hyped) Karlštejn castle.

And as I said, there are places to go north of the city as well. An ideal way to get to Troja and the zoo is by bike, following the river around the bend. The scenery is rather industrial and the path passes through areas destroyed during either World War 2 or the Soviet tank invasion in 1968 (can't remember), but in either case they haven't been cleaned up yet. Beyond Troja, you can enjoy the beautiful valleys and gorges of Podbaba on the west side of the river or Podhoří on the east. If you want to cross the river, there are a couple of ferries (přivozy) which will take your bike across for a fee. The last one, just outside of city limits, connects the town of Roztoky and its railway station to the village of Klecany, which sports many riverside bistros and is very popular with cyclists, rollerbladers and hikers alike. For serious cyclists, the path to Klecany goes on, roughly following the Vltava all the way to its confluence with the Labe in Mělník, but I personally would only ever consider doing this journey one way and getting the train back - the nearest mainline station to Mělník being Vraňany. On this note, train + bike is a good combination in Czech Republic if you find any cycle routes outside of the city, most intercity trains have guardsvans (úschova během přepravy) and slower trains will let you carry your bike as accompanied baggage for a fee of 20 crowns, payable on the train.

I could go on for ages - there's also a summer path which leads through the top of Žižkov to my favourite point in Prague, Krejcárek, but I've been told repeatedly that my love for this place makes me a very strange person. Prague may not be Amsterdam, or indeed Břeclav, but the two wheels and pedals are still a good thing to have, even if it's just for fun.

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Photos

Follow the Yellow Signs
Cycle routes in Prague - especially off-road ones - are usually clearly signposted with yellow signs and lined with cafés and bistros.

The Dancing House
Start here and follow the river south!

Podolská Vodárna
Photo by Martin Hapl - licensed CC-BY-NC-ND

Zbraslav Chateau
Photo by Charlotte Powell, licensed CC-BY-NC-ND

Motorway bridge in Radotín
Seen from the A1 - the Prague outskirts are full of weird surprises.

Troja Chateau
Photo by Susan Robinson

View from Krejcárek
And this is only part of it - there's a whole other side to this place as well.

Comments

[deleted_49612]

Great information! :)
I have added this blog to the useful blogs about Europe list. :) http://www.travelblog.org/Topics/22952-1.html#post_103376