Passengers from the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea can now use the automated eGATE border control system at Václav Havel Airport in Prague. The gates opened to these new groups on Friday, May 15th, marking a significant broadening of a system that had previously been restricted to citizens of EU and European Economic Area countries, as well as Switzerland. To use the gates, travellers must be 15 years of age or older and carry a biometric passport. The service is available only on departures outside the Schengen area. The move follows the launch of the Entry/Exit System — known as EES — across the European Union in April. Czech authorities say an earlier rollout was technically impossible. The EES, which tracks the movement of non-EU nationals crossing external Schengen borders, required technical adjustments to the airport’s existing automated gate infrastructure before third-country nationals could be admitted to the system. Ahead of a Record-Breaking Summer Prague Airport is approaching 20 million passengers annually, a figure that grows each year. The eGATE expansion is being rolled out deliberately ahead of peak season, when passenger numbers surge and pressure on passport control intensifies. Martin Kučera, board member responsible for operations and...
Walk into any Czech pub and ordering a “desítka” (ten) or a “dvanáctka” (twelve) is as natural as asking for a coffee. But that could change. The European Union is advancing a proposal to standardize beer labeling across member states — a move that could make the Czech degree system, rooted in 19th-century chemistry, obsolete. Under the draft regulation, the traditional measurement based on degrees Plato (°P) — which indicates the richness of the original wort before fermentation — would be phased out in favor of a simpler label showing alcohol content. If the plan moves forward, implementation could begin around 2031. The Plato scale has deep roots in Czech brewing. It was developed in the mid-1800s by Karel Napoleon Balling, a chemist who went on to serve as rector of the Prague Polytechnic. For Czech producers, the system is not just a technical standard — it is a cultural inheritance. “This has been our traditional method of taxation for roughly two hundred years,” said Tomáš Maier, an economist at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague. “I see no reason to change it. It is certainly not in the interest of the Czech brewing industry.” The proposal raises...
Prague has added cars at a pace nearly unmatched anywhere else in the European Union, according to data from Eurostat. Over the past decade, the number of registered passenger vehicles per 1,000 residents rose from 565 to 753 — a jump of roughly 190 vehicles per 1,000 people that ranks the Czech capital among the ten most motorised regions on the continent. In absolute terms, the shift is even more striking. Prague counted just over 821,000 registered passenger cars in 2013. By 2023, that figure had climbed to 1,186,209 — a 44 percent increase in ten years. Among EU regions, only two Italian areas and parts of Romania recorded similarly steep percentage gains. Romania’s case is largely a product of arithmetic: with only 242 cars per 1,000 residents in 2013 — well below the EU average of 493 at the time — even modest absolute growth translates into outsized percentage jumps. Prague, by contrast, was already above the EU average a decade ago, making its sustained rate of growth considerably more significant. The two Italian regions — Valle d’Aosta and the autonomous province of Trento — benefit from specific local tax arrangements that make vehicle registration there particularly attractive, which...
Prague is moving to green its streets with hundreds of trees engineered — through selection, not genetics — to survive the increasingly hostile conditions of a warming city. The plan calls for planting 900 climate-resistant trees across the capital over the next ten years, alongside climbing plants on building facades, as the city braces for the accelerating effects of climate change. The warming rate in Prague has nearly doubled over the past fifteen years compared to earlier measurements, according to a city climate report. The effort is already underway. This year, the city planted 23 trees along V Cibulkách Street in Prague 5. The next target is Pod Strašnickou vinicí Street in Prague 10. Individual species will be monitored over fifteen years, after which only the hardiest performers will be replicated across the city. Officials plan to use the findings to gradually replace existing urban trees — primarily lindens, maples, and acacias — which are increasingly struggling under current conditions. A project four years in, with modest results so far. The Klimastromy project launched in 2022, but the numbers on the ground have been slow to grow. Since its start, only 29 trees — elms — have been installed, at...
Long before air travel reshaped Europe, luxury trains defined how people crossed the continent. In Prague, that era has been brought back to life through a restored dining carriage dating to 1906, offering passengers a glimpse into how travel once looked—and tasted. The historic restaurant car, originally built in Smíchov by the Ringhoffer company, has been carefully restored and now operates on special routes departing from the Czech capital. Designed for the Swiss Dining Car Company, the carriage once served passengers across the railway network of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Guests are served a multi-course menu inspired by historical recipes, paired with drinks, in an interior that closely reflects its original design. The restoration itself took two years and required extensive work. According to the team behind the project at the Museum of Old Machines and Technologies in Žamberk, much of the carriage had to be rebuilt due to missing or damaged components. Specialists focused on preserving the smallest details, including brass fixtures and original-style lighting. Where original elements could not be saved, replacements were crafted using historical references to maintain authenticity. The culinary side of the experience was developed in collaboration with JLV, a catering company linked to Czech Railways....
One of Prague’s most distinctive open-air festivals is moving to a new home. Full programme at www.festivalarena.cz. Tickets are already on sale. ARENA, the annual celebration of theatre, new circus, music and visual art organized by the Forman Brothers Theatre, will take over Štvanice Island in Prague 7 from June 4 to 25. Entry to the festival grounds is free. The headline show is Bird’s Meeting, a production by the Forman Brothers inspired by the work of Persian mystic Fariduddin Attar. The piece is returning to Prague after a year-long tour of France and Belgium. Joining it are two international acts: French visual artist Boris Gibé with a new performance called Anatomy of Desire, and Belgian ensemble Les P’tits Bras with the acrobatic show Vent d’Ouest. The island will also host the Imaginarium — an interactive exhibition featuring installations, puppets, theatrical props, painted works and mechanical contraptions created by artists and collaborators of the Forman Brothers. It opens on May 10, ahead of the festival itself, and is designed for visitors of all ages. Štvanice Island was chosen deliberately. “We were looking for a place that would have its own character — open, by the river, with space for great...
A Prague appeals court has confirmed the sentence handed down to a tram driver who verbally attacked a Ukrainian family on a city tram last year. Daniel Bejvl must complete 200 hours of community service, attend a social training program, and pay the couple 55,000 Czech crowns in compensation. The ruling by Prague’s Municipal Court of Appeal is final and cannot be further challenged. Bejvl has maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings and declined to comment after Tuesday’s decision. What happened on tram 7 The incident took place on February 27 last year, on Prague tram line 7. A Ukrainian couple was traveling with their two-year-old grandson when the child began knocking on the driver’s cabin and jumping on the seats with his shoes on. At the Vršovické nádraží stop, Bejvl stepped out to confront the family, telling them they were “making a mess of the tram.” When he realized from their speech that they were Ukrainian, he repeatedly told them to get off or he would call the police. He also used the slur “fucking Ukrainians” and told them they had no right to be in the country. According to the court verdict, he also struck a 63-year-old man...
The Czech government has stepped away from earlier expectations that the country could adopt the euro by 2030. After a cabinet meeting on May 11, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said the government would no longer commission annual reports evaluating whether the country meets the conditions to join the eurozone. “There is no reason to revisit the issue every year. This government does not intend to adopt the euro,” Babiš said, adding that the decision should be left to a future administration in the early 2030s. The reports had been prepared jointly by the Czech Ministry of Finance and the Czech National Bank. They tracked the country’s progress toward meeting the economic conditions required for euro adoption and assessed how closely the Czech economy aligns with the eurozone. Those evaluations consistently pointed to strong economic ties with eurozone countries, particularly in trade and manufacturing. At the same time, they highlighted ongoing gaps in wages and prices, as well as structural differences that could affect how the Czech economy responds to external shocks. The country’s reliance on industry, for instance, makes it more sensitive to fluctuations in global demand than many eurozone economies. The decision to abandon the reports drew criticism from...
The Prague Spring Festival starts today, May 12th, with a program that moves from major orchestral performances to competitions, open-air events, and concerts by emerging artists. The opening concert takes place on Tuesday, May 12 at Smetana Hall in Prague’s Municipal House. The Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by chief conductor Petr Popelka, will perform Bedřich Smetana’s My Homeland. The performance will be broadcast live on Czech Television’s ČT art channel, its online platform, and Czech Radio Vltava. It will also be screened outdoors in Riegrovy sady and shared across digital platforms, extending access beyond the concert hall. From mid-afternoon, Riegrovy sady hosts a free public program combining workshops, smaller performances, and interactive activities. The evening ends with a live broadcast of the opening concert, set against the city skyline. The event is organized in partnership with energy group ČEZ and is open to all visitors without charge. Competition remains a central part of the festival’s identity. The Prague Spring International Music Competition reaches its final rounds on May 13 and 14 at the Rudolfinum. This year’s flute finalists include three French musicians, who will perform with the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Kaspar Zehnder. View this post...
Data released by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in its Roma Survey 2024 put a number to what many already knew: one in three Roma across the surveyed EU countries reported facing discrimination within the past year. In the Czech Republic, the figure is worse. The discrimination cuts across daily life — job applications rejected, barriers in healthcare, unequal treatment on public transport, exclusion from private services and educational opportunities. The survey documents a pattern that advocates have described for years but that mainstream policy has been slow to address. The findings came into fresh focus around International Roma Day on April 8, when President Petr Pavel received around twenty Roma community leaders at Prague Castle. Pavel estimated that roughly 250,000 Roma currently live in the Czech Republic, a number he framed as a reason — not an excuse — for urgency. Full integration of this community, he said, is a condition for building a genuinely tolerant and functional society. What Czechs Think — and Where They’re Wrong Public opinion data adds another layer to the picture. A survey by the Public Opinion Research Center conducted last August found that more than half of Czech respondents believe Roma...
Prague Airport will distribute 13.3 million crowns this year among districts and municipalities affected by increased noise levels caused by the temporary shift of flight operations to its secondary runway. The move comes as the airport undergoes modernization works on its main runway, which began in late March and are scheduled to run until August 14. The funds will go toward local projects including playground renovations, community gardens, school repairs, and tree planting. The airport confirmed the figures through its spokesperson, Denisa Hejtmánková. The payments are not legal compensation — the airport operates within established noise limits and is not breaching any regulations. Instead, they take the form of voluntary donations, structured through formal donation contracts, with amounts calculated based on the population of each affected area. The distribution follows a similar initiative from last year, when the same section of the main runway was closed for modernization over the same period and the airport paid out more than ten million crowns to surrounding communities. Prague 17 will receive three million crowns for the reconstruction of a playground on Laudova Street. Prague 6 has been allocated 2.5 million crowns, which will fund a community garden in the Dědiny neighbourhood and...
A total of 1.66 million domestic and international visitors arrived in Prague during the first quarter of 2026, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office. The figure marks a year-on-year increase of roughly five percent, continuing a steady recovery in inbound tourism. City officials say the growth came despite disruptions in global air travel linked to tensions in the Middle East. Germany remained the largest source market, with 178,105 visitors, followed by the United Kingdom with 117,682 and Italy with 99,755. Czech residents accounted for about one fifth of all arrivals, maintaining a stable domestic share. City officials point to a shift in visitor profiles and spending behaviour. “We are successfully attracting a more solvent clientele to Prague, who are looking for quality services and are also increasing their spending. We also encourage visitors to explore areas beyond the historic centre,” said Tomáš Slabihoudek, Prague councillor for culture and tourism. Ireland recorded the strongest percentage growth among source markets, with 23,071 visitors and a rise of 75 percent year-on-year. Officials link this increase partly to a new direct air connection between Prague and Cork, launched in the autumn. The Irish market was also supported by a promotional campaign tied...
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