super slider

driving monaco, france, italy ,austria , czech repulique , poland. only one i am concerned about is the czech part. anyone drove there , is it okay?
Michael

Brendan Hughes

Why? Czechs seem very advanced generally, I'd be more concerned about Poland TBH.

(Unless you're referring to the beer-drinking statistics...)

boxst

Hello

Note that the Foreign Office recommend not stopping for Police in Poland(!). I did and had to bribe them to let me go. Sigh.

Steve.

Jaybird-UK

standard of driving was a little scary, trucks over taking on blind bends and youngsters with little care for road manners

Lovely country though, want to go back again

BuRR

Road surfaces are crap, though.

Top place however.

super slider

Brendan (and everyone)
driven in france italy austria and been to poland for 3 months. never ben to czech, only know of prague but is that representative of the whole country (road wise)
thanks for your comments. feel much happier driving there now. i'll watch out for the police in Poland!

thecirsch

There is a bloke who posts on here from time to time called Verylba (aka Rob). He and his delightful lady Kate are both from Prague. He often drives back there. Although the last time he managed to turn the car over and write the Scoob off

He hasn't mentioned any problems. HOWEVER, in the event of a nasty accident get some good photos of the car including the engine as his one disappeared before any anyone from the insurance company got to view it. You have been warned

Jaybird-UK

Check the foreign office website

Poland link

Czech looks fine in comparison link here

BuRR

Super-slider..... send a message to Xzibit on www.clanplay.com. He's a good friend of mine who lives in Sadska (about 60km east of Prague)

He's a bit of a petrolhead, too, so any questions I'm sure he'll help you out.

Tell him I sent you.

Steve.

super slider

Jaybird, thanks for that. already had a look at it, and it does not sound the same place as i stayed at in poland for 3 months. it felt safe and everybody seemed friendlier than your average english person.
thanks BuRR , will email as soon as my email works (been playing up since last night)

paulr

Super slider..are you going on a driving holiday?

super slider

yes, via the monaco gp

super slider

paulr , for your reference here
Michael

RobinSherwood

Hi Michael,

I drove right through the Czech Republic three years ago (in from Germany, then out through Slovakia and into Hungary.

Had no real problems myself, though some other people on the same event (MSA Euroclassic) were stopped allegedly for speeding (some were and some were not) and the Czech police took their passports and wanted some 'consideration' for the return of documents which varied from money to sunglasses or whatever in your car took their fancy!

Don't let this put you off, forwarned is forarmed and we had a great time, roads generally not too bad and the Czechs are friendly.

I did get stopped in Slokakia and to this day I have ABSOLUTELY no idea why! The only English word the policeman knew was 'passport' and I know zero Slovak...... He didn't ask for anything to hand my documents back though so fair play to him.

Don't forget you will need an International Drivers Permit or IDP, I think the RAC can help you out with that if you are a member.

Oh and another thing no higher octane fuel so if you need to run 97RON take a few bottles of Octane Booster.

Regards

Robin

BuRR

I saw at least one Shell station in prague, and I'm sure they had some of that 100RON stuff that's for sale in Germany.

Xzib

Hey all, BuRR pointed me to this thread, soz for late reply.

Like BuRR said, the only negative thing which you will dislike in Czech are the roads, but it depends where exactly you go. For example highway from Prague to german borders (180km) is brand new, joy to drive. You will need motorway toll sticker to use highway here, 10 days sticker is about 5 euros.
If stopped by police officer, ofcourse demand bill for possible fine. For speeding you normally pay around 20 euros or higher, depends on the mood of officer.

High octane fuel is available on most gasstations, common is 98, @Shell you can get Shell V-power racing 100. ATM price went really high like everywhere. its around 1 euro/1 liter for 98RON. For beer lovers, price of 0,5litre of Pilsner is 0,5 pound (or even less)

If you need anything else feel free to ask here or PM me
Xzib

Hakon

With regards to paying off the police for speeding, they will try to over charge you initially as they think we are all loaded. Carry about 500-1000 crowns in your pocket and hide the rest elsewhere. When pulled and asked for 2-3k fine, pull out 500 and shrug shoulders. They then might pretend to call in your details from the police car ( them deciding between themselves if they will try for more or just take it ). If they are persisitant, offer to go to the local cash machine.... that usually shuts them up.
For minor traffic infringements never pay more than 200-300 and always haggle !
On the motrway at night, be very wary of coming up on old skodas etc of the 2 cylinder variety doing 30mph with no rear lights.
Other than that enjoy the great driving roads !

ozzy

Drove around the west of the Czech Republic two years ago for around 3 weeks. Other than getting used to driving on the right I found it just as easy as the UK.

Main roads were in very good condition and new motorways around Prague made getting around pretty easy.

Depends where you heading, but some of the places I went to were Ceske Budejovice, Cesky Krumlov, Strakonice, Plzen, Karlovy Vary, Cheb, Teplice, Usti na Labem and I found the roads in very good nick.

Prague was a bit mental and like most Eastern European countries watch for the cops. When we were there, they changed road signs and then sat waiting for anyone to turn into the street. Then they stopped everyone and gave them spot fines. Even the locals don't like those sort of tactics as most say the money goes straight into their pockets.

Also, if you head off the major roads then watch out for railway crossings as the majority will have no barriers and the smaller ones have no warning alarms - you have to listen out for the trains horn.

Stefan