Get there (car, bus, train, plane)
By car
The city is easily reachable from west, by D11 highway towards Hradec Kralove, then switch to I/36.The journey takes about an hour and half to travel and is about 130 kms long. The speed is limit on Czech highway is set to 130 kmph (80 mph). The drivers must buy a toll sticker (200 CZK= 8€ for a week) for legal driving on the Czech highways. They can be purchased at some petrol stations and other places near the highway entrances and have to be put on the front windscreen of the car before entering a highway. From Vienna, the shortest way is to take the E 461 through Brno and then turn left at the crossroads with E 442, which goes around the city, so you have to turn left again in the Pardubice‘s directon as soon as possible . The distance from Austrian metropolis to Pardubice is about 275 km (170 miles). The shortest way from the Slovakia is through Bratislava, and from there by the D2 highway to Brno, where you meet the route from Vienna described above. It is 275 km far from Pardubice. The parking on the right edge of the road is free, as well as in the shopping centers, but with almost no guarantee of safety. It is recommended not to leave valuable things in your car, or park in supervised car park, or use the parking inside your hotel, if available. The prices of supervised parking are usually between 15 and 25 CZK (0.6€ - 1€) an hour.
Warning: Beware of leaving your car in places where parking is prohibited. The police may fine you with 500 – 5000 CZK (20 – 200 €) or tow your car into the penal parking, where you have to pick up your car and pay 1500 CZK (60 €) for every day your car has been there.
By bus
The intercity buses normally stop at only one bus stop – Pardubice, aut. st. (short for autobusova stanice – bus station), which is also a public transport station. It is located by the crossroads of Palackeho and Hlavacova Street, about 500 metres far from the main train station. The bus transport is about 30% cheaper than the train transport in the Czech Republic. Even the comfort got better sice the Communist period, most buses have a ventilator and a lamp for every passenger in the inter-city lines. Within the city’s public transport, you may enter a bus or a trolley bus by any door, and validate the ticket immediately or buy it from the driver if you don’t have one. However, in the inter-city transport, you must enter it via the front door, because you are obliged to buy a ticket from the driver or show the ticket thet you have already bought.
By train
The main train station („Hlavni nadrazi“) is located in the Jan Perner square, halfway between city’s center and the suburbs. It is the largest train stain in the whole region, with many InterCity (IC) and EuroCity (EC) lines going through every day in direction of most major cities in Central Europe, e.g. Prague – Vienna(AT), Prague – Warsaw(PL), Prague – Cracow(PL), Prague – Kosice (SK), Prague – Zilina (SK), Prague – Bratislava (SK), Berlin – Budapest, Vienna – Hamburg, Budapest - Hamburg, Berlin – Vienna, Budapest – Praha and Prague – Arhus (DK), etc. Going by train is probably most comfortable and the fastest way how to get to Pardubice, the new railroads are available for speed over 200 kmph (125 mph). The journey to Prague takes less than one hour, to Vienna about 3 hours and 5 minutes with a direct line, the same time to Bratislava, to Berlin 5 hours and 45 minutes. The train seat-reservation tickets can be booked 60 days before the departure, the deadline is 3 days. You can also buy tickets online, on the Ceske Drahy webpage, but unfortunately, it doesn’t have an English version. Other option is to purchase the tickets in the place of departure – a train station. That is usually available 24 hours before the train departs for regional lines, a month for long-distance or international lines.
By plane
There are three regular lines every day to Moscow, one to St. Peterburg. Otherwise is the airport used mostly by the travel agencies and private flights or for irregular charter flights. Part of the airport is also used by the Czech Army Air Force, but it is tranforming from military to civil airport. If you want to travel to Pardubice (respectively Czech Republic), you should use the Prague airport (code: PRG). Prague has direct connection to most major European cities, indirect to all cities in the world.
