Laws that tourists usually break on their visit to Prague

Many people visit Prague thinking that rules and laws are not enforced as strictly as in other countries, or they simply don’t know the rules. Well, let me list a few, that you should know of. 

Drinking in public is illegal (sort of)

Many people come to Prague thinking it’s legal to drink alcohol in public. No wonder, many guides, and YouTubers tell them it’s ok. Unfortunately, that is actually not entirely true. There are more than 831 locations, (map here) where it is not allowed to drink alcohol, including beer and wine. Ironically, it is forbidden to drink alcohol for example on Old Town Square or Wenceslas Square, but there are many stands, selling alcohol. The city ordinance does take this into account by stating, that drinking next to the stand that sold you alcohol is fine. How far is “next to” is not defined… 

Honest walkaround
Drink in a pub, or with a local, so you won’t get into trouble. 

Writing on the John Lenon wall can result in 1 year in prison

Even us the Honest Guides told you to “tag yourself on the Lennon wall” in one of our videos. Well, times have changed and the owners of the wall are not happy with what the wall has turned into. So they repainted it and said it should only serve as an outdoor gallery with a specifically designated area to write on. Unfortunately, nobody knows what that “area” is, so in a way cops can get you for writing or tagging on the wall. And by the Czech law that is punishable by up to 1 year in prison. 

Honest walkaround
There are legal graffiti walls in Prague where you can write and spray. One is near the Barrandov bridge, mentioned here in our video.

It is forbidden to ride a bicycle in Prague (sort of)

This make’s no sense right? Well, it is actually true (partially). If you own a bicycle that is wider than 1.2 meters (that’s 3.93701 feet or 47.2441 inches – thank God for the metric system) you can’t ride it in the city center of Prague. Well, you may be asking yourself, is there such a thing as a bicycle that is wider than 1.2 meters? And the answer is yes. It’s these crazy beer bikes, that were serving tourists to drink beers and roam Prague at the same time. The city didn’t like the idea and the only restriction they could come up with to ban these beer bikes was a new traffic sign that prohibits bicycles that are wider than 1.2 meters (width of the beer bike) from entering the city center. The downside of this is thousands of new signs that had to be installed all around the city.

Honest walkaround
You will be fine on your normal bike. Just don’t drink beer at the same time, your driver’s license could be taken away. 

Thank you for reading the Honest Blog. To see more interesting laws and city ordinances, watch our latest video on this topic. 

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