The bars to lose track of time: The institution of Prague train station pubs

The institution of the Czech train station restaurant (‘nádražní restaurace’/’nádražka’) is another remnant of the past that persists to this day – but just about.

Imagine the winter train journey with an hour waiting in Ostrava-Svinov between trains. What could be better than sitting in the restaurant with a coffee or a shot of slivovice, while the train makes its weary way to you? Or the hot summer's day with an hour to kill in Olomouc - most agreeable to partake of a cold, refreshing glass of beer while you wait.

Year after year, a number of train stations’ pubs and restaurants across Czechia are forced to close their doors, yet many others survive, including some in Prague that function as real civic institutions and neighborhood staples. Here's a selection of some of our favorite ones.

This train station lies beyond the limits of where your lítačka would normally take you (Prague-West), so if your pass applies only to Prague, getting to Hostivice will cost you an extra CZK 23. And it is one of those trains that expects a lot of you – no real announcement of which train station you're stopping at, so have the timetable handy and stay alert.

It is worth the trip though. A beer will put you back a mere CZK 40, and they also provide a very affordable lunch – not your finest cuisine, but good enough for what it’s worth. It is the atmosphere that provides the greatest attraction: highly relaxed, but friendly and inclusive. The concerts they hold here are frequent and varied in genre, and always a perfectly joyous event. Just make sure to keep an eye on the time to catch the last train home.

This one lies at the very limit of lítačka territory, so no extra charge for the travel, and the train is easier to navigate than the previous one. It has a somewhat forbidding aspect from the outside, despite the presence of trees, bushes and general verdure, and the inside is a touch on the dark side, which also lends the place a certain measure of intimacy – a bit as if you were in the middle of a forest, and someone had kindly lent you their living room to wait out the battering storm.

The beer they have is a surprisingly pleasant Březňák, and the food is everything you would wish for in a place like that. Certainly far from the gastronomy of the Champs-Élysées, but if you want to survive winter, this is the business. Indeed, half of the nearby households order their lunch from this place, so you know it's the good stuff.

Just next to the Braník brewery, you have the Braník train station, contained within which, you have the train station pub - and a fabulous one it is too. Again, the food is hearty, good and affordable. The beer is, you guessed it, Braník, and you'll struggle to find a finer example.

More than the beer and the food, you're really travelling for the place itself, including a fine outdoor area to enjoy your refreshments while watching the trains. But the inside is really where it happens. It's an intimate sort of atmosphere, filled with highly animated conversations, heated by a real wood fire. Taking in the Braník train station restaurant is a real soul-warming experience and comes highly recommended.

This one is more expensive than the previous examples, but perhaps not quite so much as you might expect: CZK 79 for Pilsner Urquell. The food also isn’t cheap, and you'll have likely sampled better during your lifetime.

But this place is an actual "nádražka". There is no charming community feeling about the place, nothing of the warm and homely. This is where you duck in for a quick one and then rush to catch your train. And in that respect, it is more than serviceable. If you've a mind to, you can also simply sit down, watch the clientele come and go, and wonder what everyone's story is, where they’re coming from, or where they're heading to.

This one holds the record for the most expensive train station pub in the country. But to be fair, the lunch menu is completely affordable, and it's a very handsome spot. Newly reconstructed, it looks like a nice restaurant where you might even choose to celebrate a special occasion.

Travel a bit around the country, and you'll see more of this type of train station restaurant beginning to appear. You might wonder at the size of the market for quasi-fine dining in a train station, but either way, this is the new trend, so we might as well give it a shot.

Here we witness the change in progress. Not so many years back, they closed the restaurant at the Smíchov train station and are still in the process of rebuilding it. No doubt the future restaurant will be shiny and relatively dear.

What preceded it was an absolute institution called "Magor", named in reference to poet and leading figure of the anti-communist movement Ivan Martin Jirous. This train station pub was where he would convene with his fellow revolutionaries.

When it still existed, "Magor" had a fabulously welcoming communal atmosphere, fueled by Staropramen straight from the source, where you would find energetic political or artistic conversations, conducted with the fervor and sincerity of the mythical "Prague café". Only time will tell how much of this legacy the future place will uphold.

This one is the fighter, having survived two attempts (in 2019 and 2024) to close it down but saved by civil disobedience and the revolt of locals and regulars. Inside and adjacent to the lovely and quirky Dejvice train station, it’s been pouring beer for the young and old, blue-collar workers and artists, locals and travelers since 1873.

The Staropramen is cheap, the zelená plentiful and the food scarce. The atmosphere – lively, friendly and occasionally rowdy when live concerts are happening – is an absolute treat, giving a hint of anachronistic charm at the heart of a rapidly changing Prague 6.

Case in point: transformed and reformed, Stanice 6 stands on the edge of Stromovka park in the former Praha-Bubeneč station, closed to trains more than ten years ago before its reopening in 2024. A bit of an oddity compared to the others, it veers more towards the hipster vibes, with a bar-bistro also acting as an art gallery, community center, event space, gym, and bike-rental workshop run by the Bajkazyl folks.

The atmosphere is open and welcoming, the crowd diverse, with art students mixing and mingling with Sunday bikers and young families with children gleefully looking and waving at the passing trains. When in Prague 6, we recommend visiting both Dejvická nádražka and Stanice 6, and pick your champion.