Getting home after midnight in Prague: night trams 91 to 99 and Lazarská

The last metro leaves around midnight. The city does not stop, but the system changes shape. Day lines, with their many routes, give way to a thinner network of night lines that reach every part of the city by a different logic. If you know how it works, getting home at 2 am is routine. If you do not, you will stand at a day stop reading a timetable that ended at midnight.

The change is sharper than newcomers expect. By day Prague offers several ways to get almost anywhere. At night it offers one pattern, and the pattern is different from the daytime one. Learning it once is the whole task.

The shift at midnight

When the metro closes, night trams and night buses take over. They start soon after and run until the first day services begin in the morning. Exact times depend on the line and the day, and the PID website publishes them (as of 2026; check the official source).

Many day tram and bus lines also stop around midnight, so a stop that is busy at 6 pm may have no service at 2 am. Check that your stop appears on the night map. The most common surprise is a stop that is a few minutes from home on the day map and does not exist on the night one.

Numbering

Night tram lines carry numbers 91 to 99, and night bus lines are numbered from 900 upwards, which makes them easy to tell from day lines. A day bus route with a number in the hundreds is not the same as the night route through the same streets, so do not assume.

A night line often follows the route of a day line or a metro line, serving the same districts in a looser pattern. In outline, trams cover the inner city and the main radial routes, and buses reach the outer districts and the edges of the city.

The transfer point

The night network is built around a central transfer point at the Lazarská stop, in the New Town near Národní třída. Night lines are timed to arrive there at about the same time, so passengers can change without a long wait. To cross the city at night, the usual route is into the centre and out again.

That is a different logic from the day, when you change at a metro interchange. At night, plan around Lazarská. The practical consequence is that a night journey between two outer districts is rarely direct. It goes in to the transfer point, waits for the connection and goes out again. The wait is built in, and the timing is designed around it.

Frequency

Night lines run much less often than day lines. The intervals are in each line's timetable, and a missed connection costs real time. Check departures in the PID app and arrive early.

Fares

Your usual PID ticket is valid at night, for its normal period. If you need to buy one, use the PID app or a ticket machine before boarding, and validate paper tickets on boarding. The tariff and zone borders are the same as by day. A 30- or 90-minute ticket bought at midnight starts its clock at midnight, so a long wait at the transfer point eats into it.

Practicalities

Night vehicles are busy on weekend nights, and the stops in the centre are crowded, so keep an eye on your belongings. Taxis and ride-hailing are the alternative, priced differently.

The night network is adjusted for roadworks and special events, with notices at stops and on the PID website. Check them before a late journey on a holiday or festival night.

Where to find the night map

The PID website provides a night network map covering both tram and bus lines, showing the transfer point and line numbers, searchable by stop. Save a copy to your phone before going out.

The airport at night

The airport is linked to the city at night by night buses, as the airport article explains. The connection runs through the same transfer logic, and the timetable is thin, so a late arrival is a good moment to read the departures board carefully and to compare the cost of a taxi with the wait. A tired traveller with luggage may rationally choose the taxi. A resident making the journey regularly will want to know the bus.

Why it matters to a newcomer

Night transport is the part of the system that newcomers learn last, usually after an expensive taxi. The pattern is simple once you have used it once: head for Lazarská, check the board, and change. It is slower than the metro by day, and that is the price of a network that costs far less than the cab. If you are likely to be out late regularly, learn the one line that gets you home and keep the number in your phone.

The night map also tells you what to avoid. A stop that looks close to home on a day map may not appear on the night one, and the nearest night stop can be a longer walk than expected. Check this in daylight, before the first late evening, not at the stop.

Why a separate network

A city could in principle keep every day line running all night. Prague runs a thinner network built around a single transfer point instead. The design has an obvious shape: fewer lines, less frequent service and a change in the centre, with coverage of the whole city. Our article on the city budget explains how the city pays operators for the service that fares do not cover, which is the background to any decision about service levels.

For passengers, the design has a simple consequence. At night the network is not a mesh but a star, with Lazarská at the centre. A journey between two points that are close together but on different spokes can take longer than the distance suggests, because it runs through the hub.

Practical rules of thumb

Plan the way home before you go out, not after. Know your line number and your direction. Check the first departure after the time you expect to leave, and the one after that, in case the first is missed. Keep a taxi or ride-hailing app on your phone as a fallback for the nights when the plan fails. Tell a friend which line you will take if you travel alone. None of this is complicated, and none of it is needed on most nights. It is the work done in advance that makes the occasional bad night manageable.

Nights with a difference

Public holidays, festivals and major events change the picture. Extra services may be added or routes diverted, and the notices appear at stops and online. If you are out on such a night, check the PID website that afternoon rather than relying on what you remember from an ordinary Saturday.

A first step

Open the PID night map and find the nearest night stop to your home. Note the line number, its direction, and the Lazarská departure that connects to it. Take a screenshot, because mobile data and batteries are least reliable exactly when you need them.