How to get to Terezin from Prague by public transport (2026) + local tips
There are a lot of tourist companies that offer Terezin guided tours from Prague, but since Terezin is so easy to get to by public transport, you will have no problems organising a trip to Terezin yourself and saving a bit of money at the same time!
While a guided tour often rushes you through the site in 3 hours, visiting independently allows you the time and silence this memorial deserves. You can also visit both the Terezin Memorial in the Small Fortress and then walk to the main Terezin Fortress (the main town).
I’ve been to Terezin a few times and on the last two occasions, I travelled by bus and also by train as I wanted to combine the trip with a longer walk.
MORE DAY TRIPS FROM PRAGUE
- Guide to Jewish heritage sites outside Prague >>
- Visiting Santini Architecture in Prague & beyond >>
PIN TO KEEP FOR LATER
The easiest way to get to Terezin on public transport
The easiest way to get to Terezin is to use the bus. It takes you directly to Terezin town (or stops 5 minutes walk from the Small Fortress). If you download PID Lítačka app you don’t need to worry about making yourself being understood by the driver and get your ticket independently using your payment card.
- 413 bus from Letnany
- Departs every hour (on the hour) daily (including weekends)
- 100 CZK one way ticket (concessions available)
- 50 minutes journey
- Get off at Terezin (town) or Terezin, U Pamatniku
MORE DAY TRIPS FROM PRAGUE
- How to get to Liberec from Prague on a public transport >>
- The complete guide to UNESCO listed sites in the Czech Republic >>
how to get to Terezin from Prague by bus
The buses for Terezin start from Praha, Letňany station, which is a metro station on line C and also a bus terminal with different bus stops scattered around. Depending on where you are staying in Prague, it might take you 20-25 minutes to get there using the Prague underground from the centre.
Once you are there, look out for Bus line number 413 and marked exit from the underground station to Terezin (also Litomerice, which is the final destination on this bus route).
The bus stop is the first one once you walk up the stairs from the underground and you will probably already see people standing in the queue.
Buses depart every hour on the hour, so that’s easy to remember and the journey takes approximately 50 minutes.
DAY TRIPS TO SOUTH BOHEMIA
Bus ticket cost
The cost of a bus ticket from Prague to Terezín is 100 CZK (Czech Koruna) if you don’t have a day, three day or monthly Prague Transport ticket (and only 80CZK if you do).
This is about £3.50 or $4.50 USD and it’s one way. You buy the ticket directly from the bus driver and you only need to tell him ‘Terezin’ or show how many tickets you need.
Children, students and senior citizens have usually 50% off, but be prepared to show ID – either valid student ID card, passport or driving licence (something that has your photo on).
There is no ‘return’ ticket that would be cheaper or return tickets – full stop – you just buy single ticket.
If you download the PID Lítačka app you can buy your tickets on your phone and also check the real-time departures.
Because Terezin is now integrated into the Prague wider public transport you pay less if you have Prague day or three days travel pass (and of course monthly travel pass too). Terezín is in Zone 4, so if your Prague pass has Zone P, 0, B you only need to buy a supplementary ticket for 4 zones.
How to pay for your ticket on the bus
You can pay by cash or card in most buses, unless the card reader is somehow not working. I always make sure I have some cash on me, because of that.
If you are paying by card, it’s best to buy tickets individually because that’s the way the system is set up. Even if you are buying tickets for you and your family, the driver will ask you to pay several times (by card) for each individual ticket. This is because the machine can’t print combined ticket.
Don’t ask me why…, but I know because once the driver forgot to do the tickets separately, the machine wouldn’t print the tickets and I had to prove that the payment went through by logging to my bank app on my phone and showing him that the payment indeed went through. Great fun for everyone involved (not…), especially as I had to wait for my international mobile data to catch up and log in.
I should also mention one little quirk, which I’ve noticed over the last few years. The bus arrives at the stop quite early – about 5-10 minutes early to have enough time to process the tickets. This means that the bus actually leaves on time, which never used to be the case, so make sure you arrive with plenty of spare time.
MORE DAY TRIPS FROM PRAGUE
- The best way to get to Karlstejn castle by public transport >>
- How to get to Kutna Hora by train or bus >>
Where to get off once you arrive at Terezin
The bus stops are displayed on the digital display board inside the bus, so you’ll know when to get off. There are always people who will want to get off at the same stop, but in case the bus is not that full, you need to indicate you want to get off by pressing the red ‘stop button’.
To start your tour of the Terezin from the Small Fortress, get off at ‘Terezín, U Památníku’ stop. If you want to start with the Terezin town (and the exhibitions of the Jewish Ghetto) stay on the bus and get off at Terezin (town).
You can walk between the Terezin town and the Small Fortress, but it’s a good 20 minutes, so you ideally want to plan your day, so that you walk it only once (don’t worry there is so much more walking you’ll be doing anyway).
The Magdeburg Barracks and the Crematorium are further out from the main town, so getting off at the Town Square (Náměstí ČSA) is best for the Ghetto Museum.
MORE DAY TRIPS FROM PRAGUE
How to get back to Prague from Terezin
The buses leave from the Terezin main town square (by the side of the exhibition about Terezin Ghetto – the old school) or you can also catch it at the Small Fortress. The bus itself starts from Litomerice (not Terezin), so it won’t be waiting at the stop much before the departure time.
The bus stop at the Small Fortress is on the opposite side where you’ve arrived and it’s on the main road towards Terezin town (it’s still about 7-9 minutes walk from the Small Fortress – it’s just over ½ km).
You will buy your ticket again at the bus driver as you get on or you can buy it through PID Litacka app on your smart phone.
MORE DAY TRIPS FROM PRAGUE
How to get to Terezin from Prague by train
There is no direct train connection to Terezin. The nearest stops are in Bohusovice nad Ohri or Litomerice.
You can get local buses from both train stations with a connection to Terezin.
The train journey is about 40 minutes from the Prague Main Train Station.
The train option is perfect if you want to experience Terezin, but don’t want to visit any exhibitions inside or perhaps just one or two particular ones. You don’t need an entry ticket to Terezin Town (The Large Fortress), so you can see all the buildings from the outside. You can also walk up to the Small Fortress and see the entrance and the commemorative field.
The historic walk from Bohusovice nad Ohri to Terezin
On one of my trips to Terezin I took the train to Bohusovice nad Ohri and walked to Terezin from there, which was about 40 minutes. This wasn’t just any walk, it was the same walk that the Jews had to take to get to Terezin as at the beginning of the war there was no train connection to the town.
Later, the Jews were made to build the train connection from Bohusovice to Terezin and you can still see the new special train building at the Bohusovice train station and also where the train would have run and connected with Terezin town.
MORE DAY TRIPS FROM PRAGUE
Once you visit Terezin town, you can continue to walk to Litomerice town (about 4 km – 1 hr walk) following the river Ohre.
It’s a very nice and easy walk and as one last reminder of Terezin, you’ll walk past the point where the Nazzis threw the ashes of more than 25 000 Jews who died in Terezin into the river as they were trying to cover their tracks at the end of the Second World War.
I found the walk very moving as it’s easily to imagine what it was like during the war as there are so many reminders still visible, like the train tracks and buildings. It did made me very sad walking this walk, but also more connected to this part of history then just reading a history book.
How much time to allocate for your Terezin visit
One thing I’ve found about visiting Terezin is that you need more time than you think. I’ve spent practically the whole day exploring the Terezin Town on one visit, because I walked from nearby Bohusovice nad Ohri train station.
The next time, I started with Terezin Small Fortress and still only just managed to see 2 places out of the ticket 4 places.
The website helpfully suggests that you need 2 hrs for the Terezin Small Fortress, but I spend more than 4 hrs there as there is so much to see.
If you want to see everything (all 4 attractions that are part of the one ticket), I’d suggest allocating a whole day to your Terezin trip and arriving as early as possible to get the most of your day.
My suggested itinerary
09:00: Bus from Letňany, get off at Terezin Small Fortress
10:00 – 12:30: Small Fortress & Memorial (Guided tours included in the entry price so start here). If you’d like to also visit the small fortress museum and have a longer walk around, leave at 8 am from Letnany to have more time).
12:30 – 13:30: Lunch in Terezín town (my favourite is a local cafe Kafírna na dvorku ).
13:30 – 16:30: Ghetto Museum, Magdeburg Barracks, and Crematorium.
17:00: Bus back to Prague from Terezin Main Square (if you like to spend more time to walk around the town, outer walls etc, buses leave frequently until late at night).
Is it worth going to Terezin by public transport than going on a guided tour?
I would say, that if you are visiting Prague on a budget or are used to travelling independently, then visiting Terezin by public transport is the best way to experience the town.
Not only it’s much cheaper – 200 CZK return ticket plus 310 CZK entrance fee to 4 different places around Terezin as opposed to around 1500 CZK for a guided tour, but it’s also more convenient.
Something that people don’t always realise, is that the Small Fortress at Terezin was the prison (and you need to buy a ticket to visit), but the whole Terezin town (aka the Large Fortress) was the Jewish Ghetto.
The Terezin town is free to enter (it’s like a ‘regular’ town now again…) and you can walk around all the buildings and see them from the outside (or buy ticket to visit the inside exhibitions, museums and displays).
The Terezín Memorial has their own guides at the Small Fortress and cost is included in the ticket. The tours are in various languages, start very frequently and are very comprehensive. I’m saying this, mainly because some Prague based tour companies like to say that if you don’t go with them, you won’t learn anything!
Travelling independently, you can spend as much (or little) time as you want to, as there are buses frequently running until late evening. The Terezin ticket is valid for 4 days because there is quite a lot to see (4 large areas), so if you want to, you can split your visit to Terezin into a couple of days (or more if you want to).
On top of that, there are also private museums and galleries, that you can also visit if you have the time.
Also, if you want to see Terezin, but don’t want to visit any museums or go into the small fortress, you can walk around the town and see everything from the outside for the price of a bus ticket.
Believe me, this still gives you a good understanding of what Terezin was like, it’s quite haunting even now and in some way, I’m glad that I first visited Terezin town before I saw the Terezin Small Fortress.
This blog post was originally written on 15 July 2024 and last updated on 22 January 2026
