If You Are a Beer Lover, You Must Visit Pilsen!

If someone mentions the name of Pilsen, we immediately associate it with beer. And not just any beer. Pilsner Urquell is a famous brand all over the world. The very first Pilsner beer – today, 71% of the world’s production is made this way and over 80% of all beer brands use this method. If you visit Pilsen in West Bohemia, you don’t just have to drink the beer, there are also other beer-related attractions waiting for you – from a visit to the brewery to a beer bath!
1. BEER BATH
The first thing I was offered upon my arrival in Pilsen was a beer bath. It sounded truly tempting, who wouldn’t want to try something like that?!
The beer bath is located in the area of Purkmistr – Pivovarský dvůr Plzeň in the southern part of the city (Pilsen – Černice). You can get there by public transport (bus or trolleybus) or by car (approx. 7 km, 11 minutes). We took a taxi.

We had to wait a while at the reception before they filled the tubs with a special kind of Pilsner beer with a temperature of 35°C. The tubs are for one person or as a romantic bath for two. However, when you open the sliding door, you can enjoy the bath with friends.

During the whole time (20 minutes), we could tap beer from the keg next to the tub without limit.
I was a little disappointed that there was little foam in the tub, but otherwise, the procedure was genuinely pleasant. Such a beer bath is relaxing, stimulates metabolism and softens the skin. By the way, they also offer original beer cosmetics for men and women that use hop extract.

We were provided with towels and bathrobes as well. After the bath, we rested on the bed in the relaxation room for another 15 minutes.
If you’re not such a big fan of beer that you wouldn’t like to bathe in it, you can try something else from the rich offer: chocolate or coconut massage, hemp, lavender, peat, rose, apricot or hop detox bath. There is also a restaurant and a hotel in the area.
Address: Selská náves 21, Plzeň 8 – Černice
Beer Bath – Opening hours: daily from 10:00 to 21:00.
Reservation: by phone: +420 377 994 366 or by e-mail: lazne@purkmistr.cz
More information: https://www.purkmistr.cz/en/

2. BREWERY TOUR
We entered the premises through the Jubilee Gate. Beer experts are probably familiar with this building. You can find it on the red seal as part of the Pilsner Urquell logo. The gate was built in 1892 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the brewery’s founding.

In front of us, we saw several old buildings with chimneys. This is the historic brewery. However, we first entered the Visitor Center where the tour begins.

In the introductory part, we learned about the history of the brewery, which began in 1842. That was when the local families who had the right to brew beer decided to brew it together. However, this required a skilled brewer who could brew a quality and tasty beer. Therefore, a German expert, Josef Groll, was called to Pilsen from Bavaria. Groll used his expertise, and let the beer sit and mature for 30 days. He thus brewed a beer completely different from the one that had been brewed in Pilsen before – a lager. Thus began the history of the legendary beer brand Pilsner Urquell.

At the beginning of the tour, we also saw beautiful crystal beer glasses, made for the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I, who visited the brewery twice. He even left his signature here – truly authentic – with a mistake! He started to sign his name in German as Franz, realised it at the letter “z”, changed it to “t” and signed in Czech. Our guide joked that maybe the emperor had made a mistake because he had already drunk a few beers…

We also saw a fully functional beer bike…

… and also one of the wagons that were used to transport beer instead of horse-drawn carriages. They had double walls. In the summer, they were filled with ice and in the winter, with straws to keep the beer at the right temperature.

The green bus was already waiting for us, it takes visitors around the grounds. On the way, we noticed a 50 m high water tower. This water reservoir was built in the beginning to make the brewery independent from the city. They even had their own power plant.

The bus took us to the modern part – the Central Packaging Hall. This building, along with the warehouse, takes up the area of five football pitches! From the balcony, we watched the bottles being washed, filled and labelled. 120,000 bottles are filled here per hour. On the other two lines, beer cans were being set in motion.

In the Raw Materials Exhibition, we watched a film about beer production and the history of the brewery. Through our sensory organs, we could get to know the raw materials used to produce this famous lager. A unique yeast strain, which causes the typical taste of Pilsner beer, is kept in a special bank here. There are only three places in the world with such a bank: London, Prague and Pilsen.

We also visited brewhouses – historical ones from 1931, as well as modern ones from the 21st century. Their daily capacity is almost 3 million pints of beer!

The tour of the beer cellars was just as interesting. They are 9 km long and were cut by hand. The temperature here is stable – around 5°C, so don’t forget to bring some warmer clothes.

Most of the cellars are no longer in use as the production process has been greatly modernised. Nevertheless, there are still big oak barrels full of beer. A so-called beer blanket forms on the surface. And from one of the barrels, we were also given such unfiltered and unpasteurised beer. After almost two hours of tour, a well-deserved reward!

I recommend a peek into the shop as well. In addition to the traditional magnets and various types of clothing with beer inscriptions and pictures, you can buy various beer glasses (also with your name on them), coasters and even a whole meter of beer!

By the way, this tour won the award for the best brewery visitor tour in Europe in 2024 as part of the prestigious international World Travel Awards!

For more information about the tours in EN, DE and ES (including online ticket sales): visit Prazdroj
More information about the brewery: Pilsner Urquell
3. VISIT THE BREWERY MUSEUM
Another attraction I couldn’t miss in Pilsen was a visit to the Brewery Museum in an old brewery building from the 15th century.

Beer has been brewed in Pilsen since the city was founded in 1295. At first, it could be brewed by every inhabitant of the town and the surrounding villages, later, only by those who obtained a special right. These were the owners of about 290 houses inside the town walls. As brewing beer caused an unpleasant smell in the town and increased the risk of fire, small breweries moved outside of the town walls. The first municipal brewery was founded in 1501, and thus the boom of the town began.

At the museum, we saw a variety of historic brewing and malting tools, such as this Colourmeter used to determine the colour of young beer.

Besides the historical facts, I was amused by the various fun information, especially the entries from the Guinness Book of World Records (the largest beer glass, the largest beer keg, the largest number of full beer glasses lifted with one hand…). How many pieces do you think it took to build the biggest beer coaster house without using glue? 250 thousand beer coasters!
The collection of beer glasses, tankards and vessels – made of wood, various natural materials, pewter, ceramics, stoneware, porcelain or glass – was interesting as well.

I tried to imagine what it must have been like to drink beer from a tankard with three handles (a “friendly goblet”) or from funny tankards with holes…
They also display objects related to the production and distribution of beer, which are now collected by collectors all over the world: beer labels, coasters, postcards, bottles, glasses and stoppers. In one room, you will find a collection of beer bottles from various Czech breweries.

In another room, you will visit a typical Pilsner restaurant from the 1930s, which served an important social function. Many Czech personalities (Kafka, Čapek, Hašek…) came here.
Opening hours and further information: Brewery Museum in Pilsen

The museum also offers access to another attraction (with an extra ticket) – a visit to the historical underground. I didn’t manage to take this tour, so I’m saving it for my next visit to Pilsen.

4. BEER FESTIVALS
Throughout the year, Pilsen hosts various beer-focused events and festivals. For example, there is the Brústok – a beer-cultural festival or the Sun in Glass – a festival of Czech and foreign microbreweries. I came to Pilsen on the first weekend in October, and that’s the time when the big beer festival Pilsner Fest takes place. It was October 5, the 182nd anniversary of the brewing of the first batch of Pilsner Urquell lager.

The festival was held all over the brewery grounds. After buying a ticket, we were given a festival wristband with a chip, which we could then use to pay.
There was live music, various accompanying programs, interactive shows, beer quizzes, special tours of the brewery and the cooperage, and most importantly, there was a lot of food…

…and even more beer.

You could also try out the tapping school and learn how to tap a “hladinka” (in one go, so as to immediately create foam to the rim of the glass), a “shnyt” (less beer, more foam) or a “milk” (lots of thick creamy foam, this beer is sweeter).

For dates of the events, please see: visit Pilsen
5. WASH DOWN GOOD FOOD WITH GOOD BEER
What would a visit to Pilsen be like if we didn’t just taste beer, but also good food? Our choice fell on Pilsen’s oldest restaurant with the hotel U Salzmannů, where beer has been drunk since 1637.

For starters, our group shared a plate of spicy pork belly, blue cheese spread, pickled sausage and camembert. I then chose the duck leg confit with red cabbage and potato and hairy dumplings as my main course. The dumplings were truly “hairy” and the dish was delicious.

In addition to the traditional Czech cuisine, you can taste unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell beer, tapped from the restaurant’s beer tanks. Cheers!

More information about the restaurant: U Salzmannů
More information about Pilsen: https://www.visitplzen.eu/en/
More information about the Pilsen region: Home – EN