Pilsner Urquell Brewery

The Pilsner Urquell Brewery is the most important brewing site in the world. Founded in 1842 as the Citizens' Brewery of Plzeň (Měšťanský pivovar), it has operated continuously ever since on the same plot of land southeast of the old town. The brewery complex is large — around 26 hectares — and the guided tour takes you through the full production process, from the malting house to the fermentation cellar.

The highlight of any tour is the descent into the sandstone cellars beneath the brewery, where unfiltered, unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell is poured straight from oak conditioning barrels. This is the beer as it was originally made — cloudy, slightly yeasty, softer than the bottled version — and it is exceptional. Tours run several times daily in Czech and English; book in advance online, especially in summer. After the tour, the Na Spilce restaurant on the brewery grounds serves Czech food alongside tank beer in a cavernous hall that seats hundreds but rarely feels crowded. The brewery museum inside the complex chronicles the full history of the Pilsner style.

things to do museum sight
A story
When Bavarian brewer Josef Groll arrived in Plzeň in 1842, the city's burghers were so disgusted with the quality of local beer that they had publicly poured 36 barrels down the drain. Groll used Bohemian soft water, locally grown Saaz hops, and a new bottom-fermentation technique imported from Bavaria. The pale golden result was so unlike any beer seen before that it created an entirely new category — and roughly 90% of all beer brewed worldwide today is descended from that first batch.