14 Things to Do in Plzen, the Home of Pilsner Beer

Plzeň is a one or two-day city built around a single fact: the pale golden lager the whole world now calls pilsner was first brewed here in 1842, and the brewery that did it still runs tours through the same cellars. Around that sit the tallest church tower in the Czech Republic, 20 km (12.4 mi) of medieval tunnels under the old town, and the largest synagogue in the country. Plzeň is 90 km (55.9 mi) south-west of Prague on the D5 motorway, which makes it the most rewarding day trip out of the capital that does not involve a castle. Czechia uses the Czech koruna, not the euro, so every price below is in koruna first, converted at the rate of 10 September 2026.

The city has 187,863 residents, which makes it the fourth largest in the country after Prague, Brno and Ostrava. Older guides that give Plzeň a population of over 600,000 are quoting the Plzeň Region, not the city.

Things to do in Plzen

The 14 things to do in Plzeň are listed below, starting with the three that share one street and one ticket desk.

1. Pilsner Urquell Brewery tour. The Pilsner Urquell brewery at U Prazdroje 7 was founded in 1839, and in 1842 the Bavarian brewmaster Josef Groll brewed the first batch of pale bottom-fermented lager here, which is where every pilsner since comes from. The standard tour runs 100 minutes in Czech, German or English and covers the bottling hall, the ingredients exhibit, the historic and modern brewhouses and 9 km (5.6 mi) of cellars, ending with a 0.3 l glass of unfiltered, unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell poured straight from an oak barrel. Adult admission is CZK 430 (about €17.75, $20.60, £15.25). The tasting is for visitors aged 18 and over, under-3s go free but still need a ticket, and tours are sold through an online calendar rather than at the gate.
2. Pilsen Historical Underground. Roughly 20 km (12.4 mi) of cellars and corridors were dug under the old town from the 14th century onwards, and about 800 m of them are open to walk through, past a working 16th-century water wheel and an 1847 pumping engine. Admission is CZK 190 (about €7.85, $9.10, £6.75) for adults and CZK 150 (about €6.20, $7.20, £5.30) for children, and every adult ticket comes with a pivanka voucher for a 0.3 l Pilsner Urquell at selected Plzeň restaurants. The entrance and ticket office are inside the Brewery Museum at Veleslavínova 58/6, and the tunnels open daily 10am to 5pm all year except January. Wear shoes with grip, because the floor is uneven and damp.
3. Brewery Museum. The Brewery Museum occupies one of the few surviving medieval brewery buildings in Plzeň, on the same Veleslavínova address as the underground entrance, with a Gothic malthouse, stone soaking vats, historic kilns and a recreated 19th-century pub interior. Adults pay CZK 150 (about €6.20, $7.20, £5.30), children aged 6 to 15, students and seniors CZK 120 (about €4.95, $5.75, £4.25), children aged 3 to 6 CZK 50 and a family CZK 410 (about €16.90, $19.65, £14.55). It opens daily 10am to 6pm from April to September and 10am to 5pm from October to March, and closes for the whole of January along with the tunnels below it.
4. Great Synagogue. The Great Synagogue on Sady Pětatřicátníků was built between 1888 and 1893 to a design by the Viennese architect Max Fleischer, adapted by the builder Emanuel Klotz, in a Romanesque style with Moorish elements and twin 45-metre towers. It is the largest synagogue in the Czech Republic, the second largest in Europe after Budapest and the fifth largest in the world; guides that call it the third largest in the world are overstating it. Admission is CZK 140 (about €5.75, $6.70, £4.95), reduced CZK 110 and a family ticket CZK 350, with children under 10 free. It opens Monday to Thursday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm, and closes on Friday and Saturday, which catches out anyone planning a weekend around it.
5. St Bartholomew’s Cathedral and its tower. The Gothic cathedral on Republic Square was built between the 13th and 16th centuries and its spire reaches 102.26 metres, the tallest church tower in the Czech Republic. Nearly 300 stairs take you to the viewing level, which puts the whole city and the hills beyond it below you. Inside, the medieval Plzeň Madonna is the piece to look for. The church is free to enter; the tower is ticketed separately at the door.
6. Republic Square and the Town Hall. Náměstí Republiky is one of the largest medieval squares in the country and has been the city’s meeting place since Plzeň was founded in 1295. The Renaissance Town Hall on its north side carries a sgraffito facade of coats of arms and historical scenes, and its entrance hall holds a 3D model of the historic centre that is free to look at during opening hours. Standing in the square and working out which of the four landmark buildings to do first is the correct way to start a day here.
7. Techmania Science Center. Techmania fills 7,000 square metres of a former Škoda works with interactive physics, chemistry, space, nature and technology exhibits, and it houses the country’s first 3D planetarium. It is the strongest wet-afternoon option in Plzeň and the one attraction here that holds children for three hours without argument. Shows in the planetarium run to a timetable, so check it before you set off rather than on arrival.
8. Plzeň Zoo. The zoo and botanical garden at Pod Vinicemi began in 1926 as a project of the IRIS nature conservation group and moved to its present 21-hectare site, merging with the city botanical garden, in 1981. It keeps more than 1,200 species arranged by geographic region, alongside a children’s zoo, an aquarium and a rainforest pavilion. Allow a half day and be aware that the site is steep in places.
9. Patton Memorial Pilsen. The museum records the liberation of Plzeň by the US Third Army under General George S. Patton on 6 May 1945, which is the single piece of history most American visitors come here for and the reason the city holds a Liberation Festival every May. Displays cover the campaign, the occupation years and the decades in which the Czechoslovak state refused to acknowledge that the Americans had come at all.
10. West Bohemian Museum. The Západočeské muzeum is the regional collection, in a Neo-Renaissance building near the square, and its armoury of medieval and early modern weapons is the exhibit that justifies the visit on its own. It also covers regional archaeology, applied arts and the city’s history.
11. Loos Interiors. Adolf Loos, the architect who wrote Ornament and Crime, designed more surviving interiors for private clients in Plzeň than anywhere else outside Vienna, and several of the apartments are shown on guided tours run by the city. Nowhere else lets you walk through that many Loos rooms in an afternoon. Tours are scheduled and ticketed in advance rather than open access, so book before you travel.
12. J.K. Tyl Theatre. The J.K. Tyl Theatre is the city’s professional company, working across three stages and staging drama, opera, ballet and musicals. Attending a performance costs a fraction of what the equivalent seat costs in Prague, and the opera in particular punches well above the size of the city.
13. Old Jewish Cemetery. The old cemetery on the western edge of the centre holds gravestones from the late 19th century and is the quietest corner of Plzeň. Read it together with the Great Synagogue and the Patton Memorial and the 20th century in this city makes a great deal more sense.
14. Měšťanská beseda. The Burgher’s Hall of 1901 is a Neo-Renaissance cultural house with a concert hall, a cinema, a café and a restaurant, and it functions as the city’s living room rather than as a museum. Going in for coffee costs nothing and is the easiest way to see the interior.

The best museums in Plzen

The strongest museum in Plzeň is the Brewery Museum, because it is the only one that explains the thing the city is famous for. The four below cover the rest of what the city holds.

• Brewery Museum, Veleslavínova 6. A medieval malthouse and brewery with a 2026 price list of CZK 150 for adults, CZK 120 reduced and CZK 410 for a family. Closed in January.
• West Bohemian Museum. Regional archaeology, applied arts and an armoury of medieval and early modern weapons that is among the largest collections of its kind in Central Europe.
• Patton Memorial Pilsen. The American liberation of western Bohemia in May 1945, told from the city’s side.
• Techmania Science Center. Hands-on science across 7,000 square metres of former Škoda works, with the country’s first 3D planetarium.

Things to do in Plzen with kids

Plzeň handles children better than most Czech cities of its size, because two of its four biggest attractions were built for them. The four options below are listed by how long they hold attention.

1. Techmania Science Center. Interactive exhibits plus a 3D planetarium, indoors, with a café. This is the one that fills a whole wet day.
2. Plzeň Zoo. More than 1,200 species on 21 hectares shared with the botanical garden, with a children’s zoo and a rainforest pavilion. Half a day at least.
3. The Historical Underground. Tunnels, a water wheel and a pumping engine, at CZK 150 for a child. It is dark and uneven underfoot, so it suits older children rather than toddlers.
4. Republic Square. Traffic-free, flat and ringed by cafés, with the cathedral tower to climb at one end for anyone tall enough to manage nearly 300 steps.

Where to eat and drink in Plzen

Plzeň eating is beer-hall food and it is done well, so the question is which hall rather than which cuisine. All three below were confirmed trading in September 2026.

• Na Spilce, inside the brewery yard. Na Spilce sits in the former fermenting cellars of the Prazdroj complex and is the largest beer hall in the city, pouring Pilsner Urquell metres from where it is made. The summer garden pub opens daily 10am to 10pm. It is a traditional Czech beer hall, not the modern fusion restaurant some listings describe.
• U Salzmannů, Pražská 90/8. One of the oldest pubs in Plzeň, with 200 seats indoors, two terraces seating another 100 and an upstairs room for 50. It opens Monday to Thursday 11am to 11pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to midnight and Sunday 11am to 10pm.
• Na Parkánu, beside the Brewery Museum. The museum’s own restaurant is the reliable place in the centre for unfiltered Pilsner Urquell alongside plain Czech cooking, and it is where the underground tour spills out afterwards.

Order svíčková na smetaně, marinated beef sirloin in cream sauce with bread dumplings and cranberries, at least once, and smažený sýr, fried breaded cheese, if you want the pub classic. Our guide to Czech dishes and local specialties explains what else is on a Czech menu and why half of it involves dumplings.

Where to stay in Plzen

Stay in the city centre if you are here for a night or two, because everything on the list above except the zoo and Techmania is inside a fifteen-minute walk of Republic Square. The three areas below cover the alternatives.

• City centre. Republic Square, the cathedral, the Great Synagogue, the Brewery Museum and the brewery itself are all walkable, and Hotel Rango and Courtyard by Marriott both sit in this zone. It costs more per night and it saves you every tram fare.
• By the brewery and the station. The strip opposite Plzeň main station and the Prazdroj gate, where Vienna House Easy by Wyndham Pilsen stands, suits anyone arriving by train with an early brewery tour booked.
• Bory and Slovany. The residential districts west and south-east of the centre are cheaper, quiet, and connected to the middle by frequent trams. Budget an extra fifteen minutes each way.

Plzeň rooms cost substantially less than Prague rooms for the same standard, which is the main argument for sleeping here rather than day-tripping. Compare hotels in Plzen before you fix dates, because the Liberation Festival in early May and the autumn Pilsner Fest both fill the centre.

How to get to Plzen

Plzeň is 90 km (55.9 mi) from Prague and the train from Prague hlavní nádraží takes about 1 hour 30 minutes, which is faster than the bus and drops you a ten-minute walk from the square. Buses run by RegioJet and FlixBus take around 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes depending on traffic on the D5 and usually undercut the train on price. Both run frequently enough that turning up and buying at the counter works, though booking ahead is cheaper. Compare trains and buses to Plzen in one place rather than checking each operator, since the cheapest option moves by time of day.

Plzeň has no passenger airport, so international arrivals come through Prague Václav Havel Airport, roughly 90 km (55.9 mi) away and about 1 hour 15 minutes by road. Inside the city, trams and buses cover everything and the network is cheap; the Plzeň Card bundles transport with entry to a number of museums and galleries, which pays off if you are visiting three or more paid sites in a day. If you would otherwise be paying roaming charges for maps and timetables, an Airalo eSIM installs on one phone before you fly and the code HARRY5578 takes €3 off.

A car is worth having only if you are continuing into western Bohemia, to Karlovy Vary or the Šumava foothills, because everything in Plzeň itself is walkable or a tram ride. If you do want one, compare car hire rates for a Prague or Plzeň pick-up. The rest of the country is covered in our guide to Czechia.

How many days do you need in Plzen?

One full day covers Plzeň, and two days covers it comfortably. A single day works if you book the brewery tour for the morning, do the Brewery Museum and the underground on the same Veleslavínova ticket desk afterwards, and finish with the square, the cathedral tower and the Great Synagogue. A second day adds Techmania or the zoo, the West Bohemian Museum, the Patton Memorial and a Loos interior tour. Most people come as a day trip from Prague, which is enough for the beer half of the list and nothing else.

Is Plzen expensive?

Plzeň is inexpensive, and cheaper than Prague on rooms, food and beer alike. The currency is the Czech koruna, not the euro, and at the rate of 10 September 2026 one euro bought about CZK 24.25. The paid attractions sit between CZK 140 and CZK 430, so two adults can do the brewery tour, the museum and the underground for around CZK 1,540 (about €63.50, $74, £54.50) in a day. Cards work almost everywhere. Decline the offer at an ATM or a card terminal to be charged in dollars or euros, because the rate applied is always worse than your bank’s.

Plzen FAQ

What is Plzen famous for?

Plzeň is famous for pilsner. The Pilsner Urquell brewery brewed the first pale bottom-fermented lager here in 1842 under the brewmaster Josef Groll, and every beer sold as a pilsner anywhere in the world descends from that batch. The city is also known for Škoda’s engineering works, for being liberated by the US Third Army in May 1945, and for having the tallest church tower in the country.

What language do they speak in Plzen?

Czech is the language of Plzeň, with a local dialect that carries some vocabulary from the Northern Bavarian dialects across the nearby German border. English is spoken at the brewery, in hotels and at the main attractions, and less so in neighbourhood pubs.

How many people live in Plzen?

About 188,000 people live in Plzeň, which was recorded at 187,863 in 2026. That makes it the fourth largest city in the Czech Republic. Figures above 600,000 that circulate online describe the Plzeň Region rather than the city.

What time zone is Plzen in?

Plzeň is on Central European Time, UTC+1, and moves to Central European Summer Time, UTC+2, from late March to late October.

What is the weather like in Plzen?

Plzeň has a temperate climate with four clear seasons. Summer highs from June to August generally sit around 23–25°C (73–77°F), and winter temperatures from December to February hover near freezing and drop below it regularly. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable months to walk the city.

Is Plzen safe?

Plzeň is a safe city, with low violent crime and the ordinary pickpocketing risk in crowds around the square and at festival times. The historic centre is well lit and walkable at night.

Is Plzen worth visiting?

Plzeň is worth visiting for the brewery, the tunnels and the synagogue, and it is worth an overnight rather than a day trip if you want more than the beer. It sees a fraction of Prague’s crowds, costs noticeably less, and it is the only place in the world where you can drink unfiltered Pilsner Urquell out of an oak barrel in the cellar it was aged in. For a wider view of what else the country holds, see our guide to facts about Czech Republic and, in December, the Prague Christmas Markets.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 5 tips below come from re-checking Plzeň’s 2026 prices and opening days in September 2026, and each one is a scheduling trap rather than general advice.

1. Do not plan a Saturday around the Great Synagogue. It opens Monday to Thursday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm, and closes Friday and Saturday. Adults pay CZK 140, reduced CZK 110, a family CZK 350, and children under 10 go free.
2. Avoid January entirely if the tunnels are the point. The Pilsen Historical Underground and the Brewery Museum share one building at Veleslavínova 6 and both shut for the whole of January. The rest of the year the tunnels run daily 10am to 5pm.
3. Book the brewery tour online before you arrive. Pilsner Urquell sells its 100-minute tour through a dated online calendar, not at the gate, adult admission is CZK 430, and English departures are limited. The oak-barrel tasting at the end is 18 and over only.
4. Keep the underground ticket stub. Every adult ticket to the Historical Underground comes with a pivanka voucher for a 0.3 l Pilsner Urquell at selected Plzeň restaurants, which is worth roughly a fifth of what you paid to get in.
5. Climb the cathedral tower early. It is 102.26 metres and nearly 300 stairs, the tallest church tower in the Czech Republic, and the staircase is narrow enough that a queue behind you sets the pace. First thing in the morning you have it to yourself.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the team covers Czechia for independent travellers, including the brewery tours, museum tickets, hotels, beer halls and car hire in Plzeň and western Bohemia worth booking. We check the admission prices, opening days and koruna conversions on this page against the venues’ own listings and update it when they change.