Chodovar, Czech Republic

About 45 minutes away from us, just over the Czech Board is the town of Chodová Planá, Czech Republic. Nestled in the Bohemian Forest, is the family-run Chodovar brewery, beer spa, and restaurant!

For my birthday I wanted to do something relaxing and fun, I scheduled a double beer bath for us.

The real beer bath is prepared in a rehabilitation tub from bath beer, water, and mineral water IL SANO® and have a temperature of 34 °C. The special ingredients consist of dark Bath Beer, which is produced in a traditional way, based on the original copyright method and made by the main brewer of the family brewery Chodovar, active beer yeast, hop draff and a mixture of dehydrated crushed herbs. The bath level is covered by the distinct beer foam of a caramel color and the area is scented by the fragrance of freshly brewed dark beer.

*images taken from website

Reservations are made online through the website (I'll list it below), For a double bath it is 1320 CZK, about $54.00. Upon arrival you pay at the hotel reception, and walk to the spa center. The whole process is about an hour, including dressing times. You start off with a 20 minute bath soak which is said to help circulate the vascular system, and open up the skin pores to get rid of your toxins. The hop draff functions by purifying, peeling, and removing tired parts of skin. The beer yeast provides the skin with a wide range of vitamins B, proteins and saccharides and contributes to overall softening and regeneration of the skin. To harmonize the blood pressure, increase the outcome of the bath, and enhance the relaxation experience, you are given a glass of natural non-pasteurized Chodovar, which is supposed to help the digestive system.

Selfie in the tub!

After the bath you are lead to a bed in the relaxation area and covered by a sheet and a fleece blanket. The warmed up body finishes the sweating phase, the heart activity slows down, the blood pressure slowly decreases, the muscles get released, and the body energy is renewed. The purified and rejuvenated skin receives healthy and effective substances, which have remained on the cuticle and are gradually absorbed through the pores. The physical rest reflects the mental rest and the relaxed body enables our mind to disengage and release a flow of positive thoughts and energy.

This was our second time at the Chodovar Beer Spa. I really enjoyed the experience and really hope we go back again before we leave.

After the beer spa, we headed to the resturaunt, Ve Skále. There are two restaurants, this one is outside of the brewery walls. It is a stylish restaurant seating up to 260 guests and a small brewery museum are situated in a part of a unique rock labyrinth of 800 year-old brewery cellars. The ancient times the lager cellars from the 12th century, cut in granite massif, are nowadays still used for cease fermenting. Apart from a wide range of Czech and foreign cuisines the restaurant provides its customers with a unique opportunity to taste their natural yeast beer straight from the stock tub of the rock cellar.

They only take CZK or Euro, so be prepared for that. The food is amazing there. The only problem is that it's usually pretty packed since there are always lunch tour groups there. But if you go around 1:30, it's pretty empty and you can get a seat pretty quickly. The food is pretty amazing and comes out quickly. If you're ever in the area make sure to stop by. It's worth it in my opinion. There are also daily brewery tours at 14:00. We weren't able to make it to the tour in time, so we'll just have to put a pin in that for next time. The cost of the Brewery Tour is 85 CZK for Adults (45 CZK for Students), and children are free. The tour lasts 45 minutes, and includes a beer tasting. 

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Additional Info:

Address:Hotel U Sládka Pivovarská 107 ,348 13 Chodová Planá, Czech Republic

Beer Spa Price list: http://www.chodovar.cz/id1042en-rezervace.htm
Ve Skale Menu: http://www.chodovar.cz/scripts/pdf.php?soubor=navic/download/skupinove-menu-2014-ve-skale-140804.pdf