Bernard Beer Spa, Prague

'Suggest some fun things to do in Prague?' I cried in the general direction of twitter in the days preceding our visit. 'Go to a beer spa' came back the much-appreciated advice from twitter (or, more specifically, from Lauren at The Enjoyable Rut). 

I of course at this stage didn't really know what a beer spa was, but I knew I wanted to go!

The quick version of the session goes a bit like this. You get a nice hot bubbly, beery bath - where you drink some beer. Then you get wrapped up and lie down on a heated bed. And drink some beer. Then have a nice massage (though probably best to not drink beer through this bit). Then you get to lie down some more and drink some beer. Sadly then, its time to go .... but take some beer for the road!

Not a bad way to spend a morning right? (Yes, it's a lot of beer for a morning, but shush, I was on holiday, appropriate beer times don't exist!)

The slightly longer version of how it works is like this. We booked our session at the Bernard Beer Spa online before we headed to Prague. They actually have two venues in Prague, and we booked in for the one in the cellar beneath Hotel Metamorphis, a stones throw from Old Town Square and really easy to find. We were checked in by a friendly guy who handed us a sheet apiece and showed us how to pump our own delicious Czech Pilsner.

The bath is a two-person tub of wonder, filled with hops, yeast and other natural ingredients to promote health benefits (though I will admit any prospective 'health benefits' were secondary to just having a really funny couple of hours!) We got half an hour to enjoy our spa bath, and could help ourselves to as much beer as we liked in that time. 

Post-bath and wrapped in our sheets, we were led to a separate room where we were instructed to get cosy on a heated bed while out host brought us more beer before our massages. I kindly let Mr go first, as I was enjoying myself plenty where I was! 

The masseuse (I'll use receptionist/host/masseuse interchangeably because it was just the one guy there!) was a real delight, happy to chat away about everything from the history of Czech beer, his parents experiences of growing up in communist Czechoslovakia, and his expensive trip to London. There may have been some vague football chat between the chaps, but I phased out a wee for that bit! 

However, if this guy asks if you want a hard, medium or soft massage, for the love of all all things good in the world, say soft!

We spent about an hour and a half in total at the beer spa (and couldn't begin to tell you how much beer was consumed in that time!), and would absolutely recommend it to anyone looking or something a little different to do in Prague! We were even sent away with an awesome souvenir in the form of more lovely Bernard beer  - enjoyable even in a less swish setting!