Plzeň walking tour & city guide

The city

Republic Square is dominated by St Bartholomew's Cathedral, whose tower is the tallest in Czechia. The Great Synagogue is one of the largest in Europe.

Beer

The Pilsner Urquell brewery offers tours with tastings from oak barrels in the cellars. The Plzeň Historical Underground is a maze of tunnels under the old town.

A day in Plzeň

Plzeň is the birthplace of Pilsner beer, first brewed here in 1842. The Pilsner Urquell brewery tour takes you through the brewhouse and the old cellars, where you can taste unfiltered beer straight from oak barrels.

The main square, Republic Square, is dominated by the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew, whose tower is the tallest church tower in the country. Below the city, a guided tour leads through a network of historic underground passages.

Good to know

Plzeň is about an hour from Prague by train. Techmania, a science center, is popular with families.

The city has a large synagogue, one of the largest in Europe.

More than beer

Plzeň was a European Capital of Culture in 2015, and it has invested in culture ever since, with the DEPO2015 creative center in an old bus depot. The Patton Memorial recalls the liberation of the city by the US Army in 1945, celebrated every May with a festival. The Puppet Museum honors the city's tradition of puppetry, and its famous characters Spejbl and Hurvínek.

The Great Synagogue, built in the 1890s in a Moorish style, is the second-largest synagogue in Europe and one of the largest in the world. The city is compact, and most sights are within walking distance of the main square.