Day Trip and Brewery

If you go to Cesky Krumlov you can throw in another brewery. The small Eggenberg brewery in CK has a short tour that's nothing extraordinary but you get to taste two different brews when you're done. I liked their beer quite a bit. I'm sure the Budweiser Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice is much more extensive and different so you can compare the two.

Pilsner Urquell Brewery is huge. The beer is one of the best. The city square is worth seeing. Plzen (Pilsen) is the largest Czech city which was liberated by US Army in WWII. Budejovice (Budweis) and Cesky Krumlov, too. If you can only see Cesky Krumlov and Ceske Budejovice or Plzen, then I would say go for Krumlov and Budejovice. If you find extra day then add Plzen.

I think you might find it a busy day doing Cesky Krumlov and the Budvar brewery in a day,might be possible if you have your own transport and get an early start.
I am sure the English speaking tour of the brewery is at 2.30pm.The area around the brewery is pretty industrial and you can't see much of the brewery from outside but once inside it is very interesting.
Plzen is easy to do by public transport and the train stops a short walk from the brewery.

Thank you for all of your help! The more I read about Krumlov, the more I am worried it may be too much for just a day trip. Would Pilsen with a stop at Karlstejn be doable? I'm open to an other day trip suggestions!

Cesky Krumlov should be overnight. To do Karlstejn and Plzen in one day you will need a car. By public transport it would be too much.

My take may be dated, we were in Pilzen 15 years ago, but I plan on updating that next year. We thought Pilzen was a wonderful town, nice town square, good shops, but the star was the Brewery. Even then it was a very good tour, better than most, certainly a real brewery tour as opposed to the Heineken and Guinness "experiences", with the best part going down in the lagering caves and having beer matured in a pitch lined cask. At the time, there was also a very reasonable, very good restaurant on site, not sure any more.

The restaurant is still there.

the restaurant is still there and very good it is too.there are tour companies that do Plzen brewery and karlstejn as a day trip if you fancy that sort of thing.there is also a company that does Konopiste and the Kozel brewery as a day trip.if I get a chance today will try and look them out for you.
BTW I am back in from 23rd -30 october

been having a look this morning for the trips I mention,looks like they are no longer doing them.I am a regular visitor to Prague but it has been a few years since I have done any organised trips.If I come across anything I will post them for you.

We were in Prague a few weeks ago. We hired a private guide (Kamil Vondrous; his website) for a 10-hour Dresden trip. Kamil was an excellent guide - very personable and knowledgeable. I highly recommend him. While in Dresden, we also had time to independently tour the 'Green Vault' and catch two outstanding photography exhibits in the Albertinium museum (Kamil attended to other business and we met at an agreed time after each museum visit). The most striking aspect of Dresden, in my opinion, is the Baroque architecture, considering that the palaces, churches, and other buildings in the Old Town were destroyed during the February 1945 firebombing. Two days later, we also hired a driver to take us from Prague to Linz (to catch a train), with a stop along the way at the Budweiser brewery. The brewery tour (in English, arranged in advance for 10:30 am to fit our travel schedule) cost more than the standard group tour later in the day, but was only about $24 total for my wife and I. The guide was excellent and she took us through all parts of the brewery; we then had lunch at the brewery restaurant around the corner. Again, you can reserve a time in advance on the restaurant web site. The food was very good, and of course accompanied by a cold Budvar!