Pilsn vs Budejovice

I have done the Plzen your at least 10 times and as recently as 4 weeks ago.I have done the Budvar tour 4 times now and as recently ar August.
Plzen experience is far better, well organised but a much more touristic experienc than it was when I first visited there 18 years ago.Lots to see in Plzen and you will see links from the brewery site to the Breweing museum and the underground tour(Not done the underground tour) there is also the Jewish Synagogue said to be the biggest in Europe and the main squre with a huge church,some nice parks etc and of course you have the Viktoria Plzen football ground.All easily walkable from the train station.There is the Patton museum there but it has been closed for sometime as the building has been deemed unsafe.takes about 90-100 minutes from Prague to Plzen by train and 6 or 7 minutes walk to the brewery.Best to book a time slot so you can get on the tour you want.

Cesky Budejovice is about 2.5 hours by train and then about a 20 minute walk to the brewery which is in a real industrial area. The tours I have been on previously have been good but the one in August was a joke,well over 50 people (I tried counting lowest I got was 53 highest was59) on it including screaming kids and one young lady guide trying to do her thing ,just did not work,no pre booking . Nice Square in the city not far from the train station but unless you have time to head to other areas nearby then there is not a huge lot to see in town.
Plzen has it by a mile.plus the beer is better.Good restaurant in the brewery as well.

there is the Staropramen brewery in Prague, easy to get to though it has been at least 15 years since I did a tour and I believe it is more a visitor experience rather than a tour of the actual brewery now ,might try it some time when I am in the city (back there in a few weeks but just for 3 nights).
There are numerous micro-breweries to visit all of which serve great beer and in most cases excellent food.
https://www.praguebeergarden.com/pubs/category/microbreweries
this will link to many of them.

Thanks so much, both of you! I forgot about Staropramen. Maybe if we don’t have time for a day in Pilsn, it would fill our desire for a beer/brewery experience. I’m glad I asked!

there is a restaurant chain called Potrefena Husa that have places all over the city, they are owned by Staropramen , do good food and they will have the full range of their beers.There is a place right at the brewery ,quite a modern place now but I do remember it as the old brewery bar which was a real wonderful experience but times change.

Pilsner Urquell is a proper brewery, not just a bottling plant. It is a short walk from the train station. Tours in English a certain times. It is a bit slick, with a movie that is one big beer commercial, but the tour of the underground lagering area was neat, topped off with a tall glass of Pilnser Urquell in a plastic cup, fresh out of a newly tapped wooden barrel.

There is also a separate beer garden serving food and Pilsner Urquell in proper glasses, but you have to pay for that.

Sam things have changed a bit recently at the brewery, they now give the beer from the wooden lagering tanks in proper glasses but still in the cellar, the tour finishes at the new shop which is huge . the Old beer garden area is now gone (bloody shame) and where the old shop was is now a smaller bar with some outdoor seating, below this in the cellar is Na Splice http://www.naspilce.com/en/ said to be the biggest restaurant in the country and it is pretty damn good.have eaten there many times and the portions are huge there is also a nice area in there just to sit and enjoy a few beers and that's what I did with my BiL when we were there.When I was there 4 weeks ago we did the tour and it was quite different from the first one I did many years ago but still very good.
I was also in the Brewery in August but did not do the tour as I was there with some friends that have done the tour several times before and we just went into the brewery to get a few things out the shop and of course have a few beers. It has really become a huge tourist attraction and they are doing it pretty well,but as someone has seen it go from very small scale to what it is now I still feel very nostalgic for the fun basic old tours but realise that they have gone forever.
Beer tourism has really taken hold in the country now and the main breweries are picking up on this unfortunately Budvar are lagging behind and though they have made quite a few changes they are no where near at the professional stage Plzen is at.
I have also been to the Kozel brewery several time(I have a friend that lives nearby) that tour has changed quite a bit over the years and is now a well organised tourist attraction and worth a visit, fairly easy to get a bus from Opatov metro in Prague to right outside the brewery .

Thanks- very helpful. Pilsner Urquell’s website doesn’t do their operation justice based on your descriptions. I’ll also keep Kozel in mind as an option.

it is quite a big site and if coming by train you will see it on the right hand side as you approach the station,really massive place. there is a lot of work going on in and around the station but things are well signposted. The whole area is being upgraded though nothing being done to the actual station building itself but hopefully that will be upgraded soon.

My wife and I toured the Budvar Brewery in late August 2015 (Friday, 28 August to be exact). We had a private driver, who agreed to stop for a few hours in Budjovice to allow us to tour the brewery, as he was driving us from Prague to Linz, Austria to catch a train. Upon arriving at the brewery, we discovered that we were the only ones on the English language tour that morning, so our experience was different from Unclegus's, in that we essentially had a private tour. The tour was comprehensive, showing us all phases of the beer making process, and ended with some ample beer tasting (seconds and thirds, since they had pre-poured the beer expecting a bigger group). There is a restaurant associated with the brewery around the corner and it was excellent. Reservations can be made online at the same site where you can book the brewery tour. Budvar ('das original Budweiser') was my favorite beer when I lived in Vienna in the early 1990s, so touring the brewery was a bucket list item. I certainly would consider doing a Budvar brewery tour.

Do a bit of research about the Staropramen brewery tour. I got feedback during the summer that it was more like a "virtual" tour from a room rather than a walk-through. Plus of course, Kozel would be my pick especially as if you do it on your own you get a trip through the countryside on the 363 bus. Or you've got a train from the Main Station to Strancice (pronounced like stran-chit-ser) and you do the last part on the 461. Get off at the first Velke Popovice stop.

Jason thats the impression I got when I talked to some guys in the brewery bar last year. many years ago I stayed in the old Berlin Hotel that was at the gate to the brewery,great view of the main brewery coutryard from the bathroom window.

We too toured the Budvar brewery in Budejovice, but in early January 2016. There were perhaps 15 people on the English tour. I liked the beer so much it's all I buy now back home in Canada. I like it so much I've abandoned the domestic brands I used to drink. But here its called Czechvar due to legal challenges and trademark battles by Anheuser-Busch on the use of the "Budweiser" name and brand.

Didn't go to Pilsen. Yet.

I have had a real busy day today, up at 5.30 am then had to take a van (well it's a van in the UK) up to Aberdeen with a load of stuff belonging to my nephew who has just moved into a new Flat there, got back home about 4.30 pm and am now on my second can of Budvar and it is hitting all the right spots, I still prefer Pilsner urquell though but I have none in the fridge.

UncleGus, Pilsner Urquell is now my favorite after visiting the CR.

Here in Indiana US, I can stock the fridge with it and the little hole in the wall around the corner from me has it on tap. Now if I could just replicate apple strudel, all would be well.

I can get pilsner Urquell, Budvar and Staropramen in bottle or cans very easily locally, we have one place in the city that sells Pilsner Urquell from the tank and all the staff have been trained by folk from Plzen but it is very expensive but very good, actually I might go there tomorrow for a beer.
next weekend I am off to our local brewery Stewarts to make some beer with my brother, it was his 60th birthday recently so I got him a beer making experience for it and we are going there to make 80 litres of beer whilst also sampling some that they have on tap.
https://www.stewartbrewing.co.uk/
they even do a few beers using American malts and hops, took my mate from Kansas city there earlier this year and he and his wife loved it.

The Pilsner brewery is very impressive, but it is ultimately a huge factory that produces a mass-produced product. If you were going to go to Plzen, then I recommend that you would also tour the Raven brewery to get a sense of Czech beer production on a smaller, more local scale.

I went to the Czech Republic in 2007 and 2008. Went to both Plzen and Budejovice, Plzen definitely had more "action". Went to the Tourist Information to find a room, great service, asked for one night and stayed 3. Too bad the Patton Museum is closed as it was very informative. They had a huge sign thanking Patton and his 3rd Army for freeing the city during the war. Also stayed at the huge hotel on the square across from the main church. As RS always says when in countries where the dollar is strong, like Czech, splurge a little. If you have time also visit Kutna Hora and Karlstein Castle.

They are both real breweries. Plzen (Pilsen) brewery is quite bigger, tours in both are worth it and interesting. Genuine Budweiser is brewed in Ceske Budejovice (Budweis). There is plenty to do in both cities. Pilsen is bigger, Budweis is more picturesque. Interesting fact for Americans: While almost all Czechoslovakia was liberated in WWII by the Soviet Army, Budweis, Pilsen, Karlovy Vary plus everything west of the line connecting these three cities was liberated by US Army.