Soak up wellness and tradition at Prague's new beer and wine spa

The practice of beer bathing dates back hundreds of years with hops and yeast said to have skin-softening and muscle-relaxing properties. For anyone who's ready to take the plunge, a new beer spa has opened in Prague – one that also incorporates wine into the offering.

The newly opened Beer and Wine Spa Lázně Pramen Letná is to date the largest beer and wine spa in the Czech Republic. It's ideal for individual guests and groups of up to 20 people and lets you beautify and unwind while enjoying a beverage.

A 15-minute walk from Prague Castle, the location and the spa interior are authentic and historical. During reconstruction, the historic look of the interior was preserved. 

Though the spa itself is new, both the space and the bathing rituals are connected to old Czech traditions in a procedure that sees a special bathtub filled with a combination of warm water (37-38 degrees Celsius) and a dark beer brewed according to a special recipe. The beer, brewed just for spa purposes, is added in front of the guest from a tap on the tub.

The wine bath comes from the French tradition and takes place in a bath at a temperature of 37-38 degrees Celsius. The bath is filled with water with the addition of red wine, grape leaf and seed extracts, wine yeast, plant extracts, French lavender, and scented oils.

In addition to wine and beer baths, a luxurious wellness bath is also available – customized to fit the needs and preferences of the visitor, and intended to strengthen one’s body and immunity.

After a bath, guests are invited to visit the spa's salt cave, the largest in Prague. The space houses several curiosities – including a real well from the time of Rudolf II and a salt fireplace.

The salt cave also boasts a unique salt fountain called a gradirnya where a saline solution drips down birch branches and, as it evaporates, fills the air inside the cave with salt ions.

The microclimate of salt caves is purported to have a healing effect for those suffering from chronic and frequent inflammation, respiratory diseases, allergies, and skin conditions. (Note: you should always consult your doctor before undergoing halotherapy if you suffer from any medical conditions).

In general, though, it's a relaxing novelty experience with a long tradition in Central and Eastern Europe.

None of these procedures would be complete, of course, without the opportunity to both soak in and savor Czech beer. For those opting for wine baths, the experience is complemented by prosecco. For wellness baths, a selection of herbal teas is available.

Solo visitors can relish the spa experience, but it’s an especially nice idea for families or groups of friends and colleagues. It’s also a good fit for occasions not usually associated with a spa, such as a company celebration, a special occasion with a small group of friends, or for tourists.

Guests are provided with all the necessary items for making the experience as comfortable as possible from the start: slippers, towels, and sheets.

Spa co-owner Olga Nekrasova told us, “When developing the vision behind our spa, we relied on our previous experience and on the feedback of our guests, with whom we worked for more than 5 years in our first spa – Beer and Wine Spa Lázně Pramen Dejvická. But we weren't able to do as much as we wanted there. That's why Beer and Wine Spa Lázně Pramen Letná – a project with much greater possibilities, a multi-functional resort in the city of Prague – was born.”