Rain is no reason to stay in your room
Even in a spa town it sometimes rains — and that is exactly when it pays to have destinations in reserve whose whole programme happens indoors. These six trips work in any weather: from a bath in beer to baroque libraries to descending a silver mine. Sorted by distance.
1. Chodovar Beer Spa — a different kind of cure
By car: 10 minutes (or one train stop) | Time on site: 2–3 hours
At the family brewery in Chodová Planá you swap the mineral bath for a tub of dark bathing brew made of beer, yeast and hops. It sounds like a joke, but hop oils and B vitamins do wonders for the skin — and a draught half-litre comes with the ritual. Afterwards, lunch in the rock-hewn restaurant carved into granite.
2. Teplá Monastery — a hundred thousand books under baroque vaults
By car: 20 minutes | Time on site: 1.5–2.5 hours
The Premonstratensian monastery whose abbots once founded Marienbad hides the second-largest monastic library in Bohemia: over a hundred thousand volumes beneath frescoed vaults. The tour continues through the Romanesque-Gothic abbey church and the baroque convent buildings. A half-day trip that smells of old paper and calm.
3. Sibyllenbad — thermal baths just across the border
By car: 25 minutes | Time on site: 2–4 hours
The fastest route to a wet-but-covered day is Bavarian Neualbenreuth. The Sibyllenbad thermal spa offers mineral pools, whirlpools, a sauna world and an oriental steam bath. It pairs perfectly with nearby Waldsassen — and young and old get their fill of splashing no matter what the sky is doing.
4. Waldsassen Abbey Library — a hall to make your head spin
By car: 30 minutes | Time on site: 1.5–3 hours
The Cistercian abbey of Waldsassen boasts one of the most beautiful libraries in the world: ten carved lime-wood atlantes support the hall's gallery, each embodying a different human failing — from pride to stupidity. Add the magnificent basilica, the largest crypt north of the Alps, and the little town's cafés at the door.
5. The Royal Mint at Jáchymov — where the dollar was born
By car: 60 minutes | Time on site: 2–4 hours
Few people know the word "dollar" comes from the Ore Mountains: the Joachimsthaler was struck right here in the 16th century, and its name travelled the world. The exhibition in the Renaissance Royal Mint tells of the silver rush, coin striking and the dark chapter of the uranium mines. To complete the experience, descend Adit No. 1 — underground it never rains.
6. Pilsner Urquell — the cathedral of beer
By car: 55 minutes (or by direct train) | Time on site: a full day
The tour of the brewery where Josef Groll brewed the first Pilsner lager in 1842 ranks among the country's best industrial excursions: the historic brewhouse, the modern bottling line, and to finish, unfiltered lager tapped straight from an oak barrel in the ice-cold cellars. The train back is direct — so nobody has to drive after the tasting.
A practical note
All six destinations operate year-round; check tour times for the mint and the monasteries outside the season. Find more foul-weather destinations under the "Rainy-day option" filter in our day-trips catalogue.
Cover photo: VitVit, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
