Ceske Budejovice is a pilgrimage town for beer-lovers

Photo: Steve Woodhall

For beer lovers, the Czech Republic offers two places of pilgrimage: the town of Plzn (Pilsen, home of Pilsener) and Ceske Budejovice, home of the original Budweiser beer.

For some, this is a controversial statement: the Czech company has been in a long-running legal wrangle with the American Budweiser company over the use of the name. You can take a very thorough guided tour of the factory, where you gaze down on the massive copper vats from a convenient mezzanine perch, and then watch factory workers overseeing production in a vast space resounding) to the clinking of thousands of bottles. Generous samples are given not at the end of the tour, but during; you walk along learning about one of the world’s most beautiful beers as you sip it.