Saaz hop harvest and the beer bath in Dejvice

When autumn smells of hops

Every year, as August turns to September, the landscape of northwest Bohemia quietly transforms. In the hop gardens of the Zatec region, where slender wire frames climb several metres into the sky, the green-gold cones of Saaz hops reach their ripeness. It is the moment the whole region waits for all year - and, with it, anyone who loves a properly made Czech beer. The harvest is both the crescendo of a long season and the beginning of something else, a journey that ends up in breweries, in glasses and, perhaps a little unexpectedly, in the wooden tubs of our spa here in Prague.

In our private rooms in Dejvice, hops are far more than a symbol. Into every beer bath we add fresh Saaz hops in front of you, together with malt and brewer's yeast. That is exactly why the autumn harvest matters to us: it reminds us where the raw material comes from, the same one we use for a ritual of recovery and rest throughout the rest of the year. Hops are not only about the bitterness of beer - they are a herb with a long history in folk medicine and in modern phytotherapy alike.

In this article we will walk you through the whole journey. We will look at why Saaz hops enjoy such a reputation, what happens during the harvest, what the traditional Docesna festival is like, and finally we will take you back to Dejvice, where hops become a warm, fragrant bath at 35-38 degrees C. If the idea of pairing an autumn mood with a ritual that warms body and mind appeals to you, read on. And if you already know you want a bath of your own, you can head straight to the booking page.

Saaz hops: the treasure of northwest Bohemia

Saaz hops belong to the so-called fine aroma varieties, and in the brewing world they are held to be one of the noblest raw materials of all. They have been grown around Zatec for centuries, and their reputation is strong enough that the name "Saaz hops" is a protected designation of origin. Only hops grown within a precisely defined area may carry the name. Much as with wine, terroir - the soil, the climate, the lie of the land - lends the crop a character that cannot be imitated.

So what makes Saaz hops so special? It is their delicate, spicy-herbal aroma and their low content of bitter compounds, which means they never dominate; they harmonise. The cones contain resins, essential oils and polyphenols. It is those oils and other aromatic compounds you will notice when you sink into our beer bath - the scent of hops is unmistakable and conjures a brewery in an instant.

As a plant, hops are fascinating. This perennial climber grows anew each year from an underground rhizome, reaching well over six metres in height. Through the growing season, farmers coax the bines up the wire frames and see that they get enough sun and nourishment. Hops are cultivated in three regions of the Czech Republic, of which the Zatec area is the largest and best known.

Historically, hops were not used only in brewing. In folk medicine they served to soothe the nerves and encourage sleep - the cones were dried and stuffed into little pillows. That calming tradition is no accident: hops contain compounds still studied today for their sedative properties. So when we at Lazne Pramen speak of the beer bath as a ritual of rest, we are drawing on the long cultural history of this remarkable plant.

The hop harvest: a race against time

The hop harvest, known locally as the picking, usually runs from the end of August to the middle of September. It is a stretch when the Zatec region barely stops to breathe. The cones ripen within a narrow window - they must be gathered exactly when they reach their peak, yet before they begin to lose aroma and bitter compounds. The harvest is therefore a race against both the clock and the weather.

Hops were once picked by hand. Whole families of seasonal workers - the hop pickers - would arrive in the region, stripping cones from the pulled-down bines and filling their baskets. The work was hard, but it came bound up with a real sense of togetherness and a culture of its own, giving rise to songs, traditions and folk customs. Today most of the harvest is handled by powerful picking machines that separate the cones from the rest of the plant. Even so, something of the old atmosphere survives, especially at festival time.

Picking is followed by rapid drying. Freshly gathered cones hold a great deal of moisture and would spoil without immediate treatment. They are dried in kilns at a controlled temperature so as to preserve their colour, aroma and active compounds. Only once dried and processed are the hops stable enough to store and ready to travel on to the breweries - and to us at the spa.

This is why autumn is the most nerve-racking part of the year for hop growers. The quality of an entire season is decided over a few short weeks. And when the harvest goes well, the region celebrates in style: a traditional festival follows, drawing people from all over the country. We will come to that next. In the meantime, if you fancy finding out how hops smell in a warm bath, take a look at our range of treatments.

Docesna: the festival that marks the end of the harvest

The high point of the hop season is Docesna, a traditional festival held in Zatec every year in early September, just as the harvest draws to a close. The name comes from the Czech verb meaning "to finish picking" the hops. It is a thanksgiving for the crop, a celebration of the hop growers' labour and, at the same time, a large folk festival that draws tens of thousands of visitors.

Docesna gathers the best of Czech culture in one place: good beer, music, folk traditions and a warm, sociable spirit. In a town that calls itself the "hop centre", the streets come alive with stalls, concert stages and craft markets. There are tours of the hop gardens, demonstrations of both historic and modern hop processing and, of course, tastings from traditional and craft breweries alike. For anyone who loves beer, it is one of the year's essential dates.

The festival carries a deeper meaning than mere entertainment. It is a reminder of how tightly the Zatec region is bound to hops - economically, culturally and historically. Hop growing shaped the landscape here, the architecture (the distinctive drying kilns and storehouses) and the whole rhythm of life. It is no coincidence that Zatec, with its hop-growing countryside, has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2023 - a rare record of a craft several centuries old.

If you are planning an autumn trip, a visit to Docesna pairs beautifully with a stay in Prague. After a day among the hop gardens and the beer stalls, you can treat yourself a few days later to a spot of recovery in our spa rooms. Think of it as a double celebration of hops: once as a festival, once as an intimate ritual in a warm beer bath. The very hops you watched growing in the field come back to you in another, gently warming form.

From the hop garden to the wooden tub

So how do hops travel from the field to our spa? Into every beer bath we add Saaz hops, malt and brewer's yeast, prepared in front of you. There is no perfuming and no substitute involved - we use the genuine ingredients that give beer its character. The foundation is a proper craft beer, specifically the exclusive Petrovicke zlato, which we pour on tap right there in the room.

The bath itself has a thought-through structure. It lasts around 90 minutes, of which you spend 20 in the tub itself at 35-38 degrees C, fitted with an automatic whirlpool. The remaining 50 minutes are for resting on a heated bench lined with wheat straw. The combination of warmth, hops, malt and yeast works on both the skin and the mood. Hops contain compounds with a calming effect, while malt and yeast supply the B-group vitamins that nourish the skin.

One of our tips takes many guests by surprise: after the bath, we suggest you resist washing the extract off with soap for roughly two hours. Left alone, the skin stays softer and better saturated with active compounds for a day or two. There is a shower in every room, of course, but ideally you use it only for a quick rinse.

A beer bath is not about drinking - even if the ritual does come with unlimited draught lager and dark beer plus refreshments. It is about the whole experience: the aroma, the warmth, the slowing down. And about handling a raw material every hop grower in the Zatec region knows well, only in a rather different way than you would at the pub. If you would like to sample the vine alongside the hop, we also offer a wine bath with grape extract, vine leaves, honey and lavender.

Where to enjoy a beer bath and what it costs

At Lazne Pramen in Dejvice you can enjoy a beer bath in any of several private rooms, each with its own atmosphere and capacity. Crucially, the price is charged not per person but per booking - that is, per room. So whether you come alone or as a pair, the price of a single tub stays the same.

• Rubinovy pramen - our most intimate room for 1-2 guests, with a single larch tub and whirlpool, an electric fireplace and a heated straw bench. A beer bath here starts at 148 EUR per booking.
• Zlaty pramen - the most spacious room for 2-4 guests, with two oak tubs. It is the only room that lets two baths run at once. Two beer tubs here start from 190 EUR per booking.
• Smaragdovy pramen - our V.I.P. room for 1-2 guests, with a larch tub and a cedar phyto-barrel. The V.I.P. Beer SPA here starts at 293 EUR.

For a truly celebratory occasion, reach for the V.I.P. package in Smaragdovy pramen. The V.I.P. Beer SPA runs 2.5 to 3 hours: it opens with time in the cedar phyto-barrel (15 minutes), continues with a relaxing massage or body scrub (30 minutes), then the beer bath itself, and closes with a rest. Add to that unlimited light and dark Petrovicke zlato with refreshments. The phyto-barrel is a small cabin of Siberian cedar that you step into up to your neck, keeping your head outside - it is not a sauna but a gentle herbal steam treatment.

If you want beer and wine in a single evening, in Zlaty pramen we offer a combination - one tub of beer and one of wine at once, from 238 EUR for 2-4 guests. That way each guest can have their own ingredient to taste. Booking is simple through the reservation system on our website, or drop us a line via the contact page.

An autumn ritual: why now is the moment

Autumn is made for a beer bath. As the outdoors turns cool, the weather breaks and the days shorten, a warm bath at 35-38 degrees C offers exactly what the body craves at this time of year: a warming, settling embrace. It is no accident that in the changeable seasons people often feel more tired and more prone to mood swings. A ritual of warmth and slowing down helps both body and mind.

The seasonal link to the hop harvest lends an autumn visit an extra, symbolic dimension. While the picking is underway in the Zatec region and the streets of Zatec are celebrating Docesna, you can enjoy hops in Prague in their warm form. It is a way to savour autumn with every sense - the scent of hops, the warmth of the water, the taste of a freshly poured beer and the calm of an intimate space.

Warmth in general is a well-established route to relaxation. Warming the body encourages the muscles to loosen, and many people fall asleep more easily after a warm bath. That is precisely why so many of our guests choose a beer bath in the evening - we are open until 22:00 on weekdays and even until 23:00 at weekends. After the bath you can head straight for bed and enjoy a feeling of deep relaxation.

If you would like to heighten the experience further, add a massage in our salt room, Safirovy pramen. A relaxing massage amid walls built from ten tonnes of salt - alpine, Dead Sea and Himalayan - can dissolve the tension in your shoulders and neck before you even step into the tub. The autumn ritual then grows from a one-off bath into a complete experience for body and mind.

A gift of hops and how to arrange it all

A beer bath with Saaz hops also makes a wonderful gift - especially for anyone who loves beer and Czech tradition. Our range includes gift vouchers that are digital, valid for 12 months, and let the recipient choose their own treatment and date. So there is no need to guess whether they would prefer beer, wine or a massage - the voucher gives them the freedom to decide. For autumn and the run-up to Christmas it is a particularly popular choice.

Beyond the treatments themselves, our reception also stocks our own line of beer cosmetics, which we make ourselves (the labels read "SINCE 2008"). It includes a beer shampoo, hair conditioner, body peel, body scrub and bath salt. It is a lovely way to carry a piece of the hop ritual home and extend the experience long after you have left the spa.

Another option worth mentioning is our partner programme. If you run a hotel or guesthouse, work as a guide, in a travel agency or in corporate HR, you can recommend our treatments to your clients and earn a commission. It starts at 10 percent for every confirmed booking and rises with volume to 25 percent (the tiers being Bronze 10 percent, Silver 15 percent, Gold 20 percent, Platinum 25 percent). Payouts are monthly, with no minimum volume and no joining fee. You get a personal QR code, your own referral link and a clear dashboard with real-time tracking. To give you a sense of it: a four-person combined bath at roughly 240 EUR means a commission of around 24 EUR at the entry tier, or up to 60 EUR at the highest.

So whether you want an autumn ritual for yourself, a gift for someone dear, or to recommend our spa to others, the path is simple. Head to the booking page, browse all our treatments or reach us via contact. Full conditions, including contraindications, are set out in our terms and conditions. The hops of the Zatec region are waiting for you - warm and fragrant, in the heart of Dejvice.