Why a soak in the tub is more than sitting in warm water

Mention a beer spa to someone for the first time and they tend to picture an ordinary bathtub, some warm water and a glass of beer balanced on the edge. The reality is rather more engineered than that. Every tub at the Dejvice branch of Lázně Pramen has a whirlpool built into it: a pump that draws the water in, and jets that send it back out into the tub. That goes for all three of our bathing rooms, Golden Spring (Zlatý pramen), Ruby Spring (Rubínový pramen) and Emerald Spring (Smaragdový pramen). So the water never sits still. For the whole soak it circulates, slowly and steadily. It sounds like a small detail, but it changes a surprising amount: how the natural ingredients behave, what your skin feels, and how comfortable you are sitting in the tub.

This piece sets out what the whirlpool in our tubs does, the simple physics behind it, and what it isn't. No miracle claims, no medical promises: just a description of the equipment and how it shapes a guest's visit. If you finish reading knowing why you won't be sitting in still water here, and when a hands-on massage is a better choice than a soak, it has done its job. And if you'd rather go straight to the menu, it's all laid out under all our treatments.

How the whirlpool works: pump, jets and moving water

The principle is simple enough to work out with common sense. Our handmade oval tubs have jets set into their walls below the waterline. A pump draws water out of the tub and pushes it back through the jets at a faster rate. The result is a closed loop: the water is constantly being mixed, the current is strongest near the jets and softens into a gentle ripple further away. The whirlpool starts automatically as part of the bath, so there are no controls to fiddle with and nothing to set. All you have to do is sit down and let the water get on with it.

Temperature matters here. The water in the tub is kept at 35-38 °C, close to body temperature: 35 °C sits just below it, 38 °C just above. This isn't a scalding bath you have to steel yourself to get into. The circulation also evens the temperature out across the whole tub, so you don't get the warm layer at the top and cooler layer at the bottom that forms in still water. Your body is surrounded by water of the same temperature on every side, which is one reason a whirlpool tub still feels comfortable twenty minutes in.

Our tub is a different sort of thing from the plastic home hot tubs with their banks of powerful jets. It is wooden, oval, built for one or two people, and its whirlpool isn't there to drive a hard jet into your back. Its job is to keep the water moving, for three reasons we come to below: keeping the natural ingredients dispersed, letting a soft current play across the skin, and making the most of the comfort that buoyancy brings.

In other words, the whirlpool isn't a gimmick bolted on for effect. It belongs to the bath as much as the water temperature does, or the blend we mix into it right in front of you.

Hops, malt and yeast on the move: why circulation matters

For the beer bath we add a natural blend of Žatec (Saaz) hops, brewer's yeast and malt to the water. These don't dissolve the way sugar does in tea. Particles of malt and yeast are heavier than water, and in a still bath they would gradually sink, while the lighter parts of the hops would tend to hang around near the surface. Within a few minutes you would be sitting in water that was one thing at the top and another at the bottom, with most of the blend settled where nobody would ever touch it.

The whirlpool stops that happening. Constant circulation keeps the ingredients evenly spread through the whole tub, so your skin stays in contact with the blend for the entire soak, not just for the first moments after it goes in. It's purely mechanical, no alchemy involved: moving water keeps particles suspended, still water lets them settle. One clarification while we're at it, because it trips people up. The tub is not filled with beer. The water is enriched with the natural blend, and the beer is for drinking: Petrovické zlato, a craft beer in both pale and dark, poured from kegs right there in the room, unlimited, with a small plate of snacks.

The wine bath works the same way. Its blend is made from red wine, grape seed extract, vine leaves, honey, herbs and French lavender flowers. Without circulation, the honey and extracts would pool in one corner of the tub and the leaves and flowers would drift into a clump at the edge. The whirlpool carries them all through the water. The wine bath comes with a bottle of wine and a plate of fruit and cheese.

  • Beer bath: Žatec hops, brewer's yeast and malt, added to the water in front of the guest.
  • To drink: Petrovické zlato, pale and dark, poured from kegs, unlimited.
  • Wine bath: red wine, grape seed extract, vine leaves, honey, herbs, French lavender flowers.
  • What the whirlpool does: keeps the blend suspended and evens out the temperature across the whole tub.

That's why we mix the blend fresh on the spot, and why the current runs the whole time you're in the tub.

A soft current on skin and muscle, with no hands involved

The second thing the whirlpool changes is the feel of the bath itself. Water moving around you brushes constantly against the skin, stroking it lightly and, here and there, giving it a gentle nudge. It's a completely different sensation from a still tub, where a calm layer of water settles around the body after a while and you simply stop noticing it. The current keeps replacing that layer, so your skin stays in touch with fresh, well-mixed water and the natural blend.

The current reaches the muscles too, though not in the way the word hydromassage often suggests. This isn't a powerful jet aimed at a sore spot. The flow is mild and spread out, nothing like the pressure a massage therapist applies with palms, thumbs or elbows. Plenty of guests like it for exactly that reason: nothing presses, nothing hurts, nobody is working on their body. The water just moves, and they are free to concentrate on doing absolutely nothing.

Most people find sinking into warm water relaxing, and for many, moving water adds to that impression. Beyond that subjective feeling, though, we won't make promises. We're not going to claim the current heals, removes or regenerates anything. We'll only describe what a guest actually experiences: warm water close to body temperature, a soft and even movement, and arms that don't need to lean on anything.

You can play with the current a little yourself. Shift along the tub, turn slightly or change position and you'll find spots where the movement is more noticeable and others where it's barely there. In Ruby Spring, with its single larch tub for one or two guests, you won't have to share your favourite spot with anyone. And if what you really want is focused work on a particular muscle, don't go looking for a stronger jet. Book a massage instead, which we cover further down.

Buoyancy and warmth: what the water does for your spine and joints

The third effect has less to do with the jets than with the water itself; the whirlpool just makes it more pleasant. It's buoyancy, the physics most of us met at school as Archimedes' principle. A body immersed in a liquid is pushed upwards by a force equal to the weight of the water it displaces. The human body has a density close to that of water, so water partly holds it up. The more of you there is below the surface, the less of your weight your skeleton has to carry.

When you sit in the tub with the water roughly up to your chest, your spine, hips and knees bear far less load than they do in a chair. Your arms can float freely, your shoulders don't need to hold themselves up and your back doesn't have to press against a hard surface. The sense of lightness is instant, and there's no need to read anything more into it. It's simply physics. The moving water adds a gentle motion on top, so rather than lying in the water as if set in a mould, your body is softly rocked by it.

It's just as important to say what doesn't follow from this. Being lighter in water isn't a treatment for back or joint pain, and we don't claim that anything disappears after a soak. We're only describing what happens while you're in the water: your skeleton carries less, and the muscles that normally hold you upright get a short break.

Temperature plays its part as well. At 35-38 °C, close to body temperature, your body doesn't have to fight off cold or cope with serious heat. Even so, we don't recommend staying in the tub for an hour. The usual time is about 20 minutes, up to 30 if you like. After that comes a rest on a heated bed of wheat straw, which is as much a part of the visit as the bath itself. Out of the water, the body warms up and settles in the dry, in the half-light of an electric fireplace with a flame effect, no real fire involved.

What the whirlpool isn't: hydromassage versus massage in Sapphire Spring

Because the word hydromassage gets stuck on all sorts of equipment, it's only fair to be straight about what our whirlpool isn't. It isn't a jet massage programme with strong streams aimed at specific parts of the body. Nor is it a substitute for a hands-on massage. The current in the tub is mild and diffuse; it doesn't work deep into the muscles and it can't zero in on that one knot under your shoulder blade. If you expect to come out of the bath feeling as though you've seen a massage therapist, you'll be disappointed. If you expect calm, moving warm water with a natural blend in it, that's exactly what you'll get.

  • Whirlpool in the tub: mild circulation, blend kept evenly dispersed, no hands-on pressure, part of the bath.
  • Relax massage, 30 minutes: back, neck and shoulders, from 33 EUR.
  • Relax massage, 60 minutes: full body, from 50 EUR.
  • Sport massage, 60 minutes: more intensive muscle work, from 75 EUR.
  • Machine lymphatic drainage, 45 minutes: from 23 EUR, a separate visit, cannot be combined with a bath.

If you want focused work on a particular muscle, the right choice is a massage in Sapphire Spring (Safírový pramen). It's a salt cave, not a bathing room, and there's no tub in it. The walls, ceiling and floor are made up of 10 tonnes of three kinds of salt: rock salt, Dead Sea salt and Himalayan salt. A massage table stands in the middle, with salt lamps glowing around it. The 30-minute Relax massage concentrates on the back, neck and shoulders; the 60-minute version covers the whole body. The Sport massage goes deeper and is meant for people who want more intensive work.

The salt cave also houses a lymphatic drainage machine. This treatment is booked as a separate visit, because it can't be combined with a bath. You won't find it in the online booking system yet: just give us a call and pay on the day. Mud and peat applications are booked the same way, with prices available on request. So the whirlpool and a hands-on massage aren't rivals. They simply do different things.

Three rooms with tubs: where to find the whirlpool and what it costs

Every tub has a whirlpool, but the rooms differ in size, capacity and wood. Golden Spring is our most spacious room, with two oak tubs for 2-4 guests. Each tub has its own whirlpool, and this is the only room where two baths can run side by side. Ruby Spring is the most intimate, with a single larch tub for one or two guests. Emerald Spring is our V.I.P. room, with one larch tub plus a cedar phyto-sauna, also known as a cedar barrel: an upright cask of Siberian cedar in which your body sits in steam from herbal infusions while your head stays outside. The V.I.P. programme lasts 150 minutes, or 2.5 hours. It is designed for 1-2 guests.

All prices are per room, meaning per booking, not per person:

  • Beer bath, one tub, 1-2 guests: from 148 EUR.
  • Wine bath, one tub, 1-2 guests: from 201 EUR.
  • Beer and wine combination, two tubs, 2-4 guests: from 238 EUR for two guests.
  • Two tubs with the beer bath, 2-4 guests: from 190 EUR for two guests.
  • Two tubs with the wine bath, 2-4 guests: from 268 EUR for two guests.
  • V.I.P. Beer SPA, 1-2 guests: from 293 EUR; V.I.P. Wine SPA, 1-2 guests: from 326 EUR.

Here's how it plays out in practice. Four friends are celebrating a birthday and can't agree: two want beer, two want wine. They book Golden Spring with the combination, which for four guests is 307 EUR for the whole room. After about ten minutes of preparation, during which the staff add hops, malt and yeast to one tub and wine, grape seed extract, honey and lavender to the other, right in front of them, they settle in two by two. Each pair has its own whirlpool, so the blend stays evenly spread in both tubs however much they shift about or pass glasses back and forth. After the bath they move over to the heated straw bed, and the rest of the time belongs to conversation, draught beer and a plate of fruit and cheese.

How a visit works and how to book

A standard visit to Ruby Spring or Golden Spring gives you 90 minutes in the room. That covers preparation, the bath and the rest afterwards, and the whirlpool runs the entire time you're in the water:

  1. About 10 minutes of preparation with you: we add the natural blend to the water in front of you and explain how the bath works.
  2. Usually around 20 minutes in the tub, up to 30 if you prefer, in water at 35-38 °C with the whirlpool running.
  3. About 50 minutes of rest on the heated wheat-straw bed, beside the electric fireplace with its flame effect.

Every room has a shower, but we suggest not washing off the beer or wine bath extract with soap for about two hours. Your skin will stay smoother and softer for a day or two afterwards. At reception you can also buy our own beer cosmetics: beer shampoo, hair conditioner, body peel, body scrub and bath salt.

You'll find us at Dejvická 255/18, Prague 6, a two-minute walk from Hradčanská metro station. We're open from 10:00 to 22:00 on weekdays and from 10:00 to 23:00 at weekends. Under article 10 of our terms, age rules apply: entry is from 18, guests aged 15-17 only with a parent or legal guardian, and children under 15 are not admitted to the wellness areas.

You can book online through our booking system: choose the room, the number of guests and the type of bath. If you have a favourite date in mind, book well ahead. Want to give a whirlpool soak as a present? Go for a gift voucher. The recipient picks the treatment themselves, whether that's a beer bath in Ruby Spring, the combination in Golden Spring, the V.I.P. programme in Emerald Spring or a massage in Sapphire Spring. And if you can't decide, we're happy to help: just get in touch.

The tubs, the jets and the warm water are ready. All that's left is to choose beer, wine, or both side by side. Contraindications are listed in article 9 of our terms and conditions.