A journey through the most important beer spas on the planet: where the tradition was born, which countries embraced it and how each one reinterprets it. From an Alpine castle to an Icelandic fjord — and from Krakow to Almagro.
Tradition
+ 500 years
of hops and warm water
Bathing in beer isn't a new idea. Since the Middle Ages, in brewing regions like Bavaria, Bohemia and the Austrian Tyrol, the effects of hops and malt on the skin were well known: brewmasters noticed that those who worked with the grains had softer skin and slept better. Over centuries, that observation turned into home remedies with yeast compresses and hop vapors.
Only in 2005 did the Starkenberger brewery, inside a castle in the Austrian Tyrol, repurpose its huge disused fermentation pools into beer pools for visitors. A year later, in 2006, the Chodovar family opened the first formal beer wellness complex in the Czech Republic, with granite tubs and full spa service. Those were the world's first beer spas as we know them today.
From then on, the ritual spread: Prague, Krakow and Munich first; then Iceland with Bjórböðin by the ocean; Spain, with venues in Madrid and Granada that brought the beer spa to the Mediterranean; Denver, in the middle of the American craft boom; and finally South America, with Almagro, where in 2018 Tēdelūpulo opened Argentina's first beer spa, and Bogotá, where Makuira added the Andean version of the ritual in 2022.
Eleven destinations, eleven ways to understand the ritual. Sorted from Central Europe to the South Atlantic.
01 · Since 2006
Considered the original beer spa. The Chodovar family brewery, with over 500 years of history, opened an underground complex inside a granite quarry where guests bathe in Chodovar Classic Lager mixed with local mineral water and hop extract.
02 · Since 2008
The famous Bernard brewery brought the ritual to tourist central Prague. In the heart of Staré Město, the oak and bronze tubs are filled with unpasteurized Bernard beer, hop leaves and live yeast.
03 · Since 2005
Inside a 13th-century medieval castle, the Starkenberger brewery repurposed its huge disused fermentation pools into seven warm-beer swimming tanks. Literally swimming in beer.
04 · Since 2018
In central Madrid, steps from Atocha, it offers wooden tubs with craft beer, hops and malt, a Finnish sauna and a tap bar with Spanish beers throughout the ritual. Spain's first beer spa and the pioneer of the Iberian circuit.
05 · Since 2010
A rural hotel-spa that combines peat moor baths with local craft beer baths. A pioneer at integrating the beer spa into the classic European thermal circuit.
06 · Since 2017
In the north of the country, next to the sea and the Kaldi brewery, this wooden spa offers individual tubs with young beer, hops and live yeast. After the bath, an outdoor jacuzzi facing the fjord and the northern lights in season.
07 · Since 2018
Argentina's first beer spa. It opened at Mario Bravo 890 with its own circuit reinterpreting the European tradition with a Buenos Aires beat: malt and hops hydromassage, hop-infused sauna, four-hand massages and unlimited draft beer.
08 · Since 2014
Located in Krakow's historic quarter, it offers baths in Polish craft beer with a herbal sauna and massages with malt. The ritual ends with a rest on a bed of straw and wheat.
09 · Since 2020
A few steps from the Alhambra, it takes over a historic Albaicín cellar converted into a spa. It combines beer baths with hop massages, an Andalusian aromatic sauna and a list of local craft beers from Granada. A Mediterranean take on the Central European ritual.
10 · Since 2022
In the heart of Bogotá, Makuira brings the beer ritual to the Andes with oak tubs, Colombian craft beer infused with local hops and a dry sauna overlooking the cordillera. It combines Central European tradition with local ingredients like panela and single-origin coffee.
11 · Since 2021
The first beer spa in the United States. In Denver's RiNo neighborhood, the country's craft capital, it offers private copper tubs with hop infusion, a Finnish sauna and a bar with twelve rotating taps from local breweries.
The base of the bath: hop flowers, toasted malt and live yeast. They provide B vitamins, polyphenols and an unmistakable aroma.
Extended body temperature that opens the pores, improves circulation and lets the nutrients from hops be absorbed.
The beer from the tub isn't drunk. That's why every beer spa has its own bar: cold pints served while the body relaxes.
In the region of Bohemia, in today's Czech Republic, where the Chodovar brewery opened the first formal spa around beer bathing in 2006. Before that, hop-based balneal traditions already existed in Austria and Germany, but Chodovar was the first to structure it as a spa ritual.
No. The tub beer is mixed with mineral water, hops and yeast at a specific temperature for the skin, and it's not safe to drink. That's why every beer spa in the world has a separate draft bar to enjoy during the ritual.
Hops and yeast provide B vitamins and polyphenols that help the skin; malt works as a natural exfoliant; and the water temperature — between 34 and 37 °C — improves circulation and muscle relaxation. It's balneotherapy with a beer twist.
Yes. In Argentina, Tēdelūpulo opened in 2018 in Buenos Aires with five themed rituals for couples and groups; in Colombia, Makuira Beer Spa has been running in Bogotá since 2022.
Starkenberger in Austria converted medieval fermentation pools in 2005, and Chodovar opened its formal spa in 2006. Both often claim the pioneer title, though the European tradition of hop baths is much older.
No need to travel to Prague or a Tyrolean castle. The European tradition, translated into a Buenos Aires beat, right in Almagro.
