I tried the beer spa in Poprad: here’s how the treatment works

I think the beer spa in Poprad is a fun way to liven up a visit to the town. It belongs to the local Tatras brewery (Pivovar Tatras), and the treatment also includes a hop sauna, an ice tub and a rest on an oat bed. I’d recommend it as something out of the ordinary for anyone who wants to see more of Poprad than its AquaCity thermal water park.

I wrote this article in 2018. Prices, opening hours and connections may have changed since then, so check them before you go.

Poprad’s beer spa is nothing new. But when I posted a photo on Instagram of myself bathing in beer, I was genuinely surprised how many people from Poprad didn’t know their town had one. So I decided to write a review of the beer spa in Poprad: how it works, what health benefits it has and what the whole treatment involves.

The beer spa in Poprad

Poprad has a long and colourful brewing history, as I mentioned in my article What to see in Poprad. Sadly, the big town brewery hasn’t survived, but Poprad’s brewers carry on the tradition, and they’re good at it. One of the breweries in town is the Tatras brewery, which has its own beer spa, a restaurant and a guesthouse. That’s where I tried the beer bath.

What you get at the beer spa and what to bring

I’d never bathed in beer before, but I’d heard of all sorts of baths in chocolate or milk. So why not try alcohol for a change? I once even saw a girl on YouTube lying in a bath full of milk and eating the cereal she’d tipped into it. I haven’t tried that one (yet). But while I was in Poprad, I did try the beer spa at the Tatras brewery. So how did it go?

• What I got: a towel, a sheet and slippers. You’re supposed to go around the whole spa naked, with just the sheet wrapped round you. Of course, if you’re not comfortable with that, you can bring swimwear, but the treatment includes a sauna, and wearing swimwear in a sauna isn’t healthy.
• What I had to bring: nothing at all.

When someone has the beer spa booked, nobody else can book it at the same time. So there’s no risk of running into Mrs K. from the tax office, who so loves sending me fines for my sloppiness, in the next tub of beer.

How the beer spa treatment in Poprad works

1. The whole treatment starts in the changing room, where I undressed and wrapped myself in the sheet. Then I had a shower.
2. After the shower comes the hop sauna, which opens up your pores so your body can sweat out harmful substances. I lasted 15 minutes in there (a lot by my standards), which also happens to be the recommended time.
3. From the sauna you go into the ice tub or under a bucket of ice-cold water. This is my favourite part of any sauna session. I usually go right under in the ice tub and try to stay in for at least 10 seconds. It really sorts the men from the boys.
4. After the ice tub it’s time for the oat bed, where I was meant to lie for 15 minutes. Apparently it calms the heart. The oat bed looks impressive, with real oats and pillows. I have to say it was genuinely pleasant, and I nearly fell asleep. There’s a sheet over it, of course, so the oats didn’t stick to my wet back.
5. The last and most fun part is the beer bath itself. There are four tubs filled with a mixture of yeast and hops at 38°C, the very mixture beer is made from. Unfiltered yeast beer contains live brewer’s yeast, which is good for digestion, but the treatment also works on your body from the outside. The vitamin B in beer is good for your skin. I’d recommend switching on the whirlpool so the beer gets nice and frothy.

There’s a beer tap right by the tub. I had a 5-litre keg of Tatras beer and some bread with lard, salt and onion. The beer was a 12-degree pale lager (the degrees refer to the original gravity, not the alcohol content). So there you are, lying in a tub full of beer and pulling your own pints. Go easy, though: I had 5 litres on tap. The whole treatment takes about 75 minutes, and you can book it here. At last, I can say I’ve bathed in beer too.

Questions readers asked me on Instagram

1. Did you drink the beer you were bathing in? No. The beer on tap comes from a separate keg, so I didn’t drink the beer I was soaking in.
2. Is there any soap in the bath beer? The beer I bathed in contains yeast and vitamin B.
3. What did it do to your skin? As I’d had a sauna first and then spent about half an hour lying in warm beer, my skin felt a bit more supple and fresh.
4. Are the tubs big enough for two? It’s an ordinary bathtub, so yes, in theory two people would fit. According to the brewery’s current price list, you can also book one tub for two people.
5. Does a shower afterwards get the beer smell off your skin? I didn’t notice any smell of beer, not even in the bath. But yes, a shower afterwards came in handy, as I had a few oats stuck to me from the oat bed.

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I think bathing in beer is a really unusual way to enjoy Poprad. Who can say they’ve had a bath in beer? Well, I can now.

I explored Poprad on a press trip organised by the regional tourism organisation Región Tatry (Oblastná organizácia cestovného ruchu Región Tatry). You’ll find more about the region and other places worth a stop on their website.