Plzen

From the synagogue head east on Bezrucova for three blocks, slip under the arched passage onto Prazska, and Republic Square opens before you with the gothic spire planted dead-centre. The 102.6-metre steeple is the tallest church tower in Bohemia — climb the 301 wooden steps now, before midday haze settles, for a 30-kilometre horizon. Back at street level, circle the Renaissance Town Hall, the plague column, and find the small iron grate set into the cathedral wall marked 'Andel' — every local rubs it for luck on the way past.

Tip: Climb at 10:00 sharp opening — by noon the single-width wooden staircase becomes a two-way traffic jam with strangers pressed shoulder-to-shoulder on the landings. Cash only at the tower kiosk (120 CZK); ATMs ring the square if you forgot.

Four minutes south of the square down Drevena — U Mansfelda is where Pilsen office workers eat svickova on weekday lunches. Order the svickova (beef sirloin in cream sauce with cranberry and bread dumplings, 245 CZK) and a small unfiltered Pilsner Urquell pulled straight from copper tanks plumbed in from the brewery. Service is brisk between 12:00 and 13:00 because the regulars need to be back at desks by 13:30.

Tip: Ask specifically for 'tankove nefiltrovane' — the cloudy unfiltered tank Pilsner. Same price as the filtered, fresher than anything pouring in Prague, and most tourists never know to ask for it. Cash speeds service; the card terminal lives behind the bar.

East along U Prazdroje for fifteen minutes — cross the Radbuza river, pass beneath the gilded 1892 jubilee gate, and enter the cobbled brewery courtyard. The Original Brewery Tour traces the 1842 birth of pale lager from malthouse to bottling line, then descends into the medieval sandstone cellars where unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell still lagers in oak barrels at 6 degrees. The finale: a wooden cup poured directly from a barrel tap — the only place on earth this exact beer exists.

Tip: Book the English 13:30 tour online the day before — walk-up tickets are 499 CZK, the website price is roughly 60 CZK cheaper and skips the queue entirely. Bring a light layer; the cellars sit at 6 degrees year-round. The barrel beer cannot be sold, bottled, or taken outside — drink the full cup at the tap.

Leave the brewery's west gate and pick up the Mlynska strouha — the millstream flowing alongside the green park ring that wraps the old town in a horseshoe of plane trees and rose beds. The path was laid on the medieval city walls in the 1820s; it passes Smetana's statue, the Goethe monument, and curves toward the cathedral. By 17:00 the late sun lights the steeple from the southwest — pause at the wooden bench by the Goethe bust, this is the angle photographers come back for.

Tip: The Mlynska strouha is registered as the narrowest navigable canal in the world — find the wooden footbridge near Krizikovy sady and read the brass plaque set into the railing. Skip the rentable rowboats marketed to tourists at the south end; the canal photographs far better from the bridges above than from inside a boat.

Five minutes up from the park ring onto Veleslavinova — Na Parkanu sits beside the Brewery Museum in a 16th-century burgher house and is the only restaurant in town outside the brewery itself permitted to pour Pilsner Urquell Kvasnicove (the yeast-unfiltered version, 65 CZK). Order it alongside roast pork knee for two (1,200 g, 359 CZK) with horseradish, mustard and dark rye bread. From May to September the cobbled courtyard under the vine pergola is the seat you want — reserve.

Tip: Phone-reserve a courtyard table the day before; walk-ins after 18:30 wait 40-plus minutes. Pitfall warning: avoid the tourist-trap restaurants ringing the south side of Republic Square (especially Prazska 8 through 12) where Pilsner sells for double the going rate and the goulash arrives from a microwaved bag. Local rule — walk one street off the square in any direction and prices drop forty percent.