Our Most Popular Tour

A Typical Tour

A typical tour includes 1 or 2 nights in Prague and 3 or 4 nights in Jablonec.

You’ll be picked up from Prague Airport by Keith (an Englishman living in the Czech Republic) and whisked away to either your Prague hotel or Jablonec—whichever you choose to visit first.

Prague’s city center is just 15 minutes from the airport.

Jablonec is a 1.5-hour drive from the airport.

Arriving at the Hotel in Jablonec

Jablonec is a very old, beautiful town—and most importantly, it’s full of beads if you know where to look!

The first thing we’ll do is settle into our hotel, your base for the rest of the week. It’s a nice, family-run spot with a restaurant and a function room—perfect for spending afternoons beading or chatting.

Beading Afternoons

Having a lesson is a great way to rest your legs while enjoying some creative fun. It takes place in a room at the back of a fantastic shop, where you’ll be spoiled for choice with colors and shapes for your hands-on tutorial.

Bead Museum

One of the finest places to visit is the Museum of Glass and Jewelry in Jablonec. It’s a perfect starting point for our journey into the history of Czech bead and glass-making, which dates back to the 18th century.

Antique Bead Shop

Treasures await in these shops—if you don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty! Some beads were even hidden in the backs of chimney breasts during times of crisis.

Shopping

You’ll find loads of brilliant shops—if you know where to look—with fantastic prices, of course!

We spread the shopping throughout the week so it’s not too overwhelming. Guests often ask to revisit their favorite spots toward the end of the trip, which is never a problem.

Production & Factories

We’ll visit at least one factory to watch bead production from start to finish—pressing, polishing, cutting, and fire-polishing, all up close. You’ll get a front-row seat to the magic! We’ll also tour a glass-waxed pearl factory, which is truly fascinating, complete with its own factory outlet shop. If you’re interested in ordering large quantities, you can even have beads made to order.

Lamp-work bead factory/workshop

We will visit a lamp-work bead factory. You will be able to see them being made by a group of very experienced ladies, who make it look so easy. You can have a go yourself. Then you realize that even making a colorful blob of glass is not easy :-)

They have a beautiful collection of lamp-work beads that you can choose from and a fantastic collection of jewelry.

Christmas Decorations

The Czech Republic boasts a rich history of crafting Christmas decorations, dating back to 1800. We’ll visit a fascinating spot where small glass pearls are still made the same way they were 100 years ago. You can even join a workshop to create your own decorations using these hollow glass pearls!

Glass factory

A glass factory that dates back to 1712. You will be able to get close to the glass production on a tour around the factory, and see glass cutting how it used to be done before China started to mass produce it.

Glass Button Pressing

We’ll visit a small, very old glass button press—still in action—and then have the chance to buy fantastic hand-painted glass buttons, some vintage, some new.

This is one of the last button-pressing masters still at work.

Great Places to Eat

There are plenty of wonderful spots to eat out, offering fantastic value. We’ll dine together every evening, either at the hotel restaurant or one of our favorite local places. Czech cuisine is rich and bursting with flavor. While menus aren’t always tailored to vegetarians, the staff are often very accommodating and can whip up something to suit your tastes.

There are so many things to see on our tour that 4 or 5 days sometimes isn’t enough. We have guests that are coming now for the third, four and fifth time, one traveler even managed to visit twice in one year.

By the end of our tour you will look at your beloved beads with a new found passion and appreciation of all the work that goes into making them.

During the entire duration of your holiday in Jablonec, we will be with you during the day, and also spending evenings with you, having great meals out together.

Our holidays are completely flexible. This page is meant to give you an idea of what the possibilities are.