Stag weekends in Europe: which city suits which group, the activity prices and the rules that catch groups out

💡 The Short Version: Our judgement, not a ranking. For a tight budget, look at Prague, Budapest, Krakow and Riga: a Czech beer tasting is CZK 733, a Budapest ruin-bar crawl HUF 1,469 and a Krakow vodka tasting at the vodka museum PLN 100 and a Riga Black Balsam tasting €23 (a group of 10 or more). For a big group, Berlin and Prague, where hostels and apartment houses take everyone under one roof. For a first stag weekend abroad, Prague or Budapest, where every activity in the table is listed with a price you can book before you fly. For more than drinking, Barcelona (a brewery tour at €15), Berlin (a Trabant safari at €79), Tallinn (a brewery tour at €20 and a private sauna for up to eight), Edinburgh (a whisky tasting at £25) and Budapest (thermal baths from HUF 13,200). The rule that catches groups out: Amsterdam, Prague and Barcelona ban or fine the organised pub crawl, so a group there books bar by bar.

⚠️ Pub crawls are banned or fined in Amsterdam, Prague and Barcelona. Amsterdam’s city site says they are prohibited, Prague has banned organised ones at night since October 2024, and Barcelona fines organising or promoting one up to €3,000. Booking sites still sell products called “pub crawl” for all three cities. The rule is the city’s, so do not pay a deposit for one.

Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” price for one adult in the local currency on 1 November 2026, and they move with the date and the group size. The rules are the cities’ own, as published at that date.

The cities side by side

The cities are in the order of the entries below. Each is a link to the city’s own guide.

Cities where the activities start low

This grouping is our judgement, from the activity prices alone. It does not compare the price of a drink, which varies by bar and is not published by any of the cities.

Prague

Pilsner Urquell Experience CZK 521 · beer spa CZK 1,930 · go-karts CZK 1,693 · organised night pub crawls banned

The Pilsner Urquell Experiencead is a museum and tasting on 28. října by Můstek, not a working brewery; it is CZK 521 on GetYourGuide and CZK 579 at the door, with two beers or soft drinks included. A beer spa is a bath of warm water with brewer’s yeast and hops, with beer to drink while you soak: The Largest Beer SPAad is CZK 1,930 for an hour. The Czech Beer-Tasting Experience with Snacksad is CZK 733 for 90 minutes, and the Go-Kart Racing Experiencead is CZK 1,693 for 2½ hours.

In October 2024 Prague changed its market order so that organised pub crawls are banned at night; the only groups allowed are guide-led ones with commentary, between 06:00 and 22:00 (Prague 1 district office, Radio Prague International). A group drinks bar to bar on a route it picks itself.

Rooftops in Prague. Photo: Jose Huwaidi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Czech Inn is a design hostel with dorms and private rooms on Francouzská, and the Prague stay guide compares the areas. Prague lists what to book, and Prague beer tours compares the tastings and the beer spas.

Budapest

Drinks cruise HUF 9,110 · Széchenyi baths from HUF 13,200 · escape room HUF 11,235 · District VII bars cannot let drinks out

The ruin bars are drinking venues in the old courtyards of District VII; Instant-Fogas is open daily from 18:00 to 06:00 with free entry. A guided crawl through them is listed from HUF 735: the Pub Crawl and Ruin Bar Tourad is HUF 1,469 for 5 hours, with 3,582 reviews. By day, the unlimited drinks cruisead on the Danube is HUF 9,110 for 75 minutes and has 50,907 reviews, and the 90s Sitcom Escape Room with drinksad is HUF 11,235 for 90 minutes. Széchenyi baths are HUF 13,200 on a weekday, and Rudas has night bathing on Fridays and Saturdays.

District VII’s ordinance 25/2020 says shops that are not catering venues may not stay open from 22:00 to 06:00 unless they stop selling alcohol in those hours, and that bars must stop guests taking drinks out to the street (Erzsébetváros ordinance, in Hungarian). Drink inside, and do not carry a glass out to the pavement.

Budapest lists what to book, Budapest ruin bars compares the crawls and where to stay in Budapest compares the areas.

Krakow

Crawl with an hour of unlimited drinks PLN 130 · vodka tasting PLN 100 to 340 · shops stop selling alcohol at 22:00

The Pub Crawl with 1 Hour of Unlimited Alcoholic Drinksad is PLN 130 for 5½ hours and has 1,005 reviews. For a tasting, the Vodka Factory Museum entry with tastingad is PLN 100, the Vodka Tasting in a Hidden Barad is PLN 199 for 90 minutes, and the Vodka Tasting Tour with tapasad is PLN 340 for 2½ hours. The Kraków food tours page compares the tastings that include food.

Since 1 September 2026 shops in Krakow may not sell alcohol to be drunk off the premises from 22:00 to 06:00, where before the limit was 00:00 to 05:30; bars and restaurants are exempt (City of Kraków). A group that buys its drinks in a shop buys them before 22:00.

Krakow lists what to book, and where to stay in Krakow compares the areas.

Riga

Black Balsam tasting €23 (10 or more) · factory tour €25 (5 to 20) · public drinking is illegal

Riga Black Balsam is a herbal liqueur made in Riga, 45% in the Original. Riga Black Magic, a themed bar on Kaļķu iela in the Old Town, runs a tasting of 20 ml each of four Black Balsam versions and a Latvian honey brandy, with coffee, water and a truffle, for €23 a person and a minimum of 10 people; its chocolate master class is €60 a person for 6 or more. The Amber Latvijas balzams factory on A. Čaka iela runs tours for groups of 5 to 20 people aged 18 or over, up to two hours, in Latvian, English or Russian, for €25 a person. The Labietis Culture Taproom has 16 taps, and a two-hour beer tasting there is €100 plus €15 a person for up to 25 people. The Skyline Bar on the 26th floor of the Radisson Blu Latvija asks for a €50 a person prepayment for a booked table; walk-ins are welcome.

The UK Foreign Office says drinking alcohol in public, including in parks and on the street, is illegal in Riga, and the police can arrest and fine you. It names the Old Town, the Central Market and the tunnels between the Central Station and the international bus station as the places where pickpockets work (is Riga safe?). The tourist tax is €1 a person a night in 2026 and €2 from 1 January 2027. Riga lists what to book, and where to stay in Riga compares the areas.

Cities with more to do than the bar

This grouping is our judgement. In these cities a brewery, a boat or a club is a day’s plan on its own.

Amsterdam

Heineken Experience €24.95 · canal cruise from €17 · cocktail workshop €35 · pub crawls prohibited

The Heineken Experience is €24.95 on its own site for the self-guided tour with one beer, and it admits no one under 18. A canal cruisead is from €17 for an hour, with unlimited drinks as an option, and the Bols Cocktail Experience and Workshopad is €35 for 90 minutes. The canal cruises compared page covers the boats.

The city’s own “How to Amsterdam” page says pub crawls are prohibited and that alcohol is forbidden in the public area of the city centre, with fines for nuisance from €100 to €650 (amsterdam.nl). The rule works through the guided-tour permit: a guided group of 5 to 15 in the centre needs an exemption, no alcohol may be drunk on a tour, and a pub crawl counts as a tour (city leaflet on guided tour rules). The city’s tourism body adds that official guided tours of the Red Light District are not allowed and that bars there close at 02:00 at weekends and admit no one in the last hour (I amsterdam).

Amsterdam lists what to book, and where to stay in Amsterdam compares the areas.

Barcelona

Brewery tour €15 · boat party with club entry €69 · organising a pub crawl is fined up to €3,000

The Estrella Damm Brewery Guided Tour with Tastingad is €15 for 90 minutes. The Original Boat Party and Club Entryad is €69 for 2 hours and has 445 reviews, and the daytime or sunset catamaran cruise with musicad is from €14 for an hour. The Barcelona boat tours compared page sets the boats side by side.

Barcelona’s new coexistence ordinance has been in force since 15 February 2026. The council prints fines of up to €3,000 for organising and promoting pub crawls, €30 to €100 for drinking in public where it is not authorised and bothers people, €100 to €600 where it seriously disturbs the peace, and up to €1,500 for drinking where minors are present or night-time noise restrictions apply. Visitors are notified of a fine on the spot (Barcelona City Council).

Sant Jordi Hostels Sagrada Família has dorms of 4 to 10 beds, and the EnjoyBCN Gaudí apartments are 12 flats near the basilica; both are in the booking section below. Barcelona lists what to book, and where to stay in Barcelona compares the areas.

Berlin

Brewery tours €16 to €18 · Trabant safari €79 · Sisyphos 21+ · Berghain 18+

The BRLO BRWHOUSE Tour and Craft Beer Tastingad is €18 for 90 minutes, and the Berliner Berg Brewery Tourad is €16. The 75-minute Trabi Safariad is €79 and has 3,203 reviews: you drive or ride in a Trabant, the East German car.

Berlin’s clubs set the door rules. Berghain is 18+. Sisyphos admits from 21 and refuses camouflage and military-style clothing, football and national-team shirts and large rucksacks. Tresor says a ticket does not guarantee entry. Berlin’s clubs lists the doors and the crawls from €14.

Circus Hotel in Mitte is one of four Circus houses (a hostel, this boutique hotel and two apartment houses), which suits a group that wants to book in one place. Berlin lists what to book, and where to stay in Berlin compares the areas.

Tallinn

Põhjala brewery tour €20 · private sauna €80 for the first hour, up to 8 people · shops stop selling alcohol at 22:00

The Põhjala Tap Room in the Noblessner district has 24 taps and Texas barbecue, in the building where the beer is brewed. The brewery tour is €20 for 45 minutes with three or four beers; the tours in English run on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 18:00 and on Saturday and Sunday at 14:00. The tap room rents a private sauna for up to 8 people during opening hours, €80 for the first hour and €60 for each hour after, with a two-hour minimum, and it is closed on Mondays. In the Old Town, Hell Hunt on Pikk pours five house beers from €4.50 for 33 cl (Tallinn craft beer and bars).

Retail sales of alcohol are allowed only from 10:00 to 22:00, so a group that wants bottles in the room buys them before then; pubs, bars and taprooms set their own hours (money in Tallinn). The UK Foreign Office names pickpockets in bars and nightclubs in the Old Town and says the risk of assault is highest late at night near popular nightlife, so agree a way home before the night starts (is Tallinn safe?). Estonia charges no tourist tax on accommodation. Tallinn lists what to book, and where to stay in Tallinn compares the areas.

Cities where the pub is the plan

This grouping is our judgement. In these cities the evening centres on a pub or a tasting, and the rule is about drinking outdoors.

Dublin

Teeling Distillery €22 · Jameson €31 · traditional music pub tour €67 · street drinking €75 fixed payment

The Teeling Whiskey Distillery Tour and Tastingad is €22 for an hour, and the Jameson Distillery Tourad is €31 for 45 minutes; Teeling distils on site in Dublin, and Jameson Bow St. is a visitor experience, with production in Midleton. The Traditional Music Pub Tour with a Local Musicianad is €67 for 3 hours and visits three music sessions in city-centre pubs, and the Traditional Pub Walking Tourad is €42 for 4 hours. The Guinness Storehouse is from €24 online, with entry in 15-minute slots.

Dublin City Council’s Intoxicating Liquor Bye-Laws 2008 make it an offence to drink, or to hold drink intending to drink, on a road or in a public place in the city, which includes the Liffey boardwalk, the canal banks and the parks. The fixed-payment notice is €75, otherwise up to €1,900 in court, and gardaí can order you to leave, confiscate the drink and arrest without a warrant. Seats and tables outside a licensed premises are exempt (Dublin City Council).

Zanzibar Locke is an aparthotel with studios and suites with kitchens about 140 m from Temple Bar Square; it is in the booking section below. Dublin lists what to book, Dublin whiskey distillery tours compares the tastings and Temple Bar covers the pubs.

Edinburgh

Gin tour £28 · Scotch Whisky Experience £25 · drinking banned in designated public places

The Scotch Whisky Experiencead is £25 for 50 minutes and includes one dram, and the Edinburgh Gin Distillery tourad is £28 for 75 minutes. The whisky tours compared page covers the age and ID rules.

The council’s byelaw bans drinking alcohol in public places it has designated, not across the whole city, and the penalty is a fine of up to level 2 on the standard scale (City of Edinburgh Council).

Fraser Suites has 75 apartments about 80 m from St Giles’ Cathedral, and BrewDog DogHouse has 20 apartment-style rooms and more than 30 craft beer taps; both are in the booking section below. Edinburgh lists what to book, and where to stay in Edinburgh compares the areas.

Booking a group

Book the beds first. Our judgement: agree the dates, then book accommodation before the activities, because a hostel or an apartment house with enough beds for the whole group is the part with a limit. Some hostels and apartment hotels set a minimum group size, take a deposit or decline stag groups, so email the property for its group terms before you pay anything.

Book the activities next. Most of the activities in this guide show free cancellation on GetYourGuide, which lets a group lock a date and drop out a member later; check each product’s cut-off. Our judgement: book the activity that depends on a fixed slot, such as a boat or a beer spa, first, and fit the rest round it.

Split the cost one way. Our judgement: one person pays each booking and the others transfer their share the same day, with a spreadsheet of who owes what. Price the weekend per head before anyone commits. For example, in Prague the Pilsner Urquell Experience (CZK 521), the beer spa (CZK 1,930) and the go-karts (CZK 1,693) come to CZK 4,144 a head, before beds, food and drinks.

Hostels and apartments on Hotels.com

These are the hostels, aparthotels and apartment houses already on our stay pages. Each links to Hotels.com for the group’s dates.

Each city’s stay guide compares the areas: Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Riga, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Tallinn, Dublin and Edinburgh.

Other cities and other trips

For a hen weekend, see best cities for a hen do, which has its own order and the activities that suit it. For a trip with young children, see best city breaks with kids, which has the free ages and the step-free transport. For a trip for two, see romantic city breaks for couples, which has an evening plan and a table to book in each city. For other purposes, see cheap city breaks in Europe, winter sun city breaks, solo city breaks and food city breaks. For the rest of the cities, see Compare cities; for two cities head to head, see Prague vs Budapest. For the weather and what else is on in each month, see where to go each month. For Tallinn against Helsinki, see Helsinki vs Tallinn. For Tallinn against Riga, see Tallinn vs Riga. For Lithuanian draught beer and tasting tours in Vilnius, see Vilnius beer and bars.