Bananas4beading tours

31/10/2026

A little flame, a steady hand and a rod of glass, and a few moments later there's a bead 🔥 Watching a lampworker up close is pure magic, and it's one of the highlights of our trips.

31/10/2026

✨ A new little group is forming for May 2027! ✨

Mon 17 – Fri 21 May 2027 · 5-day beading holiday in Jablonec nad Nisou

Two lovely beaders have already booked this week, and we'd love a few more to join them. We keep our groups small (five is a lovely number), so there's room for three more.

If you've been dreaming of Czech beads, a bead-hunting trip with a friend or two, or just a happy week of beading, this could be the one for you.

Have a look on our Join a group page, or just drop us a message and we'll happily answer any questions.

👉 https://www.bananas4beading.com/join-a-group.html

Keith & Simi x

Join a small, friendly beading group in Jablonec. Our Monday 10 to Friday 14 May 2027 group tour is now full; Monday 17 to Friday 21 May 2027 has spaces. Both 5 days and 4 nights, £690 per person (2027 price).

31/10/2026

✨ Another week has opened up for May 2027! ✨ We now have Monday 3rd to Friday 7th May 2027 free, five lovely days of beading with us in Jablonec, and room for a few more. Spring is a beautiful time to be here, with the hills turning green and the bead shops full of new colours. If you and a friend or two fancy it, just send us a message or have a look at bananas4beading.com 😊 Keith and Simi

29/10/2026

Autumn has painted the hills gold and copper 🍂 This is the view on the way to some of our favourite bead stops. Honestly, the drive is half the fun!

29/10/2026

✨ 2027 is already filling up! ✨

Our first spring tour is booked in for Monday 10th – Friday 14th May 2027 – and that week is now full! 💛

Don't have a whole group? No problem at all. We've just added a new 'Join a group' page to our website, so you can hop on to one of our small, friendly tours, whether you're coming on your own, with a friend, or with your bead buddy.

Five days, four nights in Jablonec, the home of Czech glass beads. Think secret stockrooms, bead shops piled to the ceiling, vintage treasures and lots of laughs along the way. All for £690 per person, with hotel, breakfast and transport included.

Spaces are small, so if you fancy it, give us a shout 👉 bananas4beading.com
📞 +420 606 588 330

Keith & Simi x

27/10/2026

Let loose in the stockroom! 😂 Shelves from floor to ceiling, and giggles all round. This is what bead heaven looks like.

25/10/2026

Sunday afternoon here in Czechia 🍂 The leaves are turning gold and it's the perfect weather for a cup of tea and a tray of beads. What's on your beading mat this weekend? We'd love to see what you're making, so pop a photo in the comments! 💛

23/10/2026

Behind the scenes 🔥

At its height, bead making around Jablonec was a true cottage industry. Family workshops dotted the hills, and many makers melted glass over a flame at a wooden bench at home. Only a handful of these cottage factories remain in original working order, and on our tours we sometimes visit one of them.

Watching is mesmerising. Having a go yourself is another story: you soon find out that even a colourful blob of glass is harder than it looks!

Have you ever tried lamp-work? Tell us how it went 👇

20/10/2026

20/10/2026

Well, hello again! 👋 We have to own up: we've been rather quiet on here for far too long. But we're back, and this time we're going to try a lot harder to keep in touch.

For anyone new, we're Keith and Simi, an English–Czech couple living near Prague. We take people who are mad about beads to Jablonec nad Nisou, the home of Czech glass beads, for factory visits, lamp-work, bead shopping and plenty of laughs along the way.

From now on we'll be sharing a little here each week: snippets from the workshops and factories, bits of Jablonec history, guest memories and the odd family moment.

If you've been out with us before, do say hello in the comments. We'd love to hear how you are. 💛