Karlovy Vary: a guide to Czechia's grand spa town

Why go

Karlovy Vary is a place to slow down. The town is built along a winding river, with pastel facades stacked up the slopes and forest walking trails right above the rooftops. It belongs to the Great Spa Towns of Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared with Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně nearby. Even if you never book a treatment, walking the colonnades and tasting the springs is a unique experience.

The springs and colonnades

The town has around a dozen drinking springs, each with a different temperature and mineral taste. The **Mill Colonnade**, a long neo Renaissance hall of columns, shelters several of them. The **Hot Spring Colonnade** covers the Vřídlo, the most powerful spring, which shoots water high into the air at a temperature hot enough to make you step back. The elegant wooden **Market Colonnade** and the white **Park Colonnade** complete the walk.

Buy a traditional porcelain spa cup with a built in spout from a stall, fill it at each spring and sip slowly. The water is salty and metallic, and doctors traditionally prescribe it in small amounts, so taste rather than drink deeply.

Spa treatments

Many hotels and spa houses offer treatments from mineral baths and massages to multi day medical programmes. For a short visit, the **Alžbětiny Lázně**, the Elizabeth Spa, offers single treatments to day guests, and several hotels have thermal pools. Book ahead, and check the treatment descriptions carefully, as some are medical and require a consultation.

Other things to do

Ride the funicular up to the **Diana lookout tower** for views over the valley, and walk back down through the forest. Visit the **Jan Becher Museum** to learn about Becherovka, the herbal liqueur known as the thirteenth spring. Look into the **Moser glassworks**, famous for fine crystal, and try the local spa wafers, thin crisp oplatky filled with vanilla, chocolate or hazelnut.

Each summer, usually in early July, the **Karlovy Vary International Film Festival** fills the town with film fans, premieres and stars. It is one of the oldest film festivals in the world and a lively time to visit, though stays book out months ahead.

Day trips

**Loket**, a short bus ride away, is a tiny town wrapped around a castle on a loop of the Ohře river, perfect for a half day. **Mariánské Lázně** is greener and calmer, with a singing fountain and a vast park. On the way back towards Prague, **Plzeň** is home of the original pilsner beer, with brewery tours.

Where to stay

For atmosphere, stay along the colonnades or in the grand hotels of the old spa quarter. The lower town near the bus station is more practical and better value. Many spa hotels offer packages including meals and treatments.

Getting there and around

Direct buses from Prague take about two hours and are faster than the train. The spa quarter is a long, gentle walk along the river, with local buses for the hills.

How long to stay

One night is enough for the colonnades, two nights adds Loket and a treatment, and three nights suits a proper spa break with a day trip to Mariánské Lázně.