Karlovy Vary

The best time to visit is from late spring to early autumn, roughly May to September. Summers are mild and pleasant, and rarely too hot. Spring and autumn are cooler and quieter, which suits a calm spa trip. Winters are cold and often snowy, but the spa houses stay open all year.

The one event to plan around is the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in early July. It is one of the oldest major film festivals in the world. For about nine days the town fills with screenings, crowds and film stars, and hotels book out early. Come for the atmosphere, or avoid these dates if you want a quiet visit.

Most of the sights sit along the spa valley, within an easy walk of each other. The town is famous above all for its colonnades — covered walkways built over the hot springs.

• Mill Colonnade is the grandest of them, a long neo-Renaissance gallery with rows of columns and several springs to taste.
• Hot Spring Colonnade is the hot heart of the town. Inside its glass hall, the Vřídlo geyser shoots mineral water high into the air, and you can taste the water at the taps.
• Market Colonnade is a delicate wooden colonnade in Swiss style, built over more springs nearby.
• Park Colonnade is a graceful white cast-iron colonnade in the gardens to the north, and Castle Colonnade is a smaller one on the terrace above the old castle spa.
• Imperial Spa is a grand 19th-century bathhouse, one of the most ornate spa buildings in the town.
• Church of St Mary Magdalene is a Baroque church by the architect Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer, standing just above the hot spring.
• Church of Sts Peter and Paul is a Russian Orthodox church with gilded onion domes, a reminder of the many Russian guests who once came to take the waters.
• Deer Leap is a rocky lookout above the valley, marked by a bronze chamois statue and tied to the town's founding legend.
• Grandhotel Pupp is the town's best-known hotel, a white landmark from the spa's golden age that is often used as a film location.

Karlovy Vary is a place for slow rituals more than a checklist of sights.

• Take the drinking cure. Buy a traditional spa cup with a built-in spout, fill it at the springs along the colonnades, and sip the warm mineral water as you walk. Each spring has a slightly different taste and temperature.
• Ride the Diana Funicular up through the forest, then climb the tower at the top for the view over the valley.
• Watch glassblowers shape molten crystal on a factory tour at Museum Moser, the town's famous crystal glassworks.
• Taste Becherovka, the town's herbal liqueur, at Jan Becher Museum, where the recipe dates back to 1807.

Karlovy Vary is a good base for the castles and spa towns of West Bohemia.

• Loket — about 20 minutes by car or a short train ride. A small medieval town wrapped in a bend of the Ohře river, below a well-preserved 13th-century castle.
• Ostrov — about 15 minutes by train. Known for its large Baroque château and its landscaped garden.
• Jáchymov — about 30 minutes by bus. A historic silver-mining town in the Ore Mountains, now a radon spa, with a mining museum.
• Mariánské Lázně — about 45 minutes by car. A second grand spa town, greener and more open, with a musical fountain and a long colonnade.
• Cheb — about 45 minutes by car or train. A historic border town with a striking medieval market square and a castle.

• By air: The main gateway is Prague Airport (Václav Havel Airport), about 100 km away. Direct express buses run from the airport to Karlovy Vary in around 1 hour 30 minutes. Karlovy Vary has its own small airport, but it has almost no scheduled flights.
• By bus: Frequent express buses also run from central Prague (Florenc station) and take about 2 hours 15 minutes. Buses are usually the fastest and cheapest option. They also link Cheb, Plzeň and other regional towns.
• By train: Direct trains from Prague are slower, at around 3 hours 20 minutes, but the route is scenic. Regional trains connect Cheb, Mariánské Lázně and Plzeň.

• On foot: The spa centre is compact and made for walking. A pedestrian promenade follows the Teplá river past the colonnades, and most sights are within a 20-minute walk.
• Public transport: City buses and trolleybuses, run by DPKV, serve the outer districts and the train and bus stations. The easiest way to pay is to tap a contactless bank card at the on-board reader; you can also buy a ticket from the driver. Fares are low.
• Taxi and ride-hailing: Local taxis and the Bolt app both operate.
• Funicular: A historic funicular runs up to the Diana lookout, useful for the hill and a pleasant ride in itself.

• Is a car worth it? Not for the spa centre, which is walkable and partly closed to traffic. A car helps only if you plan to explore the wider region and its castles.
• Parking: Leave the car in a paid garage or car park at the edge of the spa zone, then walk in. Pay by machine or app.
• Restrictions: The inner spa district limits car access to protect the springs. Watch for signs and permit-only streets.

Karlovy Vary has two edible souvenirs. Spa wafers (lázeňské oplatky) are large, thin, round wafers, usually filled with sugar or nuts and sold warm from shops all over town. Becherovka, a herbal liqueur, is drunk as a digestive and is sometimes called the "thirteenth spring".

For meals, the pedestrian promenade along the Teplá river and Stará Louka street hold most of the cafés and restaurants, from light spa menus to hearty Czech dishes. For a grand setting, the café at the Grandhotel Pupp serves coffee and cakes under chandeliers.

Karlovy Vary is a calm, safe town with very little crime. The usual care with wallets and bags in busy tourist spots is enough.

Tap water is safe to drink. The spring water is a different matter: it is hot, strongly mineral, and meant to be drunk in small amounts as a treatment. Too much can upset your stomach, so a few small cups a day is plenty.

According to legend, Emperor Charles IV discovered the springs in the 14th century when his hunting dogs chased a deer to a steaming pool in the valley. The spot above the town is still marked today at Deer Leap. The emperor gave the new town his name: Karlovy Vary means "Charles' Baths".

Over the following centuries the town became one of Europe's leading spas. Guests came to drink and bathe in the waters that still rise at Hot Spring Colonnade, among them Goethe, Beethoven and the Russian tsar Peter the Great. The grand colonnades and hotels you see today were mostly built during this golden age in the 18th and 19th centuries.

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