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Things to do in Karlovy Vary

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Karlovy Vary

Set where the Teplá meets the Ohře in western Bohemia, the spa town runs along a narrow wooded valley of colonnades, pastel façades and hot mineral springs. It is the base for the Ore Mountains foothills, the glassworks and the film festival each July. Buses from Prague take about two hours; the local airport is small and seasonal. The spa valley is walkable end to end, with funiculars for the ridges. July fills the town for the festival, and late spring is quieter for the drinking cure.

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Things to do

5
  1. Diana Lookout Tower

    Viewpoint · 1.5 hr

    A funicular climbs from behind the Grandhotel Pupp to a wooded ridge above the spa valley, where a brick tower and a lift reach a gallery over the forest. Marked trails link the top back down to the colonnades in under an hour. Clear mornings show the Ore Mountains; haze in summer flattens the view.

  2. Hot Spring Colonnade

    Landmark · 30 min

    Behind plate glass in a modern concrete hall, the Vřídlo geyser throws hot mineral water some twelve metres upward, the hottest of the town's springs. Cooled taps along the wall serve it at several temperatures for drinking. Benches inside make the hall a shelter in wet weather, and it fills whenever rain moves over the valley.

  3. Market Colonnade

    Landmark · 30 min

    Swiss style carved woodwork, white and lacy, shelters two springs on the slope below the castle tower, put up as a temporary structure in the late nineteenth century and never replaced. Shade and benches make it a pause on the promenade circuit. Its open sides mean it stays cool, and the carving repays a slow look.

  4. Mill Colonnade

    Landmark · 30 min

    Nearly a hundred Corinthian columns carry this neo-Renaissance promenade along the Teplá, where five mineral springs are piped to stone basins for drinking. Spa guests circle it slowly with porcelain cups, refilling as they walk. The water runs warm and heavily mineral, and a first cup goes down better in small sips.

  5. Moser Glassworks

    Museum · 1.5 hr

    Crystal has been blown and cut here since 1857, and the works supplied European courts before it became a name on the town's shop windows. A museum tracks the designs, and timed tours reach the furnace hall where glassblowers work in teams around the heat. Tours run on a fixed schedule and fill in advance, so booking ahead matters.

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