Come with us from Prague to Karlovy Vary On this 9.5-hour excursion, you’ll be picked up at your Prague hotel (depending on the option selected) and head off on a drive to the largest and most popular spa town in the Czech Republic.
The history of this Bohemian town dates back to the 14th century. Today, Karlovy Vary is also well known for its film festival, which takes place every year.
Enjoy a walk along the colonnade through the historic center, where you’ll find the thermal springs. The most famous of the springs, Vřídlo, spurts boiling hot water to a height of 12 meters. The tour includes a visit traditional spa house where you can enjoy 2 hours of relaxation by the pool, whirlpool or sauna.
At the end of the tour, you’ll head back to Prague and the driver will then drop you off in the city center or at your hotel.
Travel blogger Diego Costa visited Karlovy Vary with us.You can read his tips for visiting Prague and its surroundings here: Karlovy Vary & Prague
Interesting facts about Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It lies at the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá. It is named after Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Bohemia, who founded the city.
Karlovy Vary is the site of numerous hot springs (13 main springs, about 300 smaller springs, and the warm-water Teplá River), and is the most visited spa town in the Czech Republic. The historic city centre with the spa cultural landscape is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. It is the largest spa complex in Europe. In 2021, the city became part of the transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name "Great Spa Towns of Europe" because of its spas and architecture from the 18th through 20th centuries.
Karlovy Vary is located about 106 kilometres west of Prague.
The city lies at the confluence of the Ohře with the Teplá and Rolava rivers. There are several small bodies of water in the northern half of the Karlovy Vary territory. The most notable is the natural reservoir Rolava, which is located right in the centre of the city. It is used for recreational purposes.
Diana Observation Tower. Monumental brick observation tower with a roofed wooden gallery.
The elegant Diana Lookout Tower has offered a panoramic view of Karlovy Vary and its surroundings of a distance of up to 70 km away for over 100 years already. You will see not only the historical town centre from above, but also the spa forests, the Ore Mountains, and the German borderlands.
Admission to the lookout tower is completely free, and a lift will take you up to the lookout gallery, or you can go up the 150 steps.
Enjoy the view here, because as they say, “He who has not been to Diana has not seen Karlovy Vary“
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become Central and Eastern Europe's leading film event.
The Karlovy Vary IFF first held an international film competition in 1948. Since 1951, an international jury has evaluated the films. The Karlovy Vary competition quickly found a place among other developing festivals and by 1956 FIAPF had already classified Karlovy Vary as a category A festival. Given the creation of the Moscow Film Festival and the political decision to organize only one "A" festival for all socialist countries, Karlovy Vary was forced to alternate year by year with Moscow IFF between 1959 and 1993.
The social and political changes that took place after the Velvet Revolution in November 1989 pushed concerns about organizing the Karlovy Vary IFF to the background. The program for 1990 was saved by the release of a collection of Czechoslovak films that had been locked up for years in a storage vault. And the appearance of a number of international guests such as Miloš Forman, Lindsay Anderson, Annette Bening and Robert De Niro helped as well. Future festivals were in doubt. Financial problems and a lack of interest on the part of the government, organizers and viewers almost ended the festival's long tradition in 1992.
In 1994, the 29th Karlovy Vary IFF inaugurated an entirely new tradition. After nearly forty years of alternating with the Moscow IFF, the festival began once again to take place every year. The Karlovy Vary Film Festival Foundation was set up in 1993 co-created by the Ministry of Culture, The City of Karlovy Vary, and the Grand Hotel Pupp.
Springs in Karlovy Vary
The main feature of the thermal mineral water springs in Karlovy Vary is that they have the same chemical composition. But they have different temperature (from 30 to 75 °C), which is important when the doctor prescribes a specific spring for a certain disease. The fact that more hot springs prescribed for people with high acidity and having irritable bowel syndrome. Springs with lower temperatures are suitable for people with low acidity and who suffering from constipation. Karlovy Vary thermal mineral water has a complex effect on the body. In addition to the treatment of the stomach and intestines, it is useful in diseases of the gallbladder, pancreas, normalizes liver function, improves metabolism, stabilizes blood sugar levels. It has been proven that drinking cure thermal mineral water of Karlovy Vary is an effective adjuvant therapy for diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Karlovy Vary thermal water saturates the body with beneficial nutrients that indirectly affect the state of bone and cartilage tissue in the body.
Don't forget to check out our other day trips. TOURS OUT OF PRAGUE