Karlovy Vary Spa Town

Karlovy Vary grew up around hot mineral springs in the fourteenth century and became one of Europe’s most fashionable spa resorts in the nineteenth. Grand hotels and pastel buildings line the river Teplá, and its springs are part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Stroll the colonnades and taste the warm spring water from a traditional spa cup with a spout, watch the Hot Spring shoot up inside its colonnade, and try the local spa wafers and Becherovka herbal liqueur.

Karlovy Vary is about two hours from Prague and makes a relaxed day trip, well suited to senior travellers. Porcelain spa cups make a classic souvenir. Many hotels offer spa treatments, from mineral baths to massages, if you would like to stay a night.