Karlovy Vary's Enduring Appeal

Karlovy Vary sits in a narrow river valley in western Bohemia, its pastel colonnades and grand 19th-century hotels stacked up the forested hillsides in a way that feels more like a stage set than a real town. According to tradition, Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV discovered the hot springs here in the 14th century, and by the 1800s, the town had become one of Europe's most fashionable destinations, drawing Goethe, Beethoven, Marx, and Chopin among countless others who came for the thermal waters and stayed for the society.

The springs themselves are the town's defining feature. Karlovy Vary has 13 main mineral springs, each with a different temperature and mineral composition, and the local tradition of drinking the waters directly from handled porcelain cups called lázeňský pohár is still very much alive. The colonnades that house the springs, particularly the ornate Mill Colonnade, completed in 1881, give the town its distinctive architectural character and remain the center of daily life for both visitors and locals.

The setting alone, a valley town where Belle Époque architecture meets forested hills and a quietly flowing river, is extraordinary. The town also hosts the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival each July, one of the oldest and most respected film festivals in the world, which adds a contemporary layer to a place that might otherwise feel preserved entirely in amber.