Karlovy Vary day trip from Prague

Karlovy Vary is the Czech Republic's best-known spa town, built up since the 14th century around a cluster of hot mineral springs that once drew European royalty and composers on weeks-long treatment stays.

A town built on hot water

Legend credits Emperor Charles IV with discovering the springs on a hunting trip around 1350, granting the settlement town rights in 1370. The real turning point came in the 16th century, when a local physician began promoting drinking cures using the mineral water itself rather than just bathing in it – an innovation that launched the town's golden era, eventually drawing visitors including Peter the Great, Goethe, Beethoven, Chopin and Dvořák. The most dramatic of the springs, Vřídlo, reaches around 73°C and erupts as a geyser up to 12 metres high, discharging up to 2,000 litres a minute.

What to see

The Mill Colonnade, a 132-metre Neo-Renaissance arcade completed in 1881, is the town's grandest structure, built directly over several of the springs. The Diana Lookout Tower, reached by funicular railway up the hillside, gives a view over the whole town and the Teplá river valley below. Karlovy Vary is also home to Moser, a renowned Czech crystal glassworks founded in 1857, and to Becherovka, a herbal liqueur invented here in 1807 and still produced locally – sometimes called the town's "thirteenth spring."

Getting there

Karlovy Vary is about two hours from Prague by car, comfortable as a full-day round trip without needing to stay overnight, though spa guests historically came for treatment courses lasting weeks rather than a single afternoon. Český Krumlov is a similarly-timed full-day trip in a different direction, leaning more toward medieval architecture than spa culture, if you're weighing up which one to do.

Booking

A guided day trip from Prague covers the return journey, a guided introduction to the town's highlights, and a visit to the Moser glassworks, with free time built in to explore the colonnades and springs independently.