Karlovy Vary Region: 10 places worth a day trip
Pinsko lists 10 places in the Karlovy Vary Region: 5 spa towns, 3 historic sites, 1 beer stop and 1 nature spot.
Highlights include Karlovy Vary, Loket Castle and Permon Brewery.
Quick answers
- Which places in the Karlovy Vary Region need booking?
- Book ahead for Loket Castle and Moser Glassworks, Karlovy Vary. The rest are walk-in or worth a quick check of opening times.
- What's seasonal in the Karlovy Vary Region?
- Seasonal: SOOS Nature Reserve (Apr–Nov). The others aren't seasonal, but check opening hours before you go.
- How far is the Karlovy Vary Region from Prague and Brno?
- By car, Pinsko's places here are 1 h 40 min–2 h 15 min from Prague and 3 h 35 min–4 h 10 min from Brno, without traffic.
Beer1
History3
- Loket Castle
A castle on a rock in a tight bend of the Ohře, once called the key to the Kingdom of Bohemia.
- Chlum Svaté Maří Pilgrimage Church
A Baroque pilgrimage church near Sokolov looked after by the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, the order founded by St Agnes of Bohemia. The present church and cloisters were built around 1700, probably to a design by Christoph Dientzenhofer.
- Moser Glassworks, Karlovy Vary
Moser has made lead-free crystal in Karlovy Vary since 1857, for royal courts and presidents. The visitor centre has a museum of its glass and a tour of the hot shop, where the glassmakers blow and shape it by hand.
Spas5
- Karlovy Vary
The largest Czech spa town, listed in 2021 among the Great Spa Towns of Europe. A dozen hot springs feed the colonnades, ending with the Vřídlo geyser at about 73 °C.
- Mariánské Lázně
Around a hundred mineral springs rise in and around the town; its centrepiece is the cast-iron colonnade of 1889 and the Singing Fountain. UNESCO since 2021.
- Františkovy Lázně
A planned spa town of yellow Empire houses laid out in 1793 around the Františkův spring. UNESCO since 2021.
- Jáchymov
The world's first radon spa, opened in 1906 with water from the local uranium mines – the same ore from which Marie Curie isolated radium.
- Lázně Kynžvart
A quiet children's spa in the Slavkov Forest, below the chateau of chancellor Metternich.