Hot water, a Bond hotel and a liqueur

Everything here sits along the Teplá between the Hot Spring and the Grandhotel Pupp, so one car park and comfortable shoes cover it. Bring a spa cup and taste as you go.

1. Watch the geyser at the Hot Spring

The Hot Spring Colonnade shelters a jet of 73.4 °C water that rises to almost 12 m. Open daily from 06:30; the building is from 1975, and you're here for the water, not the concrete.

2. Count the columns at the Mill Colonnade

Josef Zítek's Mill Colonnade opened in 1881 and has 124 columns. Five springs run along it, so bring the cup here first.

3. Ride the funicular up to Diana

The Diana funicular leaves from behind the Grandhotel Pupp, through the forest to the lookout tower. Go up for the view over the roofs and walk back down.

4. Look at the Pupp, then look again

The Grandhotel Pupp dates its tradition to 1701, and played the Hotel Splendide in Casino Royale. I'd have coffee here once rather than pay for a room.

5. Find the Bond casino at the Imperial Spa

The Imperial Spa (Lázně I), built in 1895, was dressed as the casino in Casino Royale. The Czech film commission says the crew dressed its exteriors; it doesn't say the interiors were filmed here.

6. Taste Becherovka where it was made

The Jan Becher Museum is the building where Becherovka was made for over 140 years, until 2010. The basic tour, with a tasting, is from 290 Kč; closed Mondays.

7. Book Moser on a weekday

Moser runs glassworks tours Monday to Friday, 09:00–14:00, for 370 Kč. The museum alone is 150 Kč and opens Saturdays. My pick for a rainy morning.

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Wafers, herbal liqueur and a bread dumpling

1. Buy the oplatky warm

Karlovarské oplatky are thin round spa wafers, made here since 1867. Warm from a colonnade stall they're a different thing from the boxed ones.

2. Drink Becherovka as an aperitif

The herbal liqueur dates from 1807. The tasting at the Jan Becher Museum is the easiest way to try the range in one go.

3. Order svíčková with a Karlovy Vary dumpling

Svíčková is beef in a cream vegetable sauce with cranberries. Ask whether the kitchen does the local Karlovy Vary dumpling with it.

4. Eat on Becherplatz or at Moser

The restaurant on Becherplatz is next to the museum. Café Moser is open Monday to Saturday 09:00–16:00. For one grand lunch, the Pupp's Grandrestaurant.

Film week, Christmas and a spa opening

1. Don't drive in during KVIFF

The 61st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival runs 2 to 10 July 2027. The Thermal, the festival's base, closes its car park for the festival; its page lists 25 June to 10 July. I'd come by train that week.

2. Expect a busy Christmas

Christmas in Karlovy Vary runs from 29 November 2026 to 1 January 2027. The kerb still charges every day.

3. Wait for the spa season date

The Opening of the Spa Season 2027 has no date yet on the city's site. Check it in spring.

A hunting story and a charter

1. Treat the deer legend as a legend

The story says Charles IV found the hot spring around 1349, on a hunt. What's documented is his charter, granting the town privileges on 14 August 1370.

2. Remember the 1819 decrees

The Carlsbad Decrees were agreed here in 1819, bringing censorship across the German Confederation.

3. Count it among the Great Spa Towns

Since 2021 Karlovy Vary has been part of the UNESCO Great Spa Towns of Europe site.