Spas
Czech spa towns: 18 colonnades, springs and spa parks
Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně in West Bohemia are part of the UNESCO-listed Great Spa Towns of Europe, and Moravia adds Luhačovice and others.
Pinsko lists 18 spa towns where you can walk the colonnades and taste the mineral springs all year round; no booking needed unless you want treatments.
Quick answers
- Do I need to book to visit a spa town?
- No. Colonnades, spa parks and drinking springs are free and open year-round. Spa treatments are booked with the spa hotels.
- What should I bring?
- A spa cup for tasting the springs. They are sold at stalls by the colonnades.
Karlovy Vary Region5
- 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.
Olomouc Region3
- Velké Losiny
Warm sulphur springs below a Renaissance chateau, in a village also known for its 16th-century hand paper mill and for the witch trials held here.
- Priessnitz Spa, Jeseník
Vincenz Priessnitz opened the world's first hydrotherapy institute here in 1822; cold-water cures are still given on the wooded slopes above Jeseník.
- Teplice nad Bečvou Spa
Carbonated mineral springs in the Bečva valley, next to the Zbrašov aragonite caves, the warmest in the country.