The Bus to Karlovy Vary

Bohemia’s grand spa town is two hours west by bus — drink the springs, ride to the Diana tower, and eat the wafers everyone carries home.

The short version

• Direct buses from Praha Florenc reach Karlovy Vary in about two hours for €8–13 — book a seat ahead at regiojet.com. The train needs a change and over three hours; take the bus.
• Buy a porcelain spa cup at any colonnade kiosk, then work the springs: dozens of outlets from tepid to scalding, free to drink, spread along the Teplá river. Town guide at karlovyvary.cz.
• The Vřídlo is the showpiece — a 72°C spring that jets a column of water storeys high inside its own colonnade hall.
• The Mill Colonnade of 1881 — 132 meters, 124 columns — is the promenade of the whole spa idea; the Diana funicular behind the Grandhotel Pupp climbs to a lookout tower over the forested valley.
• Leave room in the bag: oplatky spa wafers the size of a small plate, a Becherovka tasting at the distillery museum, and Moser glass, blown here since 1857.

Serious Day Tour Man saysThe springs are medicine before they are refreshment — hot, mineral, and strange on the first sip. Buy the smallest cup, start with the cooler outlets, and sip as you walk like the locals do. Chugging 72-degree sulphate water on an empty stomach turns a spa day into a stomach ache you paid for.

Getting there

RegioJet and FlixBus run direct from Praha Florenc to Karlovy Vary in about two hours, €8–13 each way; book seats in advance on summer weekends. The direct train is the scenic-but-slow option at over three hours with a change — defensible for rail romantics, wrong for a day trip. The bus station sits a short walk from the start of the colonnade promenade; everything worth seeing lines the two kilometers of river valley from there, and the whole town works on foot.

The day

Walk the Teplá upstream and let the town administer itself in order: cup first, then the colonnades one by one — the carved wooden Market Colonnade, the neo-Renaissance Mill Colonnade with its 124 columns, and the glass hall where the Vřídlo geyser throws its column of 72-degree water. Sip as you go; each spring is numbered and labelled with its temperature. Cross to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, then continue to the Grandhotel Pupp — the wedding-cake pile that has hosted two centuries of composers, kings, and a Bond film — and take the Diana funicular from behind it up to the observation tower for the valley view. Afternoon options: the Becherovka museum for a tasting of the town’s herbal liqueur, the Moser glassworks a short bus ride out, or simply a café window and a plate of oplatky. The film festival crowd does exactly this every July and calls it work.

When to go

May through October for the promenade weather; the colonnades themselves work year-round, and a snowy January visit has its own logic — hot springs, cold air, empty town. Early July brings the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, when the town fills with screenings, stars, and booked-out everything: electric if you plan for it, hopeless if you stumble into it. Pay in koruna — this is still the Czech Republic, whatever the Russian shop signs suggest.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you get from Prague to Karlovy Vary?
Direct bus from Praha Florenc, about two hours, €8–13 each way with RegioJet or FlixBus — reserve ahead. The train takes over three hours with a change and only makes sense if the journey itself is the point.

Can you drink the springs for free?
Yes — the springs along the colonnades are free to drink. The only purchase is the porcelain spa cup, a few euros at any kiosk, with its built-in straw handle. It doubles as the souvenir.

What are oplatky?
Round spa wafers about 15 cm across, pressed thin and filled with hazelnut, vanilla, or cinnamon cream — sold warm at kiosks all over town. Karlovy Vary has baked them for the cure crowd for generations.

Is a spa treatment worth it on a day trip?
The classic full cure takes weeks, but several bathhouses sell single entries and short treatments to walk-ins. On a day trip, the honest priority is the springs, the colonnades, and the funicular — book a treatment ahead if you want one.

When is the film festival?
Early July, for about a week. It is Central Europe’s biggest film event — wonderful if you come for it, but accommodation and restaurants book out, so a quiet spa day is better placed in June or September.