Kemp Carlsbad

The handsome, baroque-era spa town of Karlovy Vary (15 minutes’ drive) is well known for its hot thermal springs, the ornate colonnades in Dvořákovy Park and the Orthodox Church of St Peter and Paul, topped by gilded onion domes. Have a stroll along the Teplá River and sample the healing mineral waters, and stop by the Grandhotel Pupp, location for 2006’s James Bond film ‘Casino Royale’. You can see further hot springs in Soos National Nature Reserve (40 minutes), known as the ‘Czech Yellowstone’ and a landscape of mineral bogs with bubbling mud volcanoes. Slavkov Forest (35 minutes) has hiking and cycling trails suitable for all fitness levels through pristine forest, around lakes and skirting bogs. There’s culture to be seen with the art collections at neoclassical Kynžvart State Castle (40 minutes), where there’s also an English-style formal park to explore. Loket Castle (15 minutes) sits dramatically on a rugged clifftop and is host to a porcelain museum and medieval torture chamber, while Bečov State Castle (also 15 minutes) houses the Reliquary of St Maurus, a priceless casket inscribed with Romanesque metalwork images of saints.