When to Go

The region's key cultural event is the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, held in the first week in July. As strolling on the promenades of the spa towns is de rigeur, the summer months are the season. The winter months are fine if you want to spend all your time indoors getting massages and other luxury treatments. Most hotels do stay open during this season. But promenading around the colonnade will be a bit of a letdown in the cold, and there's less hobnobbing with fellow spa goers due to much smaller crowds.