Mariánské Lázně

Karlovy Vary Region, Czech Republic (Czechia)

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Mariánské Lázně is the second-largest spa town in the Czech Republic, located in the Karlovy Vary Region in western Czechia's forested Egerland basin at an elevation of 600 meters, and is one of eleven European spa towns recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This charming spa town emerged in 1812 when Abbot Karl Gaspar Reitenberger built an independent village after people discovered the healing properties of its more than 40 mineral springs, which were formally studied in the late 18th century and declared a public spa resort in 1818.

The town is renowned for its impressive spa colonnades and promenades nestled among splendid urban parks, with the monumental 180-meter-long cast-iron New Spa Colonnade built between 1888-1889 by Viennese architects being the longest colonnade in Bohemia, featuring the famous Singing Fountain that performs symphonic music, plus the Cross Spring Colonnade and the replica of the antique Caroline Spring Colonnade.

Mariánské Lázně has attracted an enviable list of famous visitors including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Frédéric Chopin, Richard Wagner, English King Edward VII, Franz Kafka, and Henrik Ibsen, drawn by its therapeutic springs that treat rheumatism, digestive disorders, urinary system diseases, locomotive organs, airways, metabolic and gynaecological conditions.