Where to Eat & Drink in Karlovy Vary

Eating in Karlovy Vary is a mix of spa-town ritual and hearty Bohemian cooking. The two things you must try are edible souvenirs as much as food: the large round spa wafers sold warm along the colonnades, and Becherovka, the herbal liqueur the town calls its thirteenth spring. Beyond them lies classic Czech cooking, roast pork and dumplings, goulash, and game, plus a deep coffee-house tradition inherited from the belle-epoque resort. These picks lean on the grand cafes and the best tables in the spa centre, but the honest advice is to step a street back from the river promenade for better value. Coffee and cake here is a legitimate way to spend an hour, and no one will rush you. Save the ones you like and mix a grand cafe with a proper Czech dinner.

Spa wafers (oplatky)

The signature snack is the lazenska oplatka, a large, thin, round wafer flavoured with hazelnut, chocolate, or vanilla and sold warm from stalls along the colonnades. Made in the town since 1867, they are the perfect chaser to the salty spring water.

Becherovka, the thirteenth spring

No visit is complete without a glass of Becherovka, the amber herbal liqueur distilled here since 1807 from a secret recipe. Drink it neat and chilled as a digestif, or as the local highball 'beton' with tonic and lemon.

Czech classics

For a proper meal, look for Czech home cooking: roast pork with dumplings and cabbage, beef goulash, svickova (beef in a creamy root-vegetable sauce), and game in season, all built for a cold day and a glass of Czech beer. Step a street back from the river for better prices than the promenade.

Grand cafes

The coffee-house tradition runs deep. Cafe Elefant on Stara Louka and the Cafe Pupp inside the Grandhotel serve coffee, cake, and wafers under chandeliers in true belle-epoque style, a legitimate way to spend an hour out of the weather.

Where to splurge

For a special dinner, Restaurace Promenada by the Market Colonnade is regularly rated the best table in town, strong on game and wine, while the Grandrestaurant Pupp plates fine dining in the grandest room in the valley. For a view with your meal, the cafe in the Castle Tower looks out over the colonnades. Book the top tables ahead.