Although you may not have heard of Karlovy Vary, it really is one of the most picturesque destinations in the Czech Republic. Prague grabs the headlines, along with the bulk of the tourists, and the only people who seem to have heard of this spa town are the Germans, who know it as Karlsbad. This is because it was founded by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles (Karl) IV in 1358, but the many Teutonic tourists are also drawn to this town to take the waters, and see the places that Goethe, Schiller, Beethoven and others frequented.

If this is your first experience of Czech roads, don’t let it put you off! It might be a bit of a bumpy ride (and you’ll probably be distracted by the prostitutes who wait for trade in each lay-by), and you have a good chance of getting stuck behind a lorry belching out clouds of smoke, but things have improved over the last few years. Still, when you do arrive in Karlovy Vary, you won’t be overly impressed. It is fairly typical of many towns that have tried to shed the evidence of years of Communist rule – a sprawling mass of old tower blocks and rundown buildings, interspersed with modern industrial developments and McDonalds adverts.

The old town is just a short walk from the station, and all the sights are concentrated on the one street that runs alongside the River Tepla - once you get past the towering new hotel that dominates the centre of town, you can see that the old buildings, which endured years of neglect and decay under the Communists, are gradually being restored to former splendours. The stucco facades are being repainted in vivid colours, and the ground floors of many are now given over to restaurants, souvenir shops and haute couture outlets as consumerism makes its mark. Prices have not been adversely affected though, and you can still get a good meal and a few drinks for a tenner – this is probably due to the fact that there are so many cafes to choose from that no one owner can afford to raise prices to rip-off levels. Some cafes supplement their income by offering guests a cigarettes and booze menu at the table as well, so that you can take your cheap spirits and Marlboro Lights back to the hotel, without having anything to do with the tiresome business of shopping!

There are about 60 springs in Karlovy Vary, which vary in temperature from 34 to 73 degrees Centigrade, and there is one particularly picturesque spot, where the hot spring waters flow into the river, staining the rocks red with iron deposits and sending great clouds of steam up into the street. The main attraction, a geyser that shoots water 40 feet into the air, is housed in a pretty ugly glass and steel structure called the Yuri Gagarin Colonnade, but you can wander around in here and sample the various spring waters. It’s just a shame that such an obviously ‘modern’ structure has been planted so incongruously in the midst of such beautiful surroundings.