HOTEL CALIFORNIA
“Karlovy Vary is a sophisticated spa town at the heart of West Bohemia. Its twin is over in Southern California, headquarters of the world’s leading golf equipment companies. ”
I was travelling with a group of British journalists who were determined to sample Karlovy Vary's spas. The sauna was full of overweight, octogenerian German ladies, naked as the day they were born. My British compatriots kept their trunks firmly in place and eyes fixed on the wall. As did I!
HOTEL CALIFORNIA
Karlovy Vary was originally called Karlsbad. As is the Californian town of Carlsbad, home to most of today’s major golf companies. Callaway, Cobra, Honma, TaylorMade, Titleist, Scotty Cameron, and Linksoul all sport a Carlsbad zip.
“The ‘Californian Carlsbad’ was at one time big on natural springs too! ”
How did the California version of the famous Bohemian spa town come about?
In the 1880s, while searching for water to supply the steam locomotives of the brand new California Southern Railroad, John Frazier, the town’s founding father, discovered two artesian springs. One of them proved to be ideal for steam trains, the other for internal and external human complaints.
Frazier was joined by two other settlers, Gerhard Schutte and Samuel Church Smith who helped him establish the coastal California town. They creatively called it ‘Frazier Station’.
Determined to take advantage of the mineral springs that Fraser had discovered, they erected an 85-room hotel & spa which would soon be drawing in thousands of health-seeking hopefuls from all over the USA, travelling by the new California Southern railway line. Things were going swimmingly until tragedy struck only 9 years after opening when the all-wooden structure burned to the ground.
Carlsbad Hotel opened in 1887 attracting guests to Southern California’s fine beaches, easy railroad access and the Carlsbad mineral water. Less than a decade later, it was burned to a crisp!
Undeterred, Frazier and his affiliates continued to bottle and distributed the mineral water and eventually renamed it ‘Carlsbad Mineral Water’ after the world-famous West Bohemian spa town. Ever-eager to increase ‘brand awareness’, they changed the name of the town to ‘Carlsbad’ also!
“An analysis of the Californian water’s electrolyte composition showed that it was almost identical to that of Karlsbad’s.”
BOHEMIAN CONNECTIONS
Railways made access to the relatively mountainous West Bohemia region a lot easier and the crowds including the crown heads of Europe along with the noble classes flocked to the area. Beethoven, Casanova, and Mozart were among the regulars.
Karlovy Vary’s natural mineral water springs have been used in healing since the 14th century. Today the town remains one of the world’s top spa destinations, certainly the largest in Europe with no less than 80 mineral springs. Tens of thousands of people, especially from Germany and Russia arrive each year to take the waters.
THE GRAND BUDAPEST
We were staying at the Hotel Imperial overlooking the spa town which somehow put me in mind of ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, Wes Anderson’s wonderful film! Like the Grand Budapest, the Imperial’s glory has long since faded but still reflects a time when it was frequented by royalty, aristocrats and celebrities.
The actual inspiration for the Grand Budapest was just down the hill in town, the pink, wedding cake facade of the ‘Bristol Palace Hotel’. Another hotel in Karlovy, the ‘Hotel Grand Pupp’ is said to have been equally influential to Anderson’s movie. It was transformed into ‘The Casino Royale’ for the 2006 James Bond movie of the same name.
Karlovy has had much influence on the filming world! The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of the most influential in the world along with being the oldest.
GOLF ANYONE?
In the midst of all this silver-screen sparkle, there is golf to be had around this enchanting town. We popped into a couple of courses on our way to the hotel. Cihelny Golf Club is just south of Karlovy Vary and looks interesting though not on par with the courses we’d seen and played around Prague.
The town of Karlovy Vary has its own golf course, originally a 9-hole developed through the years into a full 18-holer. This looks more prestigious and probably the one to play. This and Marianske Lazne Golf Club are the two oldest clubs in the Czech Republic.
Mariánské Lázně is another highly popular spa town close to Karlovy Vary
We were staying at Imperial Hotel, the spa hotel Imperial overlooking Karlavoy.
Fralkensteiner Spa Resort.
Royal Golf Club Marianske Lazne
The town of Karlovy Vary is beautiful at night and worth a stroll through to find the right restaurant. There are lots of swanky shops and very upmarket hotels. I’d like to spend a bit more time in Karlovy Vary checking out the spa culture and general ambience of the place as it is very appealing. But we were here to golf!
There are 10 golf courses immediately accessible to Karlovy. Nearby is Franzensbad Golf Club also known as Františkovy Lázně. Everywhere there seems to have two versions of their name. What's that all about? Franzensbad is an elevated parkland course with a nice texture to the loam not unlike our Scottish heathland courses. It rises and drops, not too steeply but keeping the terrain interesting.
Nearby Marianske Lazne is the second most popular spa town in the region. It developed later than Karlovy but is now just as popular.
