What's on in Karlovy Vary, Czechia through the year

Quiet — travelers describe it as quiet, Christmas in Karlovy Vary

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Christmas in Karlovy Vary (29 Nov – 1 Jan)

Busy — Spring holidays in Czechia, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in February.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Holiday

  Easter

  3–6 AprClosures

  Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays, and larger shops must close on Easter Monday, when boys go door to door with braided willow whips for painted eggs. Easter markets fill the main squares in the week before. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Easter, Opening of the spa season

• Festival

  Opening of the spa season

  28 Apr – 4 May · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  The springs are formally blessed over the first weekend of May, with processions in period dress and concerts along the colonnades. It is the town at its most self-aware, and the point the summer programme starts. Source ↗

Still on: Easter (3–6 Apr)

Busy — Opening of the spa season, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Opening of the spa season (28 Apr – 4 May (usually))

Busy — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in June.

Peak crowds — travelers describe it as peak season, Karlovy Vary Film Festival

• Festival

  Karlovy Vary Film Festival

  1–13 Jul · usuallyCrowdedBook early

  For nine days in early July the spa town turns into a film festival, students sleeping in the park and queues outside the Thermal. Rooms go months ahead and cost several times the usual. Source ↗

Busy — Summer holidays in Czechia, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Karlovy Vary Folklore Festival

  2–6 SepMajor festivalCrowded

  Folk ensembles from around the world perform in the spa quarter for five days at the end of the summer, with a costume parade of all the groups from the Grandhotel Pupp to the Hotel Thermal and a crafts fair. Source ↗

Busy — Karlovy Vary Folklore Festival, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Dvorak Autumn

  5–30 Sep · usuallyMusic festival

  A month of classical concerts in September, alongside a jazz week and a folklore weekend. September is the quietly good month here: the valley in colour and no festival crush. Source ↗

Still on: Karlovy Vary Folklore Festival (2–6 Sep)

Busy — Autumn holidays in Czechia, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Karlovy Vary Jazzfest

  1–15 Oct · usuallyMusic festival

  An early-October music festival running since 2001: jazz, swing, blues and gospel in the spa hotels, with free concerts in the Hot Spring Colonnade. A reason to come once the film crowds and summer spa guests have gone. Source ↗

Busy — Christmas in Karlovy Vary, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Christmas in Karlovy Vary

  29 Nov – 1 JanChristmas & New YearCrowded

  Market stalls along the Mlynska colonnade from the end of November, with the hot springs steaming in the cold and the spa hotels full of people not there for the skiing. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Christmas in Karlovy Vary, Christmas holidays in Czechia

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Christmas in Karlovy Vary (29 Nov – 1 Jan)