9 hours Karlovy Vary-Spa Town Private Tour by car

Karlovy Vary became a popular tourist destination, especially known for international celebrities who visited this spa town for its healing springs. The city is world famous for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which is one of the oldest in the world and one of Europe's major film events. It is also known for the popular Czech liqueur Becherovka and the production of the famous glass manufacturer Moser Glass, whose factory founded in 1857 we are going to visit on this tour. Moser was a Jewish family who emigrated to Argentina before Nazi came to former Czechoslovakia.

The slogan King of Glass or Glass of Kings is associated with the company because of its famous clientele who, in addition to Edward VII and the Austrian Imperial Court, include such people as Pope Pius XI, the Turkish sultan Abdul Hamid II., the king Luís I of Portugal and his wife, Maria Pia of Savoy.

The city has been used as the location for a number of film-shoots, including the 2006 films Last Holiday and box-office hit Casino Royale, both of which used the city's Grandhotel Pupp in different guises.

The most honored visitor, without any doubt, came at the beginning of the 18thcentury - Peter I the Great, who visited Karlovy Vary twice.

Thanks to the favor of the monarchy and the visits of rich patrons, Karlovy Vary quickly began to grow. One of the most important church monuments - the baroque Church of St. Mary Magdalene (1736) - comes from this period.

The fame of Karlovy Vary continued to grow. That is why the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century is characterized mainly by the foreign clientele. Some of the visitors were, for example, Goethe, Schiller, Beethoven, Chopin and Paganini.