Karlovy Vary

Sports and the Outdoors

Karlovy Vary is a town made for staying active in the outdoors. Exercise was often part of the treatment during the heyday of the resort, and the air quality here is markedly superior to that of Prague or other industrialized towns in the Czech Republic. Hiking trails snake across the beech-and pine-covered hills that surround the town on three sides. If you walk past the Grandhotel Pupp, away from the center, and follow the paved walkway that runs alongside the river for about 10 minutes, you will discover a Japanese garden.

Karlovy Vary's warm, open-air public pool on top of the Thermal Hotel offers the experience of swimming at a cozy bathtub temperature even in the coolest weather; the view over the town is outstanding. Even if you are not staying at the hotel, you can still take a dip in the waters for 80 Kc per hour. I. P. Pavlova, Karlovy Vary, Bohemia, 360 01.

The Karlovy Vary Golf Club is just out of town on the road to Prague; greens fees are 2,000 Kc for 18 holes. Prazská 125, Karlovy Vary, Bohemia, 360 01. 353-331-001. www.golfresort.cz.