Raised peat bogs
A rare ecosystem formed over thousands of years with plants found nowhere else.
Chmee2 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lubor Ferenc — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lubor Ferenc — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lubor Ferenc — CC BY-SA 4.0
Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně — three western Bohemian spa towns inscribed in 2021 as part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe on the UNESCO World Heritage list, alongside towns in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy and Britain. The group represents a European phenomenon running from the eighteenth century into the early twentieth.
Choose one trail rather than the region — six hundred square kilometres cannot be seen in a day. The best-known destinations are the peat-bog walkways near Mariánské Lázně, which are short and suit families. Staying in Karlovy Vary, half a day by car covers one trail and the return.
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A protected area of forest and bog in western Bohemia, extending between Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně and covering some six hundred square kilometres. This region is the reason the three spa towns exist: beneath it, old geological activity drives mineral water and gases to the surface in hundreds of springs. The UNESCO-listed spa triangle was built entirely on what comes out of this ground. What distinguishes it ecologically are the raised peat bogs — a rare ecosystem formed over thousands of years, holding plants found nowhere else. Some are open to visitors on raised timber walkways that protect the fragile ground beneath. It also holds natural mineral springs that bubble at the surface, valleys and small villages, with numbered walking and cycling trails. Access is from Karlovy Vary or Mariánské Lázně by car or bus. It is open and free.
A rare ecosystem formed over thousands of years with plants found nowhere else.
Geological activity beneath drives mineral water into hundreds of springs.
Some rise in the open with no structure around them at all.
Between Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně, western Bohemia