Karlova Studanka

Karlova Studanka sits at about eight hundred metres in a valley below Praded, the highest summit of the Jeseniky, and it is a spa village rather than a spa town - a few dozen buildings, almost all of dark stained timber with white window frames and carved detail, put up through the nineteenth century and kept as one architectural ensemble, protected as a monument zone. It treats respiratory conditions, using carbonated mineral springs and, primarily, the air: air quality here is measured continuously and is regularly recorded as the cleanest in Central Europe, which is the basis of the spa's specialism and is why it is prescribed for lung disease. The village is closed to through traffic. From it the Bila Opava trail climbs the waterfall gorge to Praded, and the ski slopes at Karlov and Praded are close.

History

Karlova Studánka is first mentioned in 1554, under its original name Hinnewieder. The first spa buildings went up in 1782, and in 1803 the village was renamed Karlsbrunn, in Czech Karlova Studánka, in honour of Archduke Charles; both names mean "Charles' Spring" (Wikipedia, Karlova Studánka).

The main sights

• A timber spa ensemble - dark stained buildings kept as one nineteenth-century whole.
• The cleanest measured air - the basis of the respiratory specialism.
• Carbonated springs - drunk and used in treatment in the village.
• The Bila Opava trailhead - the waterfall gorge route to Praded starting here.

When to go

May to September. A day.

Before you go

Treatments are for booked patients. The village is small with limited beds and it fills in season. The road is restricted. It is high, wet and cool - the weather is part of the treatment.

Nearby

Praded and the Bila Opava gorge are above; Bruntal is south.

Key facts