Bečov Castle

Above the Teplá valley, eight centuries of building history stack up: a Gothic castle from the 14th century, the Renaissance Pluh houses and the baroque chateau of the Beaufort-Spontin family. It was these last owners who, before fleeing in 1945, hid the family treasure beneath the floor of the castle chapel — the Reliquary of St Maurus, a Romanesque shrine from the early 13th century adorned with gold, filigree and gems. Detectives found it only in 1985, in a legendary search operation.

The reliquary is now displayed in a permanent exhibition — after the crown jewels, the country's most precious work of goldsmithing. A visit pairs well with a stroll through the little town and the botanical garden below the castle; the finest way from Marienbad, though, is the train, winding through the deep, roadless valley of the Teplá river.