January and February in Mariánské Lázně: the coldest weeks of the spa year

Between New Year's Day and the end of February the day grows two and three-quarter hours longer. It is the most measurable proof that winter here has a direction.

When the Christmas markets are packed away

On the last Advent weekend the stalls come off the colonnade, on New Year's Eve glasses are raised, and on the first of January the town settles into an entirely different rhythm. January and February in Mariánské Lázně are two months without a single large tourist event — which is precisely why they are the most interesting months of the spa year for anyone coming here to be treated.

It is not an empty town. It is a town in which almost no one is left but spa guests, staff and locals. In January the colonnade is not photographed; it is used.

Weather and light: what to actually expect

Long-term averages for Mariánské Lázně put January daytime highs around freezing and night-time lows around −4 °C, with some 37 millimetres of precipitation. February is a few degrees kinder — highs around 3 °C, nights much the same — and a little drier, around 28 millimetres. Snow in the town itself is unreliable: down in the valley at 630 metres it alternates with wet pavement, while on the plateaus above town it holds far better — the golf course sits at 787 metres and the surrounding uplands at 800 to 850.

The second difference from autumn is the light. On 1 January the sun rises at 08:05 and sets at 16:19, giving a day of just over eight hours. By the last day of January there is an hour more of it, and by the end of February the sun sets at 17:50, with the day running to almost eleven hours. Arrive in mid-February and your afternoon walk is still in daylight. Arrive in mid-January and you will want to move it to the morning.

Then there is the air. The town has held the status of a climatic spa since 2023; the local submontane climate is described as tonic — the kind that gently stimulates and hardens the body. In frost it is dry, clear and markedly sharper than November damp. How the climate is used as a healing resource is set out on the climate therapy page.

Why these weeks suit a cure

Czech spa establishments received 982,000 guests in 2025 — 556,000 domestic and more than 426,000 from abroad — and the Karlovy Vary Region alone took almost seven hundred thousand of them. Those numbers are spread very unevenly across the year, and January and February are its thinnest part.

For a spa stay that means several practical advantages. There is no queue at the springs, treatments can be packed into a compact daily programme without working around peak hours, and staff have time for questions. Because nothing outside is competing for your attention, the day falls by itself into the shape people come to a spa for: the spring in the morning, treatments before noon, quiet at midday, walking in the afternoon, an early night. A cure is not an activity holiday; it is repetition — and repetition works best when nothing interrupts it.

One thing does not change with the season: what you drink, how much and how often is decided by the spa physician at your initial examination, on the basis of your diagnosis. There is no universal daily volume, and the mineral water from the Cross or Rudolph springs is not a thirst-quencher. The whole procedure is described in our drinking cure guide. In frost there is one detail every regular will confirm: the cup goes cold faster than you can finish it, so you drink inside the pavilion or under the covered colonnade, not out on the promenade.

What is open in January and February — and what is not

• The Main Colonnade and the springs — all year. The cast-iron colonnade of 1888–89 is the most agreeable covered promenade in town in winter, and the Cross Spring pavilion stays accessible in frost. The water emerges as cold as ever, at roughly 7 to 10 °C; there are about forty such springs in the town and around a hundred in the surrounding area.
• The Singing Fountain — out of service. The season ended on 31 October and the fountain traditionally plays again only at the end of April; for 2026 the announced start was 30 April. If the fountain is your reason for coming, do not come in January.
• Pools, saunas, the Roman Baths and treatments in the Ensana spa hotels — all year, and without queues. The marble Roman Baths of 1896 are essentially a winter attraction: warm water and silence while it is minus five and dark by five outside. What the word "therme" actually means in this town is sorted out in our guide to thermal baths and pools.
• Boheminium Miniature Park — open in winter too: from 1 November to 31 March daily until 17:00, weekends and holidays included. Admission CZK 190 for adults, CZK 160 for children aged 3 to 15, students and seniors over 65, CZK 560 for a family ticket, free for children under three.
• Theatre and concerts — the Town Theatre and the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra play right through the winter, but programmes are published month by month, so look for specific titles shortly before you travel.
• The ice stadium — public skating; dates and admission are published with each individual session in the municipal events calendar. The rink's information page and the individual listings disagree on price, so the figure given for your session is the one that counts.
• Golf — closed. The Royal Golf Club course, founded in 1905, belongs to the warmer half of the year; in January a ski track runs across it.

Cross-country skiing straight above the town

This is what makes an active winter stay possible. Five loops are marked above the town and at Kladská: red, Golf course–Teplá headwaters–Rájovská myslivna–Rájovský vrch–Golf course (9.2 km); blue, over Králův kámen, Tajga and the Smraďoch nature reserve (8.2 km); yellow, past Žabí jezírko and the reservoir (6.4 km); pink at Kladská (4.6 km); and green, Golf course–Polom–Golf course (2.4 km). Just under 31 kilometres of track in all, groomed by the Ski Nordic Mariánské Lázně club.

Two notes that will save you disappointment. Grooming, the three downhill runs and the Koliba–Krakonoš cable car all depend entirely on snow, which in recent winters has come and gone — the ski area publishes current conditions. And neither the green nor the pink loop is a mere warm-up: even a short route at 800 metres is a different discipline from flatland skiing, and if you are here for treatment, sporting exertion belongs in your programme only with the spa physician's agreement.

If you have not brought skis, the snow-covered Slavkov Forest has a dense network of marked paths. A selection, with distances and profiles, is in our article on hiking trails and nature around the town.

The town's list of annual events also includes a January public cross-country race in free technique, "Okolo Mariánskolázeňských pramenů" — around the Marienbad springs. Each year's date follows the snow and is announced at short notice.

January: a chess festival on the main street

The one large social event of January happens not on the colonnade but in a hotel on the main street. The Marienbad Open, an international chess festival in the Czech Tour series, reaches its 25th edition in 2027 and, according to the organiser's regulations, runs from 16 to 23 January at the Continental hotel. Alongside the main Swiss-system open over nine rounds there is a closed ten-player tournament offering a grandmaster norm.

For a spa guest the combination is unexpectedly apt: treatments in the morning, a quiet hall of clocks and boards in the afternoon. The festival has a long tradition, and the town holds a firm place in chess history: at the international sixteen-master tournament of 1925, Aron Nimzowitsch and Akiba Rubinstein shared first place. Start lists and entry conditions are published by the organiser on the Czech Tour website; if chess is your reason for travelling, confirm the dates there.

February: carnival on the colonnade

February, unlike January, has a homemade and slightly unkempt festivity. The town lists "Lázeňský Masopust" among its annual events — the Czech equivalent of Shrovetide carnival — and in recent years the colonnade has hosted February afternoons with a children's masked carnival, a folklore group and a small market of crafts and local treats. It is an event for locals that visitors simply join; masks welcome, not required.

The town publishes the 2027 date during the winter, so look it up in the official events calendar before you plan around it. Concerts, lectures and small exhibitions, which make up most of the winter programme, are announced the same way.

Getting here in winter

Prague is 160 kilometres away and the drive takes under three hours; Nuremberg, the nearest large German airport, is 170 kilometres. If you drive, note that from 1 November to 31 March winter tyres are compulsory whenever a continuous layer of snow, ice or frost lies on the road or can reasonably be expected, with a minimum tread depth of 4 mm for cars; where the "Zimní výbava" sign is posted, the rule applies regardless of road conditions. After fresh snow, the final kilometres across the Slavkov Forest plateaus are the most demanding of the drive.

If you would rather not drive, express trains run from Prague's main station via Plzeň without a change, taking roughly three hours; the station sits in the lower town, ten to fifteen minutes' walk uphill from the spa quarter. The connections are set out in travelling to Marienbad by train.

What to pack

Briefly, because the rest is common sense:

• Boots with a coarse sole. The spa promenades are cleared; the forest tracks are not. Frozen ruts left by timber hauling are January's main injury risk.
• Layers rather than one thick coat. Between treatment, frost and a heated colonnade you will change several times a day.
• A hat and gloves even for the "short" walk to the spring. A spa cup does not fit in a pocket.
• Swimwear and pool shoes. Pools and saunas run all winter.
• Something to read. It is dark by five, and in January that is part of the cure.

Who January and February are for — and who they are not for

They suit anyone who comes for the cure and wants quiet, who tolerates frost well, and who appreciates walking for an hour without meeting a single day-tripper — and anyone for whom price is part of the decision. The order of magnitude for a week is set out in our cost guide.

They do not suit anyone expecting the fountain to play, café terraces to be open and a festival every weekend. Nor anyone planning a stay around excursions: in January the choice is limited, and the weather decides.

If you are interested in the cold season as a whole, Winter in Marienbad gives the wider frame. And if you are weighing other months, the year-round comparison is on our best time to visit page. The last piece of advice is the same as for November: come for longer than a weekend. Winter here is not going anywhere, but it does need time.

Sources

Studies and official documents this article relies on. Our content does not replace medical advice.

1. Annual events — official website of the town of Mariánské Lázně — The town lists for January a public cross-country ski race, "Okolo Mariánskolázeňských pramenů" (Around the Marienbad springs), and the international chess festival Open Mariánské Lázně; for February, "Lázeňský Masopust" (the spa carnival). The overview gives no dates for individual editions.
2. Marienbad Open 2027 — regulations of the 25th festival (Czech Tour / AVE CHESS z. s.) — "16th – 23rd January 2027, Marianske Lazne"; venue: Continental hotel, Hlavní třída 230/88; organiser AVE CHESS z. s., festival director Petr Lausman. Part of the Czech Tour 2027 series; the GM round-robin has ten players over nine rounds.
3. Cross-country trails — Mariánské Lázně ski area (skimarianky.cz) — Five marked loops: red 9.2 km, blue 8.2 km, yellow 6.4 km, pink (Kladská) 4.6 km, green 2.4 km. Groomed by the Ski Nordic Mariánské Lázně club; the area also lists three downhill runs and the Koliba–Krakonoš cable car. Operation and grooming depend on snow.
4. Cross-country trails in Mariánské Lázně — Kudy z nudy (CzechTourism) — Access points at the golf course, at Kladská by the Slavkov Forest House of Nature, and by the Eagle hotel below Polom; routes pass the Teplá headwaters, Králův kámen and the Smraďoch nature reserve.
5. Boheminium Miniature Park — opening hours and admission (official website) — "from 1st November to 31st March we are open until 5 p.m., including weekends and holidays"; admission CZK 190 adults, CZK 160 children aged 3–15, students and seniors over 65, family ticket CZK 560, children under 3 free.
6. Ice Stadium — official tourist website of Mariánské Lázně — Public skating: "Dates of public skating can be found in the calendar of events". The admission on this information page (CZK 30/15) is older than the prices given for individual sessions in the events calendar (the town's listings give CZK 60 for adults and CZK 30 for children aged 7–15), so the article quotes no price and points to the individual session instead.
7. Ceremonial end of the Singing Fountain season 2026 — official town tourism portal — The Singing Fountain season closes ceremonially on 31 October at 20:00; it does not play through the winter.
8. Autumn festivities in Mariánské Lázně — Kudy z nudy (CzechTourism) — The fountain "should be switched on again on 30 April" — the traditional start date, not a confirmed date for 2027.
9. Golf in Mariánské Lázně — official tourist website of the town — The Royal Golf Club course lies at 787 m on a raised plateau; the town is surrounded by plateaus at 800–850 m.
10. Marienbad 1925 — tournament crosstable (chessgames.com) — A sixteen-master round robin; Aron Nimzowitsch and Akiba Rubinstein shared first place on 11 points from 15.
11. Winter tyre obligation in the Czech Republic — Police of the Czech Republic — From 1 November to 31 March winter tyres are required (§ 40a of Act No. 361/2000) when a continuous layer of snow, ice or frost lies on the road or can reasonably be expected; minimum tread depth 4 mm for cars. Where the "Zimní výbava" sign stands, the rule applies regardless of road condition.
12. Mariánské Lázně — climate table (Czech Wikipedia) — January: daily maximum around 0 °C, night minimum around −4 °C, 37 mm of precipitation. February: maximum around 3 °C, minimum around −4 °C, 28 mm. Long-term averages for orientation, not a forecast.
13. Sunrise and sunset for Mariánské Lázně (sunrise-sunset.org, 49.965° N / 12.701° E, Europe/Prague) — 1 January 2027 sunrise 08:05, sunset 16:19 (day 8 h 14 min); 31 January 07:42 and 17:02 (9 h 20 min); 28 February 06:53 and 17:50 (10 h 57 min).
14. Czech spa season 2026 begins — CzechTourism — In 2025 Czech spa accommodation received 982,000 guests (556,000 domestic, over 426,000 from abroad); almost 700,000 of them went to the Karlovy Vary Region.

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