*A circuit around the Mattoni spa area at Kyselka, near Karlovy Vary: 3 km to 10 km*

• In 1864, the Czech-Italian resident of Karlovy Vary, Heinrich Mattoni (1830-1910), acquired rights to the mineral spring in the Ohře riverside village of Kyselka and started bottling its unique sparkling water.  In 1870, Emperor Franz Joseph I appointed Mattoni as his court supplier. Three years later, the successful Czech entrepreneur purchased the small spa area in Kyselka and founded the Mattoni company. Today, Mattoni is one of the most well known Czech brands and the company is the largest bottler of soft drinks in Central Europe.
• Over the remainder of his life Mattoni worked to develop Kyselka into a world class spa area. His descendants ran the business until the end of World War II, when Mattoni and the spa was nationalized. Sadly many of the magnificent spa buildings over the subsequent decades fell into disrepair. Even after privatization of Mattoni in the 1990’s, few spa buildings were repaired, their crumbling facades a poignant backdrop to the modern factory buildings.
• Today, however, some of the buildings are slowly being repaired and some original Belle Epoque villas are again on display. In 2016, the original Mattoni bottling plant – which was remarkably housed in a Swiss style chalet – was refurbished and opened as a museum celebrating the life of Mattoni and his historic business. It is well worth visiting, even if the displays are only in Czech.
• There are two potential walks in the area that can be combined with a visit to the museum. An excellent 3 km education trail loops around the spa area, with 16 information boards (Cz/En/De). It is marked with blue/white triangle trail markers. The education trail can be combined with a longer walk in the hills and attractive forest areas above Kyselka. A highlight of this route is a visit to the stone lookout tower, built by Heinrich Mattoni in 1880 and restored in 2003. There is a super view from the top.
• The longer route, as shown in the map below, is just under 10 km long with around 270m of height to ascend/descend. There is quite a steep section in the forest just below the tower, which can be slippery after wet weather. Be sure to take this path in ascent only.
• For refreshments, there is a small café in the museum, but a real highlight of this trip is a visit to the (Hejlík recommended) Café Duba (map point 8). This caravan serves wonderful cakes and excellent coffee. It is worth the trip alone! Note it is only open in the spring/summer season in the afternoon, from Wednesday to Saturday.

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions (for the 10 km route)

• There are frequent bus connections to Kyselka from Karlovy Vary and also a couple of free parking areas
• From the Kyselka bus trail junction, join the YELLOW trail and after 250m reach the Löschnerův pavilon junction. To the left is the restored Chapel of St Anne and straight n is the Mattoni musem
• After visiting the museum (and chapel) return back to the YELLOW trail and continue uphill (steeply at the end) for 1.8 km to reach the lookout tower
• Continue on the YELLOW trail for 4.7 km, eventually descending to reach the Pod skalkami skřítků junction. Here, turn right onto the RED trail to head back into Kyselka
• After 1.8 km after reaching the riverbank, cross the river of the iron footbridge and head into the park area, where the café Duba is located
• Continue through the park and recross the river to return to the the bus stop