How much does it cost to experience the Karlovy Vary Film Festival first-hand? Maybe less than you expect.
The largest local event for film lovers is starting – the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which will last until July 11. If you want to be part of it this year, first take a quick look at your wallet – attending KVIFF is available in all three pricing options: low-cost, standard, and luxury.
Welcome to Karlovy Vary. A city of impressive colonnades and healing springs, which transforms into the film capital every year. Hotels are bursting at the seams, street vendors struggle to keep up with dispensing ice cream and other refreshments, and chefs in restaurants are working overtime. In other words, local service providers are in for a windfall. And so you might be wondering – how much will your stay in Karlovy Vary during the KVIFF cost you?
The Ministry of Culture warns: the following text may contain elements of sarcasm or other forms of humor.
1. Arrival in Vary
First, you need to get to the spa town somehow.
LOWCOST Option
Because you either have little money or you are a penny pincher, you have decided on the oldest means of transportation in human history – walking.
You pack your backpack and set off. As the classic would say: it's longer, but for that, it's worse. On the other hand, at least you're doing something for your health. So hurry, make sure you make it in time.
Price: 0 Kč
STANDARD Option
You arrive in your car. This means you will need to park it somewhere during your stay.
For example, in the Libušina parking center, which is located right in the center of Karlovy Vary, the prices are as follows:
1 hour: 50 Kč
24 hours: 500 Kč
3 days: 1,460 Kč
4 days: 1,780 Kč
7 days – 2,660 Kč
8 days – 4,320 Kč
Price: 500–2260 CZK
LUXURY Option
You fly to Vary by helicopter. For example, with the company Fly For Fun, the basic flight hour costs 8,389 CZK.
And of course, you don't fly alone – but with your own bodyguard. For example, with the security company I.B.S.A., a personal bodyguard costs 400–2,500 CZK/hour.
Price: from approximately 18,000 and up
2. Accommodation
You are in Vary. It's time to find a place to rest your head.
During the film festival period, due to higher hotel occupancy, it is advisable to arrange accommodation as early as possible. However, each year the official KVIFF website publishes tips for last-minute accommodation – hotel capacities from unused festival reservations.
There you will also find recommendations to follow the Facebook page Accommodation at the Karlovy Vary IFF.
Regarding prices, expect a festival surcharge.
LOWCOST Option
You enter the Rolava area with your backpack – this is where the tent camp is located, and staying overnight will only cost you 250 CZK. The price includes a municipal fee of 50 CZK. If you have a ZTP card, the price is only 200 CZK. Children up to 6 years old (inclusive) stay for free.
If you're not the camping type, you can use a hostel in the center on I. P. Pavlova Street, where the fixed price is 390 CZK/person/night without the spa surcharge of 50 CZK/person/night.
Price: from 250 CZK and more
STANDARD Option
For example, the four-star wellness hotel Anglický Dvůr located in the center offers romantic stays for two starting from 4,335 CZK per night.
The price includes buffet breakfast, dinner (half-board) in the hotel restaurant, a bottle of sparkling wine with a fruit plate and a bouquet, as well as wellness activities such as a relaxing massage, jacuzzi bath, and SPA zone visit.
In the three-star hotel Pilgrim, prices are slightly lower – double rooms cost from 3,290 CZK/night.
There are currently 11 three-star and four-star hotels with available rooms, but this situation may change at any time.
Price: from 3,290 CZK and more
LUXURY Option
Where else should you stay than in the most famous Karlovy Vary hotel – the Grandhotel Pupp.
You receive the keys to the presidential suite. Rooms where the biggest stars have stayed, such as Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Robert De Niro, John Travolta or Antonio Banderas and many others.
In the 99 square meter apartment, you will find gilded stucco and a crystal chandelier. The green marble bathroom features a whirlpool. The price is not public, but estimates suggest it could be 100,000 CZK or more per night.
Price: estimated at 100,000 CZK and up*
* if the bodyguard sleeps with you in the presidential suite. Otherwise, it will increase
3. Dining
In Karlovy Vary, you will find a rich network of various restaurants, as well as fast-foods and snack stands. In any case, expect operators to try to squeeze as much money out of you as possible during this period. Some restaurants, for instance, will automatically charge you a 10% tip.
Low-cost Option
Because it's festival season, trash cans are overflowing with food leftovers. Every day you have quite a varied selection: occasionally kebab, elsewhere fries from McDonald's, sometimes a sandwich here and there, a dream come true.
Then you pop into the convenience store for Braník on sale – where the world is still in order. At least until the owner realizes it's a festival, withdraws the discount, and jacks up the price by 10 Kč. Act quickly.
Price: from 20 Kč and up
Standard Option
You have to eat, but it can be done without spending a fortune. And no, you don't have to survive on kebabs or Chinese noodles.
Even during festival season, some establishments keep it simple and target "normal people." Just be prepared that to find such a place, you'll need to give your phone's step counter a workout. Don't expect such restaurants in the city center. For lunch or dinner, just head out to the more peripheral parts of Vary.
For example, at a restaurant called La Hospoda, you can have traditional dishes like fried cauliflower or chicken liver – the price for a main dish is just 179 Kč. The soup costs 49 Kč.
Price: from around 230 Kč and up
LUXURY Option
You're wealthy, so prices aren't an issue. Moreover, you don't even need to go anywhere, you can dine at the restaurant in Grandhotel Pubb.
You might start with a lobster cream for 295 Kč and continue with a beef tenderloin steak for 895 Kč. For dessert, you have a chocolate mousse for 250 Kč. You've just spent over a thousand on lunch and you're still hungry. In the end, maybe that kebab isn't such a bad idea.
Price: from 1,000 CZK and more*
*price is without kebab and meal allowance for the bodyguard
*these are actual dishes and prices from the official menu of the Grandhotel Pubb restaurant
Source: kviff, Karlovy Vary, Parking Karlovy Vary, Fly for fun, KV City Centre, Anglický Dvůr, Pilgrim, La Hospoda, Grandhotel Pubb Restaurant, authorial text
