Get away from everyday life and recharge your batteries: If you are looking for something special for the next time you charge your batteries, the Falkensteiner Spa Resort Marienbad is the place for you. The five-star jewel has used innovative concepts to transform itself from a classic spa resort to a hip wellness resort. A hotel tip in the current eMove360° magazine in german language.
A journey into the past and future of modern health tourism
By Sabine Metzger
It is slightly dusk as we turn into the hotel driveway. We were on the road for a good three and a half hours – including a charging stop – in the new Cadillac Lyriq from Munich to the Czech spa triangle not far from the Bavarian border. The festively lit Art Nouveau facade is reminiscent of the heyday of spa culture. The reception is located here in the main building. Marble on the walls, columns and floor, modern seating groups and stylish designer lamps from Italy: here nostalgia has been successfully mixed with modern style elements. I really like that. As was the extremely warm welcome from the young receptionist.
The main building dates back to the 19th century and was originally opened as the Hotel Casino. Over the years it was first a luxury hotel and later the headquarters of the national Czech Institute of Balneology. In 2004, the Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group took it over, expanded it with three additional wings and gradually turned it into a top-class spa hotel. During the Corona pandemic, after renovation and expansion work, it was given the finishing touches to become a five-star jewel.
We sit in the Library Bar for a welcome drink. The wood paneling on the walls is still original. The bookshelves in the adjacent library reach almost to the ceiling, and comfortable seating groups and sofas invite you to linger in comfort. Bar manager Mirka accurately guesses my taste. The atmosphere is familiar and personal. Reinhard Wall, the hotel director, chats casually with the guests. Best-agers talk about their round of golf. Wall has a few words for the charming mother-daughter duo from Düsseldorf, as well as for the ladies’ bridge round at the large table. He warmly congratulates a couple in love who are obviously spending their honeymoon here and are raving about the great spa area.
From a classic spa resort to a hip wellness resort
“Our hotel wouldn’t exist without a spa. But needs have changed,” Wall explains to us. “Today, people in their early 40s or even younger are already treating themselves to a time-out with a spa. At the same time, 60-year-olds are also much fitter and younger than before. This results in a target group with new needs. Our guests are active, have little time and know exactly what they want. They value intensive advice and expect measurable added value. Today, the focus is on natural remedies that have been proven to work, sport and relaxation. We have restructured our offer accordingly.”
The next day I meet Daniel Fajkus. He has been spa manager at the Falkensteiner Spa Resort for 12 years and has played a key role in the restructuring. We are in the heart of the hotel, the Acquapura Spa: 2500 square meters, with four themed pools, including the only heated outdoor pool in the city, saunas, steam bath, fitness and massage rooms. Here, Daniel develops therapeutic options for stress and burnout prevention, nutritional advice, metabolic balance detox and weight loss and diagnostics with digital devices (HRV heart rate variability). Also brand new are aftercare programs after Covid or cancer, as well as certified Shinrin Yoku (forest bath) – which can be practiced excellently in the adjacent Kaiserwald Nature Park. For me, Daniel has planned singing bowl yoga, Alexandra bath, Ai-Chi (a mixture of Tai Chi and Qi Gong in water). Plus an hour of Pilates and aqua fitness in the morning. In the morning, before breakfast, I swim my laps in the activity pool, then I climb into the saltwater pool and feel weightlessly happy in the 33 degree warm water.
Light, creative, feel-good cuisine: Balanced Vital Cuisine
Miroslav Matejkin is responsible for the culinary highlights in the hotel. He has been head chef since 2013. He is also breaking new ground with a culinary concept that is tailored to the spa character. Away from hearty full-board buffets and towards healthy, balanced, balanced vital cuisine. Anyone who thinks you have to go hungry will be proven wrong at breakfast. Good4U is the motto from 12 noon with light salads, fermented vegetables, soup and a vegetarian main course. In the evening, Mirolslav conjures up tasty evening menus with a Mediterranean and Asian touch using fresh, regional products with creativity and sophistication. In the sharing concept, starters such as eggplant bruschetta, spicy meatballs and cold iceberg lettuce soup are served at the table. Afterwards, there are varied soups in the open kitchen area before the “stars of the night” such as confit trout, boiled potatoes, horseradish cream and cherry tomatoes with dill or baked duck leg with sauerkraut, prunes, gnocchi and rosehip sauce are served. The vegetarian menu with cordon bleu of leaf salad with remoulade and potato salad is surprising. For the sweet delights that evening, Miroslav has thought of mint creme brulée or lotus caramel cubes with mango sorbet.
Marienbad as a society hotspot and center of health
With all the fine amenities that the Falkensteiner Spa Resort offers, you should definitely explore the charming spa town of Marienbad with its Art Nouveau architecture and extensive parks. I am accompanied by city guide Lída Krouparová. Lída tells entertaining anecdotes about royalty, politicians, stars and starlets of the 19th century who liked to meet in Marienbad. The English King Edward VII, for example, came regularly for a spa treatment – because of his severe obesity, special scales were developed whose display only the doctor was allowed to look at. Emperor Franz Joseph even allegedly had a special train connection built from Vienna to Marienbad so that he could meet the English king, which briefly made Marienbad the political center of Europe in 1904. A monument to the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef and the British King Edward VII still bears witness to their meeting today.
Franz Kafka, Mark Twain and Richard Wagner were also regular guests in Marienbad, says Lída. And for all romantics, Lída has a special story to tell, concerning Goethe: In his old age, Goethe fell in love with seventeen-year-old Ulrike von Levetzow. The girl’s parents forbade them from marrying him, and so he said goodbye to his last great love in his famous “Marienbad Elegy”. A monument in front of the city museum today commemorates the hopelessly in love poet.
Springs of love and sweet temptations
“If you get lost in Marienbad, you won’t die of thirst,” smiles Lida. More than 40 springs bubble up from the depths of the Slavkov Forest in the town and surrounding area. Marienbad owes its name to the Marienquelle in the courtyard of the central baths. The architectural highlight of Marienbad today is the 120-meter-long cast-iron promenade hall, inaugurated in 1889. It is the longest colonnade in the Czech Republic. Its floor is currently being renovated. The smell of sulfur hits my nose as I enter the main hall. I sip the healing water from the Kreuz, Caroline and Rudolf springs from the spouted cup. It takes a bit of getting used to, but according to Lída, it’s very healthy. I prefer the traditional Bohemian wafers that you can buy in the shop next door. The plate-sized wafers, between which a filling of sugar, nuts and spices is hidden, are an ideal souvenir for loved ones at home. They have been produced in Marienbad by the Kolonáda company since the middle of the 19th century. In summer, a song can be heard at every odd hour from the singing fountain in front of the colonnade. Now it is covered by scaffolding. And Lída tells us one last little anecdote: The Ambrosius Spring is called the “spring of love”: girls get red cheeks and men are said to look suddenly younger when they drink from it with their sippy cup. It is still a meeting place for young couples in love today.
Invigorating Alexandra bath and stormy cocktail
Back in “my” Art Nouveau palace, I dive into a well-tempered bathtub filled with slightly brownish, mineral-rich water from the hotel’s own Alexandra Spring. After a short while, my skin begins to tingle pleasantly, I doze off relaxed and after 30 minutes I get out of the tub feeling reborn. I’m full of anticipation for what Miroslav will conjure up on my plate and the piano evening with the Marienbad pianist Vladimir Smutný later in the Library Bar. It has been my absolute favorite place since we arrived. This evening, Mirka is also to my taste. With a “Stormy Weather”, a skilful mix of vodka, Cointreau, tonic water, lime juice and pineapple ice cube, I lean back in the soft wing chair. Over the past three days, my oversaturated mind and my somewhat exhausted body have come back into balance. What more could you want?
Address: Falkensteiner Spa Resort, Ruská 123, Marianske Lazne (Marienbad) 353 01 Czech Republic, Tel. 00420/354/929399, marienbad@reservations.falkensteiner.com, www.falkensteiner.com\marienbad
Charging: 2 charging stations in the hotel’s underground car park
Category/Room: Five stars, 164 rooms and suites
Price: Spa à la carte package: three nights with full board and 5 spa treatments of your choice cost from 214 euros per person/night
Spa/Medical Center: Acquapura Spa with 5 concept pools, 4 saunas, steam bath, fitness room, tailor-made massages, baths and beauty treatments, private spa, medical center with hotel doctor
Culinary: Vital Balance cuisine with regional, seasonal products, Mediterranean-Asian fusion cuisine, Breakfast buffet, Good4you lunch
Highlights: Music evenings in the Library Bar and on the terrace, Royal Golf Club. Opened in 1904 by King Edward VII, making it the oldest golf course in the Czech Republic. The 18-hole course impresses with its idyllic setting with old trees and its location at an altitude of 800 meters. It is playable for all handicaps.
Special features: follow-up programs after Covid or cancer, among others
Activities: Weekly program of guided fitness and sports activities indoors and outdoors, e-bike rental, spa hiking trails, mountain bike and racing bike routes, 6 golf courses within a 35 km radius, cross-country ski trails
Welcome Dogs: dog walking service, dog blanket, towel, food and water bowl, dog grooming service
Excursions: Karlovy Vary (46 km), Eger (30 km), Königswart, Loket, Petschau castles
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