Hotel Splendide Lobby

In Casino Royale, Bond is having dinner with Vesper at the Hotel Splendide after winning the poker game against Le Chiffre. Vesper is called away by a text message, apparently from Mathis, but Bond gets suspicious and runs after her through the hotel lobby ending up on the hotel parking lot, only to watch Vesper being abducted by Le Chiffre's men.

The lobby lounge seen in the film 

The Montenegro scenes in Casino Royale were all shot in the Czech town of Karlovy Vary, where the Grandhotel Pupp was used as the Hotel Splendide. A lot of the interior scenes were actually filmed on location inside the hotel, as well as the exterior action scenes, i.a. when Bond runs to his car in pursuit of Le Chiffre.

The lobby lounge in 2010

Aston Montenegro

After Vesper has been kidnapped, Bond speeds away in his Aston Martin from the Hotel Splendide. The car is parked at the Grandhotel Pupp parking lot, the hotel in Karlovy Vary that doubled for Hotel Splendide in the film (also covered earlier). However the parking lot is enclosed by a barrier, which would make it impossible for Bond to speed away from the parking lot as he does in the film.

The hotel has the car park guarded for 24 hours a day. It appears that the more dignifying guests get to park their cars along the road and in the "gun barrel" in front of the hotel.

The Splendide parking - Grandhotel Pupp exterior, part two

Welcome back to a new year with James Bond Locations! 2014 starts off in Karlovy Vary, the Czech town that doubled for Montenegro in Casino Royale.













After killing General Obano and his right hand man, Bond hides the bodies in a closet at the bottom of the stairway at the Hotel Splendide. Mathis removes the bodies and hides them in a car at the hotel parking lot. The next morning, Bond and Mathis are watching the car park from the suite balcony.

This building is one part of the Grandhotel Pupp complex, but not the same building as where the reception is located. The hotel has two different sections, a five star and a four star section. Bond and Vesper arrive at the five star section of the hotel and check in at the reception. But given the view from the balcony, it appears that Bond and Vesper are accommodated in the four star section. Of course this distinction is not made in the film and you get the impression that all the buildings are connected. But in reality the four star section has its own reception.

The same part of the hotel can be seen when Le Chiffre's car speeds away from the hotel after Vesper's kidnapping.

The building to the left is the four star section.

"-Did you have any trouble with the bodies?

      -Less than some..." 

      -Bond to Mathis-

Mathis has hidden the bodies in the boot of a car parked at the Hotel Splendide parking lot. He has alerted the local police and they find the bodies when examining the car. Consequently, one of Le Chiffre's men is being arrested. This parking lot belongs to the Grandhotel Pupp and has staff on duty around the clock. It is also the same parking where Bond finds his Aston parked earlier in the film.

The car where the bodies are found is parked next to a manhole in the parking lot, which makes the exact parking space possible to identify.

Casino Royale

After loosing his first ten million dollars to Le Chiffre, Bond is contemplating on the balcony/terrace of the Salon Privé. The exterior of the casino and the balcony were recreated in studio but were very true to the original building. Therefore you can recognize the balustrade and the pillars from the real building. The only thing that gives away this as a studio set are the terrace doors in the background.

"-Looks like I'm gonna need the other five million to buy back in..."
                                     -Bond to Vesper- 

Even the original pattern on the doors to the real building have been reused on the windows of the casino doors in the studio. In the original circle it says Louis XIV, this has been changed to CR naturally. Lamont did, as always, a splendid job with both the exterior and interior production design. Despite the fact that a large part of the second half of the film takes place in and around the casino, the exterior of the building only features a few times on screen. However, the entrance featured prominently in two of the movie posters. One of the posters features Vesper standing on the steps in front of the entrance to Casino Royale. In one of the trailers, we saw a brief glimpse of the entrance, but that scene was cut from the finished film. The only full view we get of the casino is the first time when Bond arrives to the poker game.

Surroundings of Royale

After preparing for the poker game in his hotel suite, Bond is walking down the short path from the Hotel Splendide over to the casino. The majestic casino building is in reality a former spa that has been closed for several years. Known as Lazne 1, the former Kaiserbad Spa is definitely one of the most beautiful buildings in Karlovy Vary. It is located only a few minutes from Bond's hotel, both in the film and in reality. The building is in fact in rather poor condition but was beautifully redone for the film.

Bond walking up to the casino.

Everything is filmed on location and the path leading up to the casino can be found in the park right in front of the casino building. Grandhotel Pupp is visible in the background. On the other side of the park you can find several luxury hotels and beautiful apartment buildings.

The path leading up to Casino Royale. Hotel Splendide in the background. 

In order to reach the path leading up to the casino, Bond would have to cross the river using the bridge in the left picture. In the background is the most southern part of Grandhotell Pupp and the Pupp Casino. It is from one of these balconies overlooking the car park, that Bond and Mathis observe the Montenegro police when they find Obanno in the trunk.

"There are dinner jackets and dinner jackets... This is the latter."
                               -Vesper to Bond-

Beautifully situated by the Teplá river. 

Vespers, Caviar and Champagne

After winning the poker game at Royale, Bond and Vesper are having a late night dinner in the restaurant back at the Hotel Splendide. It should be around 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, but apparently the kitchen is still open for the guests. Bond is served another Vesper (don't know how many he has had before) and Vesper is drinking Bollinger La Grand Année. They are served caviar and toast along with the drinks, but it appears that Bond is the only one with an appetite.

A bottle of Bollinger La Grande Année is kept on ice and Bond has a bowl of caviar in front of him

The restaurant scene was filmed at the Grand Hotel Pupp restaurant in May 2006, along with all the other scenes shot in the beautiful Czech town of Karlovy Vary. Bond's table has a nice view over the river that runs alongside the hotel.

The restaurant at the Grand Hotel Pupp is excellent, and the waiters are providing a sterling European service that would be fitting for Bond. If you visit the hotel during low season it should not be a problem to get Bond's table from the film. The restaurant gave a very positive impression and the food was very well prepared.

For dinner we had pan-fried fois gras, lamb with mint sauce and of course a bottle of Bohemia Sekt, the biggest producer of Sparkling wine in the Czech Republic. Don't forget to order a bottle of Mattoni as well, a mineral water from the nature in the surroundings of Karlovy Vary, tapped on location. When one is in Karlovy, one should delve deeply into its treasures...

Just like in the novel, Bond and Vesper are having caviar and Champagne for dinner, again a very subtle nod to the original Fleming story.

"The problem is not how to get enough caviar but how to get enough toast with it."

           -James Bond in Ian Fleming's Casino Royale-

Post dinner it is highly recommended to enjoy a drink and a cigar in the bar lounge. Eastern Europe is still a heaven for cigar lovers, since they haven't banned smoking in bars, casinos and night clubs. Yet...
Walking around "Casino Royale" and all the other beautiful buildings and the adjacent park is a magnificent experience.

Grand Hotel Pupp also has its own casino in an adjacent building, so why not loose a few koruna on Roulette. The Czech Republic is reasonably cheap, even though Karlovy is a rather expensive city.

Hotel Splendide / Grandhotel Pupp exterior, Part one

"I love you to M..."
The "Hotel Splendide in Montenegro" features prominently in Casino Royale where it is in the center of the action during the second half of the film. The hotel can be found in Western Bohemia, a region in the Czech Republic, and is of course the Grandhotel Pupp. It is a five star spa hotel on walking distance from the city center, with a history dating back to the early 18th century.

The big hotel complex spans over a few blocks and is situated alongside the Teplá river, with a nice view over the river and part of the surrounding city.

Bond finds his Aston Martin in the parking lot that belongs to the hotel. As a guest you can either have your car in the parking lot or along the street Goethova Stezka in front of the hotel where the more distinguished guests keep their cars. Alternatively you can park in the "gun barrel" parking at the main entrance. 

The entire hotel complex is very beautiful and with the casino building close by, probably one of the most enjoyable locations I have visited. Of course there is no ''Casino Royale'' in Karlovy Vary, but the hotel has its own casino and the building seen behind Bond houses the 'Pupp Casino Club' and 'Becher's Bar', all part of the hotel.

Upon staying at the hotel, we've learned that it actually has two separate check-in counters. This is because the hotel consists of two different sections with the right section (seen in the top picture above), apparently being the five star part of the hotel, and the left part (overlooking the car park) being the four star section. I do not know why they have made this separation.

The hotel started as just 'Saxony hall' in 1701 but after various marriages and changes in ownership, the Pupp family, who eventually became the sole owner acquired neighboring properties and incorporated them into the hotel complex. Between 1896 and 1907 the buildings were rebuilt into the neo-Baroque hotel that stands today.

On the other side of the canal, behind the parking lot to the right, is the casino building visible. One of the things that makes this location so enjoyable is the fact that ''Casino Royale" is located just as close to the hotel in reality as it is in the film. So when Bond walks over to the casino in the first scene, the real hotel is seen in the background.

Bond's parking space, to the right of the Volvo, and Casino Royale in the background.

Post World War II, in 1951, the communist government of Czechoslovakia nationalised the hotel and renamed it Grandhotel Moskva, and it was not until after 1989 that the original name was restored and the hotel was privatised again.

Later I will cover the rest of the surroundings of the hotel and eventually, some details from the stay in one of the suites - a night at the Pupp.

The hotel lobby - Grand Hotel Pupp

"-Welcome to the Hotel Splendide, your name Sir? 
-James Bond, you find the reservation under Beech."

In Casino Royale, Bond and Vesper check in to the Hotel Splendide in Montenegro. A Daimler limousine from the hotel picks them up at the Montenegro train station and drives them through town. All the scenes in and around the Hotel was filmed at Grand Hotel Pupp in the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary. The Grand Hotel Pupp complex is so large and houses so many different locations from the film that I will cover all of them on different occasions.

"You'll sign that dear? You represent the treasury."

The lobby looks just like in the film and hopefully they will not change it in the future. Unless the film team refurbished the lobby especially for the film, the hotel have replaced the green wall-to-wall carpet that featured in the film sometime after 2006.

The entire hotel is beautifully decorated and the lobby is no exception.

"Take the next one! There isn't enough room for me and your ego..."

After picking up his parcel at the front desk Bond and Vesper goes to the fourth floor to spy on Le Chiffre. The elevator can be found just behind the lobby to the right, the same place as in the film.

Production Designer Peter Lamont and his crew fitted the elevator with wooden panels instead of mirrors to make filming possible. Bond presses number 4 in the elevator, something that also was filmed on location.