Liberec walking tour & city guide

The center

The Liberec Town Hall, inspired by Vienna's, dominates the main square. The F. X. Šalda Theatre and the Liberec Chateau are nearby.

Ještěd

Ještěd Tower, a hotel and TV tower shaped like a hyperboloid, stands on top of a mountain and is one of Czechia's most famous modern buildings. The Jizera Mountains are popular for hiking and skiing.

A day in Liberec

Liberec's town hall, a grand neo-renaissance building, dominates the main square. Take the cable car up Ještěd, a mountain with a futuristic tower that houses a hotel and a TV transmitter, with views across to Poland and Germany.

Back in town, visit the zoo, one of the oldest in Central Europe, and the iQLANDIA science center.

Good to know

Liberec is close to the Jizera Mountains, popular for cross-country skiing and hiking. The Bohemian Paradise region of sandstone rocks is nearby.

The city has a long textile and glass-making history.

Why it surprises visitors

Liberec lies in northern Bohemia, close to the borders with Germany and Poland, and it grew rich in the 19th century from textiles. Its villas and grand buildings reflect that prosperity. The Ještěd Tower, completed in 1973, is one of the most famous pieces of Czech architecture: a sleek, hyperboloid tower on a 1,012-meter peak that looks almost like a spacecraft, and it won international architecture awards.

The city hosts ski jumping and cross-country events on Ještěd, and in summer the mountain is popular with hikers and mountain bikers. The Botanical Garden has the oldest botanical garden greenhouses in the country, and the North Bohemian Museum displays local glass and crafts.