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The town hall square in Liberec with the town hall towers and historic houses

Things to See & Do

Fifteen places, from a tower in the clouds to a steam train across the border.

Liberec is compact: the town hall, the theatre and the museums are within a twenty-minute walk of each other, and trams run from the centre to the zoo at one end of the city and to the foot of Ještěd at the other. We have grouped the sights the way you will use them — in the city, up in the Jizera Mountains, and within an hour by train or car.

Opening hours and prices change with the season, and several places close on Mondays or in winter. We give guidance, not timetables: check the venue’s own website before you set out.

In the city

The Ještěd tower, a silver hyperboloid hotel and transmitter, on its rocky summit In the city

Ještěd Tower & Cable Car

The mountain-top hotel and transmitter that became the symbol of the city

A 1,012 m summit crowned by Karel Hubáček’s silver hyperboloid — a hotel, restaurant and television transmitter in one building, and a national cultural monument. The historic cable car has been out of service since an accident in 2021, so check how to get up before you go.

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The richly decorated neo-Renaissance town hall of Liberec with its three towers above the main square In the city

Liberec Town Hall & Old Town

A slice of Vienna on a North Bohemian square

The neo-Renaissance town hall of 1888–1893, designed by the Viennese architect Franz Neumann, dominates Dr. E. Beneš Square with its 65 m tower. Around it lie the F. X. Šalda Theatre, the half-timbered Wallenstein Houses and the lanes of the old cloth-makers’ town.

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A white tiger at Liberec Zoo In the city

Liberec Zoo

The oldest zoo in the Czech Republic — and the home of the white tigers

A compact, leafy zoo in the Lidové sady park district that traces its beginnings to the early 20th century. It is best known for its white tigers and for long-standing breeding programmes with birds of prey and mountain animals.

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The glass pavilions of the Liberec Botanical Garden behind a rock garden In the city

Liberec Botanical Garden

Tropical glasshouses a few steps from the zoo

A ring of modern glasshouse pavilions on a site with a gardening tradition going back to the 19th century. Inside are orchids, carnivorous plants, giant water lilies, cacti and aquariums — a warm, green hour whatever the weather outside.

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The glass and grey façade of the iQLANDIA science centre in Liberec In the city

iQLANDIA Science Centre

Hands-on science, a planetarium and a talking robot

A modern science centre opened in 2014, with several floors of interactive exhibits on the human body, the elements, geology and technology, plus a planetarium and science shows. Its older sibling for small children, iQPARK, is next door in the Babylon centre.

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The colourful main building of Centrum Babylon in Liberec In the city

Centrum Babylon

A water park, funfair and hotel inside a former textile mill

A sprawling indoor leisure complex built into an old textile factory: an aquapark with slides and a wave pool, saunas, a funfair, the iQPARK children’s science centre, a labyrinth and a hotel. Kitsch, cheerful and unbeatable on a wet day with children.

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The North Bohemian Museum in Liberec with its tall tower In the city

North Bohemian Museum & Regional Gallery

Glass, textiles and paintings from the city’s golden age

Founded in 1873 as a museum of applied arts, the North Bohemian Museum fills a palace-like building of the 1890s with glass, jewellery, textiles, furniture and natural history. Across the avenue, the former imperial spa now houses the Liberec Regional Gallery.

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The turreted and half-timbered Liebieg Villa in Liberec In the city

Liebieg Villa, Palace & Garden Town

The textile dynasty that built modern Liberec

The Liebieg family’s mills made Liberec rich in the 19th century. Their legacy is easy to follow on foot: Theodor von Liebieg’s turreted villa above the Nisa, the family palace that long housed the city’s art collection, and the picturesque workers’ garden town of Liebiegovo městečko.

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Jizera Mountains & Jablonec

The meadows and scattered houses of Jizerka seen from Bukovec hill Jizera Mountains & Jablonec

Jizera Mountains

Peat bogs, beech forests and lookout towers on the city’s doorstep

A granite plateau of spruce forest, upland bogs and dark reservoirs rising directly behind Liberec, with steep beech-clad northern slopes that are part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing. Easy forest roads suit walkers and cyclists; the hamlet of Jizerka is the classic goal.

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Cross-country skiers on a wide groomed trail in the Jizera Mountains Jizera Mountains & Jablonec

Bedřichov & the Jizerská Magistrála

The capital of Czech cross-country skiing

A mountain village about 10 km from Liberec and the main gateway to the Jizerská magistrála, a network of around 170 km of groomed cross-country trails. Every February it hosts the Jizerská 50, the country’s biggest ski race; in summer the same forest roads belong to cyclists and walkers.

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The Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou with its crystal-shaped extension Jizera Mountains & Jablonec

Jablonec nad Nisou: Glass & Jewellery

The town that dressed the world in glass beads

Liberec’s neighbour grew rich on glass beads, buttons and costume jewellery exported around the globe. Its Museum of Glass and Jewellery, with a striking crystal-shaped extension, tells the story; the functionalist town hall and the Mšeno reservoir complete an easy half-day.

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Castles, rocks & the tri-border

Sandstone towers of the Hruboskalsko rock town rising above the forest in the Bohemian Paradise Castles, rocks & the tri-border

Bohemian Paradise (Český ráj)

Sandstone rock towns and castles half an hour south

The oldest protected landscape in the Czech Republic and a UNESCO Global Geopark: labyrinths of sandstone towers at Hrubá Skála and Prachov, the twin-towered ruin of Trosky and the Gothic castle of Kost. Turnov, its gateway, is a short train ride from Liberec.

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The neo-Gothic façade and towers of Sychrov Castle Castles, rocks & the tri-border

Sychrov Castle

A neo-Gothic château of French princes

The pink neo-Gothic seat of the Rohan family, French aristocrats who settled here after the Revolution. Lavish wood-carved interiors, a large gallery of French portraits and an English landscape park make it the most rewarding château visit near Liberec.

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Frýdlant castle and château rising above their outer walls Castles, rocks & the tri-border

Frýdlant Castle & Château

Wallenstein’s fortress on a basalt rock

A medieval castle with a Renaissance château wrapped around it, towering over the river Smědá in the far north of Bohemia. It once belonged to Albrecht von Wallenstein, opened its collections to the public as early as 1801, and is often said to have inspired Kafka’s The Castle.

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The town hall and a fountain on the market square of Zittau Castles, rocks & the tri-border

Zittau & the Tri-Border

Three countries, a steam train and a medieval treasure

Just across the German border, the Saxon town of Zittau guards two rare Lenten veils and an Italianate town hall; a narrow-gauge steam railway puffs from here to the rock castle of Oybin. Nearby, the Czech, German and Polish borders meet on the river Neisse.

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Three ways to spend your time

One day: Start on the town hall square, walk past the theatre and the Wallenstein Houses, then take tram 3 towards Ještěd for the afternoon and — if the weather is clear — sunset on the summit. In bad weather swap the mountain for iQLANDIA or the North Bohemian Museum.
Three days: Day 1 as above. Day 2: the zoo and botanical garden in the morning, the museum and the Regional Gallery after lunch. Day 3: a full day in the Jizera Mountains from Bedřichov, or the train to Turnov and the rocks of the Bohemian Paradise.
A week: Add Sychrov Castle, Frýdlant with the basilica at Hejnice, Jablonec’s glass museum, a day across the border in Zittau and Oybin, and a rainy-day session at Babylon.

For transport, money and seasons, read our travel guide and when to go.

Plan your days in the north

A tower on a mountain, a city at its foot

Liberec packs a science centre, a zoo, grand architecture and two mountain ranges into one short tram ride. Compare guided walks, hikes and day trips around the city and book in a couple of taps.

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