Ostrava Area

If you like the fast pace of city life, you’re going to like North Moravia’s biggest city (the third largest in the Czech Republic) as well as its immediate surroundings. There are many reasons to come: the location near the borders with Poland and Slovakia, interesting red-brick and half-timbered architecture, historical and cultural heritage, a huge choice of leisure activities and some truly unique industrial heritage.

The last in this list is reason enough alone and if you want to understand the period during which Ostrava was king of the coal and steel industries, make a beeline for the Michal Mine or the former industrial zone of Dolní Vítkovice, with its coke works, the blast furnaces of the Vítkovice Ironworks and pit wheels belonging to the Hlubina Mine, sometimes called the ‘Ostrava Hradčany’ (referring to the area around Prague Castle), which has been put forward as a possible UNESCO-listed site. You can also take a trip to Landek Hill, at the bottom of which you will find the former Anselm Mine and the Mining Museum. Other attractions for all the family include the zoo, Dinopark, Miniuni miniature park and Ostrava Castle. The epicentre of Ostrava’s nightlife is bustling Stodolní Street lined with tens of bars, clubs and restaurants.

Ostrava Castle – The oldest surviving secular structure in the city, this castle was established on the site of an early Slavic fort in the late 13th century by the Piastovci clan. Today the renovated complex hosts many cultural events such as the Colours of Ostrava music festival.

New Town Hall – Home to Ostrava city council, the largest town hall in the Czech Republic was built between 1925 and 1930. A superfast lift zips up to the viewing platform at a height of 73m and was the highest lift in the former Czechoslovakia when it was installed (51 m). It can transport six people to the top in 38 seconds.

Ostrava Mining Museum – This complex on the slopes of Landek Hill has exhibitions on the history and development of coal mining in the Ostrava-Karviná mining area. The tour includes a trip down the mine. There’s also a rope centre and an educational trail; Landek Hill is crowned with a viewing tower.

Michal Mine in Ostrava – This piece of industrial heritage in the Ostrava-Karviná mining area is renowned for its 1920s architecture. The mine was axed in 1993, but you can still see the changing rooms, showers, dispatcher’s office, machine room and other areas still sporting their original fittings, equipment and machinery.

Dinopark – At this 20ha park you can admire over 30 specially created scenes featuring life-like and life-size dinosaur models. There are also refreshment areas, a children’s playground, a palaeontology playground, a 3D cinema and a small pavilion called Journey into the Earth’s Past containing real prehistoric artefacts.