Hotels in Ostrava

Ostrava is the Czech Republic's third-largest city and its industrial heart, built on coal mining and steel production that defined the Ostrava-Karviná basin for over a century. That heritage is now the main draw: Lower Vítkovice, a former ironworks turned cultural complex with blast furnaces you can climb, has done more than anything to reposition the city as a destination rather than a place you pass through.

Much of Ostrava is functional, communist-era housing and grey industrial sprawl rather than picture-postcard Czech charm, and it lacks the polish of Prague or Brno. What it does offer is cheaper prices, a genuine music and street-art scene, and an unpretentious drinking culture. Leoš Janáček Airport connects it internationally, though most visitors arrive by train.