Ostrava, the metropolis of the Moravian-Silesian region, is by its area and its overall population the third largest city of the Czech Republic. Ostrava always had a very strategic location - it is located 10 kilometres south of the border with Poland and 50 kilometres west of the border with Slovakia. Prague, the capital of Czechia, is 360 km away, Brno is 170 km away, and Katowice and Vienna are just 90 and 310 km away respectively. There are also four rivers flowing through the city - Odra, Ostravice, Opava, and Lučina .

Basic data

Ostrava is a key communication and transportation hub of Northern Moravia and Silesia. The D1 motorway and main railroad tracks run through the city. Public transport provides a dense network of bus, trolleybus and tram lines. Leoš Janáček Ostrava International Airport in Mošnov, which is located 25 km from the city centre, is connected with the city by trains and buses.

The city lies in a valley called The Moravian Gate, which is between The Beskydy Mountains and The Jeseníky Mountains. A significant part of the city's area is covered with forests, parks and nature. There are over one hundred and thirty important landscape elements, three nature reserves and four natural monuments. For example two areas of the Protected Landscape Area Poodří are located directly in the city - The Polanecký Forest and The Polanecká Meadow. Rezavka and Turkov areas are also very attractive places to visit, with many floodplain forests. Natural monument Landek, with outcroppings of coal seams on the surface, is an important location as it is connected to the city's history of coal mining. Natural rarities also include Swedish granite boulders from the era of glaciation. The largest one is located in the middle of a industrial area in Ostrava Kunčice. A very unique feature of Ostrava is our slag heap Ema, a forested hill with an altitude of 315 m above the sea level. The slag heaps were made from the excess dirt from the coal mines which was then delivered into one place, usually via cableway. But since there were still small remnants of coal in the dirt, the slag heap Ema started burning from the inside and the temperature deep inside reaches up to 1 000 °C.

Ostrava is also an important economic centre. Many new jobs have been created in the recent years, some in not  very traditional sectors such as the automotive, IT and outsourcing industries. Over 30 thousand students study at Ostrava's two largest universities - Ostrava university and the VŠB-TUO. Rankings show that VŠB - Technical University is among the best universities in central Europe. The University of Ostrava also provides education in a number of interesting fields.

Ostrava offers a variety of cultural and social activities. The local theatre is one of the best theatre scenes in the country, The Gallery of Fine Arts and The Plato gallery are respected institutions with a refined design and the music clubs of Ostrava are often hosting both known and starting musicians and bands from different area of genres. In addition, there are many sporting events, festivals and family events so you can be sure that you will never get bored in Ostrava.