The town Semily with approximately 9,000 inhabitants spreads out in the Liberec region in the south-eastern Bohemia. It is situated at the foothills of western Giant Mountains at the confluence of the Jizera and Oleška rivers. The fold of Semily is surrounded by hills from all sides, from which the closest to tower over the town is Varta and north-eastwards your eye will be caught by the hill Strážník.

The first written records of Semily come from 1352 but since they are related to the parish church, we may well presume that Semily had existed already some time before that year.

In previous centuries, Semily went through development of agriculture, trade, crafts, bijou manufacture and eventually trade which benefited from the river power. First of all there were mills, wool and cloth manufacture, cloth printing, and since 1515 a brewery, too. Building the railway line from Pardubice to Liberec in 1858 spurred gradual change of Semily



Semily forms a natural centre of Horní Pojizeří, being situated at the boundary of attractive tourist regions of Bohemian Paradise and Giant Mountains. Not far from Semily you can find spines and touring centres of Giant Mountains and Ore Mountains, castles, chateaus and rock towns of the Bohemian Paradise. Nearby the town there´s a unique canyon of the Jizera River with the path of Rieger, and dolomite caves in Bozkov. From the outlook-tower at the top of the Kozákov hill it is possible to watch almost a quarter of Bohemia, provided the weather is growthy.