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A UNESCO-listed silver-mining town: the soaring Gothic St Barbara’s Cathedral, the Italian Court and the Sedlec Ossuary. Buy tickets at the Sedlec infocentre.

Charles IV’s Gothic castle above a village. The main tour runs Friday to Sunday 10:00–15:00 from 1 to 21 December and daily 26–31 December; closed 22–25 December.

A Renaissance town in a loop of the river below a huge castle. In winter only the castle museum and tower open (to 20 December); the town itself is lovely and quiet.

The Baroque Frauenkirche, Zwinger and Semperoper, and the Striezelmarkt, one of Germany’s oldest Christmas markets.