The location of this hotel is hard to beat anywhere in the region! Sitting atop the highest mountain peak in the region, it lies just 45 minutes from Germany and Poland, which are both visible from the lookout points. Getting here can be part of the adventure, as many travelers walk or bike up the road, hike up the mountain paths, ride the aerial cablecar to the top, or drive up the narrow winding road to reach the summit.

While the hotel may seem a bit dated to some visitors, anyone with an eye for retro design and an appreciation for what the hotel and tower looked like at the time of its construction will find this place to be a real gem.

Three classes of rooms are available -- suites, standard double rooms with private bathroom and shower, or basic double rooms with shared bath and shower on the same corridor. (The idea of a shared bath may seem odd for a hotel with such high-class potential, given its location, but makes sense given the extreme space constraints within the tower as well as the date of its construction in the late 1960's to early 1970's under the Communist regime.)

The design of the rooms, furniture, windows, etc. all fits into the 60's era, with the stylized windows and sloped exterior walls of the tower making you feel almost like you're in an airplane. Sometimes the clouds come up and surround the entire tower -- so much that you can't see halfway up the tower from the parking lot -- but this makes you feel like your room is up in the sky...truly amazing! And of course, when the sky is clear, the view is tremendous.

We stayed in a standard double room with private bath. The large entryway featured a huge closet, a door to the toilet, and a separate door to the shower and sink. Though they look a bit old, they were very clean, absolutely spotless, and smelled fresh. (*If you choose the basic accommodations with shared bath: we took a peek at the shared showers and toilets, and they looked identical to what was in our room, very clean, fresh-smelling, and well-taken care of.)

The Euro-style double bed (meaning two single beds pushed together) had fresh crisp linens, down comforters, and large plush pillows. The linens were fairly new, as was all of the bedding. When we first arrived, each side of the bed was cutely made up with a stack of towels, toiletries, and a chocolate. The bed itself was very comfortable and we both had a good night of sleep. If you are a very light sleeper, you may find the noise of the wind to be bothersome, but this depends on the weather and can certainly be tolerated to be able to have such great views :)

The hotel staff were very friendly and able to help in several languages. Given the hotel's proximity to the border, it was most likely that staff members who knew a second language spoke German. Some spoke Polish, and you might find Russian spoken by older staff (learned during the Communist era). Some staff spoke basic English and of course all were very patient in trying to assist guests who spoke other languages.

The menus in the restaurant are written in Czech, German, and English, and they offer a variety of foods ranging from traditional Czech cuisine to more international fare. Having come from our home in Prague where we're used to high metropolitan prices (and even higher prices in tourist zones), we actually found the prices here to be lower than typical (non-tourist) Prague prices. The two of us each had a meat-based entree with additional side dishes, a shared dessert, and a bottle of wine for the equivalent of $35 USD, and it was all freshly made to order and absolutely delicious. The restaurant is located one level above the main entrance and has newer furnishings that were wisely chosen to still fit in with the original design and style of the building. The restaurant staff are friendly and helpful, and we noticed better English among some of the waitresses here compared to the desk staff.

Our room package included a buffet breakfast the following morning, which offered a wide variety of fruits, breads, cold cuts, eggs, bacon, cereals, yogurts, etc. Orange and apple juice are available from a machine, and you can make your own coffee at a fully-automated espresso machine.

For overnight guests, arrival by car is easiest, and hotel guests may park for free at the top of the hill. (Just tell the parking attendant you are a guest when you arrive.) If you are traveling without a car, it is possible to use the aerial cablecar to get up to the mountaintop, but it only runs until 7pm. If your room package comes with tickets for the cablecar, you receive these at the front desk. (The cablecar is run by the Czech transit authority, so you must have a ticket. Hotel guests don't ride for free and must have the tickets from the hotel in hand.)

This was a wonderful place to stay and we're already making plans for some visiting friends to spend a night in this unique hotel :)

Hotel Jested is one of the best places to stay in the Czech Republic. It is sitting on top of Mountain Jested, a high peak of Luzicke Mountains, which divide the mountaneous Northern Bohemia from hilly Central Bohemia. When booking a hotel, you may want to choose what you want to see - typically hilly Bohemia to the south or mountains to the north. When the visibility is the best, you see far in to the Poland to the north and as far as Prague to the south (according to a tourist guide), and also Germany to the west. We chose the northern view, where, in the valley, is the city of Liberec. View was just amazing. Hotel design came from a famous Czech architect, and it really shows a style. While tourist (most frequented) lower floors and observation deck show some aging, the restaurant and hotel is really clean, with refreshed interiors. Staff is friendly and food is very Czech with international items as well. My family enjoyed the entire stay: food, view, room, everything. There is a good hiking around, cable car down into the city, and great skying in winter (Jested Mountain is also well know by ski jump championships). Parking is small, on top of the mountain, but with a helpful attendant and reserved area for hotel guests. The view is related to weather conditions, as this mountain can be in clouds when clouds fly low. We certainly will stay in this hotel again when back in Northern Bohemia and recommend this stay to everyone who likes nature and mountains with some luxury included.