Jizerka

Jizerka is a scatter of about twenty houses at around eight hundred and fifty metres on the Jizera Mountains plateau, one of the highest and most isolated settlements in Bohemia. It is first recorded in the sixteenth century, and it grew around a glassworks opened in 1829 - the Riedel family among the glassmakers who came for the wood and the quartz - which ran until 1911. The stream that runs through it, the Jizerka, was panned for gemstones: sapphires, zircons and other minerals weathered out of a basalt vent at Bukovec above the village, and Jizerka sapphires reached collections across Europe, with the workings documented from the seventeenth century. The village has a small museum in the Panske house on the glass and mineral history. Around it lie peat bogs, the Bukovec basalt cone, and one of the largest raised bogs in the range, crossed by boardwalk.

What's there

• About twenty houses at 850 metres - one of the highest settlements in Bohemia.
• A glassmaking past - the glassworks of 1829 to 1911, where the Riedels worked.
• Sapphire panning ground - gemstones weathered from the Bukovec basalt vent.
• Peat bogs and boardwalks - among the largest raised bogs in the Jizera range.

When to go

June to September, or for cross-country skiing. Half a day.

Good to know

Access is limited - the road is restricted in parts and there is little parking. The village has almost no services. Weather changes fast on the plateau. The museum keeps short seasonal hours.

Nearby

The Jizera Mountains bogs and Smrk are around; Harrachov is east.

Key facts