Krystofovo Udoli

Krystofovo Udoli is a village strung for several kilometres along a narrow valley west of Liberec, with timber and half-timbered houses of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the local Sudeten German building tradition, and a wooden belfry. The railway from Liberec crosses the valley on the Novina viaduct, a stone arched bridge of 1900 that is the tallest railway viaduct in the country and the image the village is known by. In December the village does something unusual: households, schools and the local association put out nativity scenes - hundreds of them, homemade in wood, straw, paper, glass and whatever else, set in windows, gardens, sheds and along the road - and the whole valley becomes a walking route between them, which draws visitors from across the region. There is a small museum of nativity scenes and one of measuring instruments.

What you actually see

• The Novina viaduct - the tallest railway viaduct in the country, from 1900.
• Timber houses along a valley - the local building tradition over several kilometres.
• Hundreds of Christmas nativities - homemade and set out through the village in December.
• A nativity museum - the collection kept year-round.

When to go

December for the nativities; May to October otherwise. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The nativity display is a December event only and the village is crowded and parking-limited then. Outside it the village is quiet with almost no services. The train runs a limited timetable.

Nearby

Liberec and the Jested tower are twelve kilometres east.