Tanečnice Lookout Tower

This lookout tower is situated 3 km west of the village of Mikulášovice and 0.5 km from the border with Germany, at a height above sea level of 598 m. There are 136 steps leading up to the top of the lookout tower. You can reach the tower following the blue markers from Mikulášovice. You can drive as far as the forest car park, around a kilometre from the top.

This brick octagonal lookout tower is the most northerly viewpoint structure in the Czech Republic. Back in 1887 this was the site of the first wooden tower, although it was destroyed by high winds in 1903. The new lookout tower was opened in 1905. The building work was financed by Count František Václav Salm-Reifferscheidet.

At the top of Tanečnice there is a drinking water spring, which is why a 25-metre-deep well was dug here. The lookout tower offers a beautiful view of the panoramas of Czech-Saxon Switzerland, the Lusatian Mountains and the Labské pískovce rocks. You can see as far as the Šluknov Hook, Lusatia and Germany, and when visibility is good you can even see the Ore Mountains and the Krkonoše. The hill takes its name from the legend that a beautiful young girl – the dancer – used to come to this place to dance and seduce hunters.