Hallo, ahoj, dziękuję! Zittau.

In the heart of Europe, in the tri-border area of Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, Zittau is a hidden gem for students. The town of 27,000 inhabitants at the foot of the Zittau Mountains is cosy – and truly international due to its location. Your neighbours are just a few minutes away – and it's only 130km to Prague or 200km to Wrocław.

The old cloth-making town of Zittau has a rich history. The town hall rises imposingly into the sky, and the seven-storey salt house, the old Franciscan monastery, the butcher's bastion and several old churches form the "Zittau Culture Trail" – a journey of discovery even for locals.

You can party here in the DeziBar and the Star Club, for example – where you'll find almost every style of music. Beers from small breweries in the neighbouring countries can be found in Vinyl, and you'll quickly discover the attractive little shops in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Classical music is also on offer here, for example, in the academic choir of the Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz and the Internationale Hochschulinstitut. You can even get culture for lunch here: the canteen also sells theatre tickets!

Germany's only three-country festival of its kind, the annual Neiße Film Festival is where art and culture simply merge. And it's not just the theatres that flout the borders with great ideas like a tri-national theatre subscription for Zittau, Liberec and Jelenia Góra. You can do it too: welcome to Zittau!