North Moravia (Severní Morava) is not the never-ending conglomeration of factories that its critics would have you believe, though it certainly has more than its fair share of ecological disaster zones, in particular the industrial belt in the Odra (Oder) basin, now in the grip of an economic depression. At the same time, the north also boasts some of Moravia's wildest and most varied countryside, including the Jeseníky, the region's highest peaks, which form part of what is still – nominally at least – known as Czech Silesia. As with the Sudetenland regions of Bohemia, Silesia's long-standing German community was forcibly expelled after World War II, leaving many villages and towns visibly underpopulated even today.

To the east, near the border with Slovakia, the traditional communities in the nether reaches of the Beskydy hills have fared much better. Wooden houses and churches are dotted along the valley, and a whole range of folk buildings has been gathered together and restored in the republic's largest open-air museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. In addition to its folk culture and hiking potential, the Beskydy is endowed with some intriguing museums: a large car collection at the technical museum in Kopřivnice, a hat museum in Nový Jičín, and two memorials to famous local boys – Sigmund Freud, who was born in Příbor, and Leoš Janáček, who lived and composed in Hukvaldy.

The region's two largest cities typify North Moravia's contradictions: Ostrava, the country's largest mining and steel town, is a place no Moravian would ever recommend you visit (with some justification); Olomouc, on the other hand, the old medieval capital on the banks of the River Morava, is arguably Moravia's most attractive and vibrant city along with Brno, and a must on anyone's itinerary.