Žatec is famous for an over-700-year-long tradition of growing Saaz noble hops used by several breweries.

Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023.

The Liboc River joins the Ohře on the western outskirts of the town.

The first written mention of Žatec is in the Latin chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg of 1004.

[4] From the outbreak of the Hussite Wars in 1419 to the Thirty Years' War, the town was Hussite or Protestant, but after the Battle of White Mountain (1620) the greater part of the Czech inhabitants left the town.

On 3 June 1945, 5,000 male Sudeten German inhabitants from Žatec were marched to the town square of Postoloprty, and at least 763 were murdered.

[8] The tradition of beer brewing started here in 1261; growing of hops is first documented in 1348.

It is a collection of important buildings and architectural styles from the Romanesque period to the Art Nouveau.

[4] Since 2003, the area south of the historic centre has been protected as an urban monument zone.

The Temple of Hops and Beer is a tourist complex with several attractions, including a lookout tower and a small astronomical clock.

[19] Žatec was used as a filming location for many historical films and TV series, including[20] Yentl (1983), The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992), Les Misérables (1998), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999), Oliver Twist (1999), Burning Bush (2013),[21] The Zookeeper's Wife (2016),[22] A Bag of Marbles (2017) and Oscar-winning Jojo Rabbit (2019).