Turnov lies near the Bohemian Paradise Protected Landscape Area which makes it a place for tourists and summer residents.

According to one theory, the initial name of the settlement was Trnov and the name was derived from the adjective trnový (i.e. 'thorny'), referring to the local vegetation, but there is no evidence.

The medieval town was frequently vulnerable to fires – it was burnt by Lusatian crusaders in 1468 and during the Thirty Years' War by Swedes in 1643, as well as a conflagration in 1707.

After it ceased to exist at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, new Jewish settlers were invited to the town by Albrecht von Wallenstein in 1623.

The D10 motorway from Prague ends just beyond the municipal limits and runs through the town as the I/10 road (part of the European route E65).

The I/35 road (the section from Liberec to Hradec Králové, part of the European route E442) also runs through the town.

In a suburb lies the Hrubý Rohozec Castle, built in 1250 and later reconstructed into a château; today it is admissible to the public.

[12] Museum of the Bohemian Paradise in Turnov has a significant collection of gemstones and jewelry, as well as exhibits on geology, archaeology and folklore.