Jonsdorf was founded approximately 450 years ago. According to legend, Shepherd Jonas, a monk from Mount Oybin, was the first settler in what would later become Jonsdorf. The spa town of Jonsdorf is located in a broad, sunny valley on the border with the Czech Republic in the Zittauer Mountains. Encircled by a ring of forest-covered magnificent mountains and rock formations like the Jonsberg with its white stone, the rugged Nonnenfelsen, the rock city of millstone quarries with the unique rock group 'The Organ,' the Plissen- the Buchberg, or the Rabenstein, Jonsdorf, like Oybin, becomes a visitor and hiking magnet of the highest class. In the background, the two giants of the Zittauer Mountains rise, the proud peaks of the phonolite cones of Lausche and Hochwald.

The robust coniferous forests and the elevation of around 500 meters provide the mountains with clean, ozone-rich, mild air. This is why Jonsdorf received its current status as a mountain air health resort from the Reich Health Office in Berlin in 1902. Typical of Jonsdorf, as well as many other communities, are the Upper Lusatian half-timbered houses (a vernacular architectural style from the 17th to the 19th century). Jonsdorf, like Oybin, is also the terminus of the steam-powered Zittauer narrow-gauge railway, which has been running since 1890 between the towns of Zittau, Olbersdorf, Jonsdorf, and Oybin. Jonsdorf entices visitors with various leisure activities throughout the year.