Liestal’s development was favoured by its central location at the junction of the roads to both Hauenstein pass roads. Liestal was made into a fortified town in the middle of the 13th century, after the opening of the Gotthardpass and the construction of the first Rhine bridge in nearby Basel. The area around Liestal was settled in pre-Roman times, documented by artefacts including the 1st century Roman villa in Munzach.

19th century mural painted houses border the Rathausstrasse which has at one end the mediaeval Obere Tor and at the other the Rathaus with its Renaissance frescos. The «Törli» or Obere Tor is Liestal’s landmark. It guarded the southern approach to the town in medieval times and is the upper boundary of the Rathausstrasse.

The rooms of the fresco-adorned late-Gothic Rathaus house a poetry museum. The only Swiss Nobel Peace Prize laureate in literature, Carl Spitteler (1845 – 1924) came from Liestal. Liestal also has a harmonium museum containing over 100 musical instruments in working order from two centuries. The former arsenal is home to the Kantonsmuseum Baselland with a strong focus on silk ribbon weaving, a craft introduced by the Huguenots at the end of the 16th century.

The views from the watch tower on the Schleifenberg (614m) above the village reach as far as the Rhine in one direction and the Alps in the other. There is a picnic spot at the foot of the tower with tables, benches and barbecue pits.

At the railway station in Liestal on the SBB main line from Basel to Olten is the starting point of the narrow gauge Waldenburgerbahn to Waldenburg. Its gauge of only 750mm makes it unique in Switzerland. A historic steam composition runs on some Sundays between May and September.