Must-see attractions in Harz Mountains

Originally built in the 12th century to protect German Kaisers on hunting expeditions, Schloss Wernigerode was enlarged over the years to reflect late…

A deeply sobering place: at least 20,000 people were worked to death here building the tunnels beneath Mittelbau Dora, and the rockets now decaying within…

The performance of American avant-garde composer and musical theorist John Cage's Organ²/ASLSP began in the shell of the former Kirche St Burchardi in…

The shafts and buildings of this 1000-year-old mine are now a museum and Unesco World Heritage Site. Admission to the mine includes a German-language tour…

Covering a total land mass of 24,700 hectares, Harz National Park is the first national park in Germany to occupy land in two states: Lower Saxony to the…

Wernigerode's spectacular towered Rathaus (town hall) began life as a theatre around 1277, only to be given its mostly late-Gothic features, which loom…

It takes just over half an hour to walk from town, or a zippy three-minute ride on the Burgberg-Seilbahn, to reach the top of this humble peak (483m),…

One of the purest examples of Romanesque architecture from the Ottonian period is this church in Gernrode, 8km south of Quedlinburg. Construction of the…

The Schlossberg, on a 25m-high plateau above Quedlinburg, was initially graced with a church and residence under King Heinrich I (Henry the Fowler),…

Lovely views await at the top of Rosstrappe peak, which takes its name from what is supposedly a horse’s hoof print, visible in stone on the cliff, left…

This reconstructed 11th-century Romanesque palace is Goslar’s pride and joy. After centuries of decay, the building was resurrected in the 19th century…

Wernigerode's main thoroughfare, Breite Strasse, accommodates the pretty Cafe Wien building (1583) at No. 4, today a dignified cafe and worthwhile…

This 12th-century church is one of Germany’s most significant from the Romanesque period. Its treasury contains valuable reliquaries and early Bibles. The…

The impressive late-Gothic Rathaus is most beautiful at night, when light shining through its stained-glass windows illuminates the stone-patterned town…

This beautifully presented little museum boasts a colourful collection of painted pewter figures and depicts scenes of daily life in Goslar from the…

Wernigerode's magnificent Marktplatz is presided over by its towering Rathaus. In the middle of the square, a neo-Gothic fountain (1848) was dedicated to…

Of the two rocky bluffs flanking the Bode Valley, Hexentanzplatz is the most developed and popular. Take the cable car to the top for spectacular views…

A private museum sprawling over five floors, containing musical instruments, dolls and a porcelain collection housed in the cellar.

Oberpfarrkirchhof surrounds the Gothic- and later, neo-Gothic–styled Sylvestrikirche. Here you’ll also find the Gadenstedtsches Haus (1582) with its…

Germany’s earliest half-timbered houses were built using high perpendicular struts known as Ständerbau. The building dating to 1310 that now houses…