Amt Neuhaus

Konau and Popelau: a protected village ensemble

Konau and neighboring Popelau form a listed marsh-strip village featuring Lower Saxon two-post hall houses, stables, barns and coach houses. The ensemble is considered the only fully preserved village of its kind in the world and lies directly on the dike in the Lower Saxon Elbe Valley Biosphere Reserve. Anyone interested in historic village layouts will encounter a complete ensemble here, rather than just a single building.

Border history in Konau and Popelau

The exhibition coach house in Konau and the border-history trail, marked with information boards, are united by the theme “Crossing Borders – Life on the Elbe in Konau, Popelau and Darchau.” They present the history of the people who lived in the former restricted zone. In the coach house, photographs, exhibits, information boards and authentic interviews with eyewitnesses are used to tell their stories.

A separate exhibition in Popelau, “Forced Resettlements on the Inner German Border,” documents the impact of forced resettlement on people in the Amt and offers interviews with eyewitnesses at listening stations, recounting the fates of affected families. The exhibition “Crossing Borders – Life in the Restricted Zone” is part of an approximately 6 km border-history trail.

Birdwatching, border towers and circular trails

For birdwatching, the Vogelkieker Tour names two specific spots: bird species can be observed particularly well in the landscape from the Mahnkenwerder observation tower and from the Kiek ut in Preten. The Vogelkieker Tour continues to Neuhaus, home to the Amt Neuhaus Ark Centre, with its many old livestock breeds. Several border towers also remain along the Elbe Cycle Route within Amt Neuhaus.

There are ten circular hiking trails within the municipality, ranging from a shifting dune to the Elbe shore. This gives you a choice of different focuses: the Vogelkieker Tour leads to observation points, while the circular trails range from the shifting dune to the Elbe shore. The surviving border towers add visible traces of border history to these nature and trail themes.

Nature and visitor information

The Amt Neuhaus Biosphere Centre presents old domestic animal breeds and crop varieties, as well as nature in the Lower Saxon Elbe Valley Biosphere Reserve, in its “A Taste for Diversity” exhibition. In Preten, the restored Storkenkate serves as a visitor contact point and information centre for the biosphere reserve. Nature-related activities in Amt Neuhaus thus include exhibitions and visitor information, as well as observing the landscape.

Choosing a holiday apartment based on your travel interests

Your main interests can be a useful starting point when looking for a holiday apartment. If you are particularly interested in architectural and border history, you can consider the options in Konau and Popelau; other themes take centre stage for birdwatching, old livestock breeds or circular hiking trails. For families, it can also be helpful to identify shared interests, such as historic buildings, eyewitness accounts, birdwatching, or nature and crop-related themes.

Discover more destinations: Lüdersburg, Embsen, Nahrendorf, Neetze, Hohnstorf (Elbe), Westergellersen, Reinstorf, Lüneburg

Go to the main travel overview: Lüneburg.