Discover the Harz: Brocken, hiking trails and World Heritage
Accommodation in Harz
The Harz combines striking mountain scenery with hiking trails, train journeys and remarkable cultural heritage. Its highest peak, the Brocken, reaches 1,141 metres and lies in the core zone of Harz National Park. The national park covers 24,732 hectares – around ten percent of the entire Harz region. A trip here brings nature experiences together with places steeped in cultural history.
Mountain scenery, trails and nature experiences
Those wishing to explore the Harz landscape on foot will find 560 kilometres of signposted trails in the national park, leading to particularly scenic viewpoints. The Harzer-Hexen-Stieg trail also runs through the national park and the Brocken bog. Along its twelve experience islands, special viewpoints mark the way, stories are told and spots invite you to take a short break. A multimedia guide complements the trail with audio dramas and films at 28 stations.
The Harzer Wandernadel offers another way to plan hikes across the Harz. It links 222 stamping stations throughout the region. Anyone who collects all 222 stamps earns the title “Harzer Hiking Emperor”. Collecting them thus becomes a recurring goal for outings to different places in the region. When planning your holiday, you can decide whether you prefer individual hikes or would like to use the stamping stations as a longer-term incentive.
Mountain biking is another possible activity: the Volksbank Arena Harz has 74 routes with a total length of 2,300 kilometres. If you choose a holiday apartment in the Harz, you can take your preferred focus – hiking, cycling or a mix of different experiences – into account when choosing where to stay.
Train journeys and visitor attractions
The Brocken can also be reached by the Brocken Railway. For a different way to experience stretches of nature, the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways offer rail-and-hike excursions through the Selke Valley and the southern Harz. This means that, alongside hikes on foot, train trips are also an option in the Harz. The national park also has eight visitor centres and national park information centres. There you can find information about the park, hiking tips, exhibitions and film screenings. Guided hikes and excursions are offered with rangers, experts, national park guides and national park forest guides.
The Harz is part of the UNESCO Global Geopark Harz–Braunschweiger Land–Ostfalen. Its visitor infrastructure includes geopark information points, adventure trails, show mines, erratic boulder gardens and museums. These varied attractions give your trip several possible focuses: for example, you can explore trails and landscapes, visit exhibitions, or learn about mining and geological history.
Water management, half-timbered houses and special experiences
The Upper Harz Water Management System has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since August 2010. It comprises 107 surviving ponds, 310 kilometres of water ditches and 30 kilometres of underground waterways. These figures make this cultural heritage an impressive subject for anyone wishing to discover not only nature but also the human history that has shaped the Harz.
Quedlinburg is renowned for its half-timbered houses: the town has more than 2,000 houses dating from eight centuries and is one of Germany’s largest area monuments. In contrast to such historical attractions, Harzdrenalin at the Rappbode Dam offers wall running, Ultrashot, the Megazipline, the “Titan RT” suspension bridge, GigaSwing and a 5D cinema. The “Titan RT” spans the Bode Valley and is 458.5 metres long. Culture, hikes and action-packed attractions offer different ways to shape your trip – choose the focus that appeals to you most.
Choose the right place for your Harz holiday
When looking for a holiday apartment in the Harz, you can start by considering which experiences you want your holiday days to revolve around. Hiking, mountain biking, train trips, national park visits, World Heritage sites and half-timbered architecture all offer different starting points for planning. Your choice of base can therefore depend on the places and activities you want to prioritise.
For your further search in the Harz, you can view these places individually: Harzgerode, Ilsenburg, Tanne, Thale, Wernigerode, Quedlinburg, Ballenstedt, Halberstadt, Blankenburg am Harz, Hedersleben, Huy, Falkenstein/Harz, Oberharz am Brocken, Osterwieck, Nordharz, Selke-Aue, Ditfurt, Groß Quenstedt, Harsleben, Schwanebeck, Wegeleben and Güntersberge.
For the broader travel overview: Saxony-Anhalt.
