Huy: Huysburg and Monastery History

Huy invites you to discover Huysburg and its monastic history. At the same time, the Harz as a travel destination offers other topics to explore when planning your holiday—from hiking trails to technical monuments. When choosing a holiday apartment, it helps to first consider whether Huysburg should be your main focus or whether you plan to visit several places in the Harz.

Huysburg: Church, Monastery and History

Tours led by a monk or a tour guide offer insights mainly into the church and parts of the monastery buildings. The monastery’s more recent history includes the re-establishment of a monastic community: in 1972, it was established at Huysburg with support from a Polish Benedictine abbey. This made the monastery the only Benedictine monastery in the GDR. The Romanesque Road also leads here: Huysburg Monastery is one of its stops. A visit to the church, the monastery’s history and Romanesque architecture together provide a tangible cultural focus for a trip to Huy.

The Wider Harz Travel Destination

The UNESCO Harz–Brunswick Land–Eastphalia Geopark includes the Harz as part of the wider travel destination. Its visitor facilities include geopark information centres, adventure trails, show mines, erratic boulder gardens and museums. The Harz National Park has eight visitor centres and national park houses. They provide information about the park, hiking tips, exhibitions and film screenings. Guided hikes and excursions are also offered by the national park, accompanied by rangers, experts, national park guides and national park forest guides. If you would like to join a guided tour, check the latest dates in advance.

The Harz National Park covers 24,732 hectares, around ten percent of the entire Harz region. At 1,141 metres, the Brocken is the highest peak in the Harz; it lies in the national park’s core zone. The Brocken Railway is one way to reach the Brocken by train. The national park has 560 kilometres of signposted trails for hiking, leading to particularly scenic viewpoints.

Hiking with Different Areas of Focus

The Harzer-Hexen-Stieg trail runs through the Harz National Park and the Brocken Moor. Its twelve experience islands point out special viewpoints, tell stories or invite visitors to take a short break. A multimedia guide to the Harzer-Hexen-Stieg features 28 stations with audio plays or films. The Harz Hiking Pin programme is different: it connects 222 stamping points across the Harz. Those who collect all 222 stamps earn the title “Harz Hiking Emperor”. A signposted trail network, a route with experience islands and a stamp-based hiking goal therefore offer different ways to explore. There is also an extensive network for mountain biking: Volksbank Arena Harz offers 74 routes covering a total of 2,300 kilometres.

Cultural Landscapes and Remarkable Buildings

The Upper Harz Water Management System today comprises 107 preserved ponds, 310 kilometres of water channels and 30 kilometres of underground waterways. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since August 2010. Quedlinburg offers a different cultural highlight, with more than 2,000 half-timbered houses dating from across eight centuries; the town is one of Germany’s largest ensembles of listed buildings. These themes add further facets of the Harz to Huysburg’s monastic history, while keeping the local focus on Huy in view.

Choose the Right Location for Your Trip

Tailor your holiday apartment search to the places you want your trip to focus on. If Huysburg is your main destination, Huy is a suitable base for your search. This allows you to consciously include both local cultural interests and the Harz’s wider nature and hiking themes in your holiday plans.

Discover more destinations: Dingelstedt am Huy, Badersleben, Harsleben, Schwanebeck, Ilsenburg, Nordharz, Oberharz am Brocken, Thale.

Go to the main travel overview: Harz.