Harz Mountains in Germany

Most of my first-hand experience dates from before unification, when the Harz was half in the west and half in the east. Now, of course, everything is readily accessible. We used Goslar as our base location - nice old town, lots of restaurant, intact city center. Interesting museums - including the Kaiserpfalz, palace of the Holy Roman emperors. Also a mining museum and a great local brewery. The highest summit of the Harz is called The Brocken - that's where the witch's dance on April 30th - Walpurgis Night - so lot's of local witch souvenirs. There is a narrow gauge steam train that goes to the summit - very popular on summer weekends. A very popular holiday area, with many interesting small towns and villages. A popular tourist location for Germans. (FYI - it snowed on the Brocken a few nights ago, spring has retreated in Germany this year.)

I visited last summer. If you search the archives under the "Trip report" section, you can find a summary I wrote. I based myself out of Quedlinburg, which is probably has the largest preserved historical core of any town I've seen in Germany. Goslar and Wernigerode would also make good bases. I got the impression that the hike up to the summit of Brocken might be one of the most popular in Germany. There were probably well over a thousand people on the mountain the day my dog and I made the ascent (despite the height of the mountain, it's a pretty easy hike). Nearby Burg Falkenstein also looks like a very interesting medieval castle (very well preserved), but the weather didn't cooperate on the day I planned to visit.

Hi, It was over a decade ago when I visited the Spreewald. That was in 1999, only visited Lübben and Lübbenau (a long day trip), very interesting and historical towns, esp. if you're interested in Prussian history in 1813. But the big town im Spreewald: I didn't make as far as Cottbus. As regards to visiting one area over the other, ie, the Harz vs Spreewald, I can't offer any advice on that since I haven't been to the Harz area. If you want to see more flat land in Brandenburg, then look into the Spreewald.

Hello, Barb, I visited Goslar last July and fell in love with it. It has much of the charm of Rothenburg ab Tauber without the overwhelming crowds; I don't think I heard an American voice the 3 days I was there. It is a German holiday destination but not featured in American guide books. I was a guest of a company I was visiting and stayed in their historic guest house built into the old city walls, but the Hotel der Achtermann is historic, looks interesting and is next to the rail station - it is a short walk to the old city square from there. I dined exclusively at small restaurants in the city square; some feature local game such as wild boar. You could spend 1-2 days in Goslar and then explore the Harz.

Guten Morgen Kurt und Tom, thank you very much for your fast reply. Could you possible tell us also about the quality of some of the places you may have stayed at ? Which was your favorite and in which little hamlet was it ? We don't care for fancy hotels (they are everywhere! ) but are interested in the local, gemuetlichen Pensions; any suggestions ? Since you both are familiar with Germany I have another query . Have you ever been to the "Spreewald " and what are your impressions :-) Nice to chat with you and Thanks again.
Have a lovely day, Barb and Otto

Do you mean specifically where I stayed in the Hartz? As mentioned above, I stayed in Quedlingburg. Although this is not a large city, neither is it a "hamlet". I lodged in this Schlosshotel. It may look like an ultra-exclusive boutique hotel, but it was surprisingly cheap... as is much of the former East Germany compared to the West. I have only driven through parts of the Spreewald. My understanding is that it's only real distinguishing feature apart from any forest in Germany are the canals. From the road, it looked mostly like a flat, relatively featureless forest.

For tourists from Northern America the nature of the Spreewald will certainly be more interesting than the Harz mountains. Scenically the Harz mountains aren't that spectacular, they are just very popular among Germans because they are the northernmost mountains in a otherwise flat region and because of the fables, legends and traditions, which in part date back to pre-Christian times. The Harz mountains are great because of the many preserved towns with literally thousands of half-timbered houses. Not ony Goslar, Quedlinburg and Wernigerode, also Stolberg, Wolfenbüttel, Celle, Einbeck, Duderstadt or Mühlhausen deserve a visit. The area was moreover the heart of Germany in the Early Middle Ages, and some buildings of that time are preserved, like the Romanesque churches of Quedlinburg, Gernrode or Hildesheim. The Spreewald is a quiet, romantic place which should get explored by boat. You can rent a canoe almost everywhere and explore the channels on your own. Here is a gallery which gives you a good idea what the Spreewald looks like:
http://www.fotocommunity.com/travel/spreewald/3061

We stayed for 3 weeks in the Harz last summer. We were based in Quedlinburg as part of a home exchange so we didn't use any hotels in the Harz. We visited many of the small and medium sized towns of this region and loved the architecture and scenery. Our favorite medium sized towns, which had enough tourist infrastructure (hotels, restaurants and things to do) were Quedlinburg, Wernigerode, and Goslar. There is a lot of history in this former East Germany region and a wonderful amount of natural beauty. You can easily visit Dresden, Leipzig, Erfurt, etc from this region too. We enjoyed local fairs, trains, hiking, unique trout restaurants (abbeys and mills), glass factory visits, inexpensive food, etc. We liked this region so much last year that we tried to get an exchange with a family in Dresden for this summer but it fell through...I don't have any opinion yet about the Spreewald. It is on our bucket list of things we still want to see in Germany. Also, I highly recommend the trip report that Tom posted last year after his Harz Mountain visit in Trip Reports.

I bumped the trip report back up to the top of the list to make it easier to find, if anyone is interested.

The Harz is an "island" of pine mountains sticking up from the otherwise flat plains of northern Germany. The towns like Quedlinburg, Goslar, and Wernigerode are not actually in the Harz, but on the flat land north of the mountains. In 2008, I stayed in Braunlage, which is physically in the mountains. I stayed here. (Hint: If you want to stay here, book directly from the website. They have great package deals not available on booking websites.) One day I took the narrow gauge steam train from Schierke up the Brocken. There is a great scenic view from the top of the Brocken. The rest of the park isn't particularly scenic, just lovely forested hills. On one day I took the bus and train down to the town of Wernigerode, with its Fachwerk buildings and castle.

Hello fellow Travelers. We have read all of your comments which gave us an excellent insight into our planned stay in the Harz Region. Unfortunately I do not know how to find the report that TOM had posted and bumped to the front of that site. Could you please help with that ? To all of you thanks for your participation Stay and travel well.
Barb and Otto

Barb, to see Tom's report, click on Traveler's Helpline, then click on Trip Reports.