A walking holiday in the Harz Mountains

An excellent walk.  Long distances, but if reasonably fit (and no need to be a mountaineer) easily manageable.  We were only victims of a thunderstorm once - although once was enough.  An interesting area, especially from cold war history, with plenty of forest walks and things to see every day.

A really "good" holiday, very stimulating and varied, if more eventful than we are used to with Inntravel, what with 40 degree temperatures, a failed taxi transfer and visibility on the Brocken down to 100 metres on the day we were supposed to climb it. We never made it up the Goethe path to the top on Day 3, but rescheduled ourselves and went up and down by the Schmalspurbahn on Day 5. We were glad to have scheduled four extra days. It allowed us to recover from our experience with the melting catenaries and bending rails that meant we got no further than Hannover the day we travelled out. We were able to do the Schloss Wernigerode walk and the Schloss Wernigerode visit on different days. And we got to see Quedlinburg.Navigation proved harder than on our previous ten Inntravel holidays, due in part to the forested nature of much of the walking. A functioning compass would have been a great boon. Ours played up. We had enough German to be able to follow the still untranslated descriptions in the Grenzmuseum and the largely untranslated material on offer at Schloss Wernigerode. These are definitely highlights and the trip would have been poorer without having some of the language. In Wernigerode our best meal was in the garden of the Creperie at 38 Burgstrasse, listed on the internet as Creperie Lorette, but we believe the name has been recently changed. Mandelholz proved an exceptionally nice place to stay.

We were concerned that the distances each day would be too much for us, but because the paths were in the main excellent & except for the Brocken there was relatively little steep climbing we found it much easier than anticipated. Every day was different and there was always something of interest to see on route which made for enjoyable walking.

It is easy to understand why this holiday has been so enthusiastically reviewed by other travellers. Outside of the weekend, the area had few walkers and a great sense of peace and tranquility. We heard few English voices and the advice by others to brush up your German is good advice, don’t expect too much English outside of the hotel reception (except at Torfhause where we found no English was spoken) and few English menus anywhere.

We added additional days at both Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Wernigerode plus the add on stay at Quedlinburg which we would recommend.

The additional days enabled us to undertake both the recommended walks from C-Z and take a trip to Goslar. Both of the walks were very enjoyable and it would be difficult to recommend one over the other. Walking beside the Grabens was reminiscent of walking the Levadas of Madeira without the drops! If you have time after leaving the church in Hahnenklee plan a detour around the lakes to the east to walk more of the Leibesbankweg (Love Seat Way). The coffee and cakes at Polsterhal are to be recommended as are the cakes at Hahnenklee, so even more reason to do both walks!

Goslar is worth a day visit to take in both the town & the Rammmelsberg mine, where the tours in English are excellent and very informative. Recommend you book on English tours before you depart if your German is not that strong. The web site does not offer discount for multiple tours (which are available) but a refund will be given in cash at the mine. Wear warm clothes and good footwear.

The walk up the Brocken was very busy as was the descent by train as we hit this point on a Saturday. If you can, plan to avoid a weekend.

The area sits along the old east/west boarder, but do not expect to see much preserved evidence of this. Understandably the Germans have removed it. There are some bits near Sorge. On the walk from Wurmberg the Schnarcherklippen rock seems to magically appear in the forest, do take time climb the iron staircase up to the top.

If you’ve had your fill of coniferous forests by the time you get to Wernigerode then welcome relief can be had by following the gentle circular route taking in a visit to the castle en route. Wernigerode is beautiful and if you are an aviation enthusiast it has one of the best air museum in Germany and it is walkable from the hotel. Take your phone as the English audio tour is very well presented and informative. The model village is also worth a visit together with a stroll around the Bürgerpark. 

The area cannot be reviewed without mention of the HSB narrow gauge railway which features both steam & diesel. In Wernigerode there is a well placed raised observation area from which both engine shed and shunting activity can be viewed.

Our restaurant recommendations here would be the Löwenbrau in Kohlmarkt for German fare and for good tapas Bodega on Marktstrasse, after all there is only so much schweinhaxe you can eat!

The additional days in Quedlinburg are well worth it, so many old streets of half timbered houses. We would recommend taking the train to Thale and the cable car up to the Hexentanzplatz and then following an approximately 18km walk to Tresburg and then back along the river to Thale. A good map can be purchased from tourist information for €2.95. Our eating recommendation here would be the fish restaurant Fisch-Kate on Lange Grass. Simply cooked quality fish at a good price.

Overall a good range of walks with no difficult paths, indeed probably about 60% is walked on wide gravel forestry tracks making walking shoes the ideal choice of footwear. One final piece of advice, avoid arriving or departing on a Sunday as German railways are every bit as chaotic and disorganised as those in the UK on that day.

A really enjoyable holiday, with well thought out routes, which included landscape interests and also cultural interest. So much to see and do and The Brocken train ride is an excellent idea. We are not purist walkers and do not see the need to say "walk the whole of the Witches Way" which some companies do. That is why we decided to try Inntravel, for the variety that it seemed to engage in. The Option 2 walk from Zellerfeld epitomised the tour as there was so many surprising places to visit duruing the walk.

Another great adventure with Inntravel; we had the most fantastic time exploring both sides of the Iron Curtain with only google translate as our companion along the way. No amount of photography can capture the magnificence of the blue church in Clausthal-Zellerfeld; it is majestic both inside and out, with its ship like interior and exquisite wooden vestibules on stilts. Although a sobering thought upon our travels, we came across the old iron curtain and watch tower glimmering in the heat of the day which was a fascinating historical reminder of times gone by. Be mindful not to miss a climb to the top of the rock formations by step ladder in the middle of the forest on one of the walks as the views from the top are amazing and allow you to observe the Herz mountains from a birds eye perspective. We are so pleased we did not miss a trip on a local bus to Goslar as the town is delightful, full of incredible prehistoric shaped tiled buildings and roofs. Some of the old 1940s and 50s typography of the shop fronts in Goslar and Wernigerode was wonderful and our camera never stopped clicking, capturing the history and uniqueness of the towns and villages.

As always Inntravel managed to provide us with another cultural insight into a country, by providing authentic places to stay, memorable journeys, and local people to meet, that although they spoke no or little English they went out of their way to try to help. What will our fourth trip with Inntravel bring next time we go? We cannot wait!

The walk around Clausthal-Zellerfeld including the system of “ponds” was very interesting and the “Polstberger Hubhaus” was well worth a visit, very welcoming.

Hotel Gruene Tanne was the best, very welcoming and Hubert imparted a great deal of local information around the time of the DDR.

As always, a good choice of interesting hotels. A good variety of walks.

A great holiday in an undiscovered part of Germany. The extra nignt at Mandelholz was a good choice. We were provided with details for a wonderful walk, which involved finding a very impressive picnic in a locked box in a remote forest. At our final point we were collected by a member of the hotel staff and driven back to Mandelholz.

The climb up the Brocken and the descent by steam train was a highlight, as was the rail car trip from Elend to Sorge. However the impressive part of the day was the Ring of Remembrance and the remains of the East West wall.

Quedlinburg should not be missed. We took a tour of the town in the evening with a guide dressed as a Monk. A very educational as well as amusing experience. 

This was a real two-week adventure rather than a walking holiday. Between us we have done 20 Inntravel holidays and this is up there as one of the best! It was off the tourist route such that we saw no other British people between leaving and returning to Hamburg. We had extra nights in Clausthal, Wernigerode and two nights in Quedlinburg as well as two in Hamburg. We felt that there was interest every day to complement the walking which was enjoyable but not the most spectacular. We pre-booked two tours in English down the silver mines for our first day which meant we understood more the next day's walk around the water system. The bus to Goslar is by the church around the corner from the hotel. Hubert, who we had met at the Cheltenham Fair, gave us much local history en route to our day's walk along the wall. In Wernigerode, we enjoyed the castle and miniature village on one day and walked the Monastry route on the other. Drübeck Abbey being renovated but the cafe excellent. The bus back to Wernigerode is free with the city card. It is impossible to imagine how amazing the number of intact old buildings in Quedlinburg is without visiting. We bought the walking guide from tourist information which took two days to complete with the highlights being climbing the tower of St Benedikti and the museum of Framework Houses.

The walk from Mandelholz to Wernigarode was my favourite as it had a lot more variety than most and some interesting features such as the border posts, rock outcrops and the final walk down the river valley. We were amused by the note about the ‘unexpected’ bus stop. We found the stop and were about to move on when the bus arrived spot on time in the middle of a forest on an unmade road. We almost felt we should board it but resisted and walked on. Some of the other walks were less interesting as they were mainly in dense forest with little to see.

A visit to the castle in Wernigerode is a must.

This was our first experience of a walking holiday and booking with Inntravel. The organisation of the holiday made it so easy and key tips and notes in the Holiday guide on the rail travel and local customers made the experience less stressful. The walking and the hotels chosen added to the travel experience, by providing authentic experiences of local foods, culture and knowledge.

This was our first self-guided walking holiday (or organised walking holiday of any kind) and we would thoroughly recommend it. There was a good range of walks each day and the notes were really useful as the maps are very schematic (we now realise just how good the OS maps are). It was also about the right length of time to be walking each day, knowing that you had a comfortable hotel at the end. A good introduction to the Harz Mountains and a lovely unspoilt part of Germany.

One of the highlights for us was the town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld and the immediate surrounds. The town in particular is beautiful and we could have easily spent another day or two here. Probably the hidden gem of the trip was the town of Wernigerode. Old, beautiful and the artists' studios were great. Would definitely recommend people to the town and surrounding areas.

Highlights: The Ring of Remembrance on day 4 was evocative and understated. The rock formations on day 4 (Schnarcherklippen) were amazing. Steam train whistles echoing around the valley and catching glimpses of them often in the middle of nowhere.

This holiday was a superb mix of beautiful scenery, fascinating history and quiet walking. Highlights - the waterwheel route was fascinating for the grabens, the border museum, the steam trains and the unspoilt walking often going for a couple of hours without seeing other people. Also, nice to go somewhere where enough but not everyone speaks English.

Definitely recommend the cakes at the quirky Grüne Tanne, taking the train back from Wernigerode to Drei Annen Hohnen as it shows another side of the steam train route, take time to explore Wernigerode. Views from the Brocken and some of the tors were superb too.

Walking most of the day beside a Graben through wonderful forest was a joy and put Madeira in the shade. This area (unlike Madeira) has not yet been ruined by popularity. The Polsterberger Hubhaus was another highlight - fresh flowers on the table and lit candles at lunchtime and very good food - what a find!   The steam railways we knew - for we visited the area last year.  But the thrill of the distant sound of a steam engine puffing madly as it winds steeply upwards towards you through the forest takes some beating. Another highlight was the early morning train ride from Elend to Sorge. We were the only passengers and the driver got out of his cab  to say goodbye - this doesn't happen often on the 5.26 from Waterloo!  And then, of course, the open air museum on the old border - and the stones marking landmine deaths.  The cafe at Drei Annen Hohne station is neat and clean and has good loos. We have now used it several times - for coffees lunches and teas and their apple cake is very good indeed.

My wife and I have been taking this kind of walking holiday for over 20 years. I would put this one amongst the very best we have experienced.

We would recommend spending the day in Wernigerode by visiting the miniature model village in the morning and castle in the afternoon and just wandering around the pretty streets instead of undertaking the walk options.

Another wonderful holiday. I just love enjoying the walk, going back to what is really important, listening to nature and having a really good chat. This is a wonderful part of the world and felt unspoilt. The steam train down from the Brocken was one of my many highlights!

Highpoints for us were : the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen, the walks (especially the walks around the Teiche and Graben - very interesting), and the beautifully quirky Hotel Theophano.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined The Harz Mountains with a stay at Hotel Theophano in Quedlinburg.

A highlight was being confronted by a wild boar, fortunately he decided to back off and cross the river!

Particularly enjoyed the walks to the Brocken and Mandelholz day walks. Good variety and enjoyable using the trains and gondola.

The towns are all very interesting and picturesque, Quedlinburg in particular. Using local free buses we had a lovely walk along the Bode river from Treseburg to Thale and got the gondola to the Hexentanzplatz (great views but very commercialised).

Beautiful area. Happy to recommend it.