Harz National Park

Harz National Park in central Germany, between Wernigerode, Bad Harzburg and the Brocken summit, is one of the country's largest forest national parks and the best place to experience real mountain wilderness in the north. Steam trains puff up to a fog-wrapped peak, lynx have returned to the woods, and former Cold War border land is now protected nature. If you are looking for things to do in the Harz Mountains, this is where to start.

Where it is and why it matters

The park covers about 95 square miles (247 km²) across two federal states, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, and takes in roughly a tenth of the Harz range. Around 97 percent of it is forest, broken up by raised bogs, granite crags and mountain streams.

Its history is unusually German. The Brocken, at 3,743 feet (1,141 m) the highest peak in northern Germany, sat right on the inner German border and became a closed military zone in 1961. East German intelligence ran a listening station on the summit. Because logging and tourism stopped for decades, an old-growth mountain forest survived. East Germany declared the Hochharz National Park on October 1, 1990, just days before reunification; Lower Saxony created its own park in 1994, and the two merged on January 1, 2006.

Highlights

• The Brocken summit: treeless, windswept and often foggy, with about 1.75 million visitors a year. On misty days, look for the "Brocken spectre," your shadow magnified onto the clouds.
• Brockenhaus visitor center: the former Stasi listening post now holds three floors of exhibits on legends, the divided Germany, weather and wildlife, plus a dome with Cold War surveillance gear and a 360-degree viewing deck. A multimedia guide is available in English.
• Wilderness in transition: large areas of dead spruce show how the park lets nature take its course. The TorfHaus visitor center explains why, with a bilingual German-English exhibition.
• Lynx: 24 animals were released between 2000 and 2007, and wild-born kittens now roam the park. The viewing enclosure at Rabenklippe near Bad Harzburg is your best chance to see one.
• Ilse Valley: cascading waterfalls near Ilsenburg, a favorite hike on the northern edge.

Tickets and opening hours

Entry to the national park is free and it is open year-round. Visitor centers (as of October 2026):

• Brockenhaus: daily 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last entry 4:30 p.m.), closed December 24. Adults €8, children 6 to 16 €4, families €17.
• TorfHaus visitor center: April to October daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; November to March Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free.
• HohneHof nature center near Drei Annen Hohne: daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free.

How to get there

Wernigerode is roughly a 1.5-hour drive from Hanover and about 2.5 to 3 hours from Berlin, which makes the park a realistic day trip, though an overnight stay is more relaxed.

• By train: Deutsche Bahn regional trains serve Wernigerode, Bad Harzburg, Goslar and Ilsenburg. From Wernigerode, the narrow-gauge Brocken Railway steams up to the summit in about 1 hour 40 minutes. The Deutschlandticket is valid on most of the narrow-gauge network but not on the final stretch from Drei Annen Hohne to the Brocken, so you need a separate ticket for that section.
• By car: the summit road is closed to private traffic. Park at Torfhaus, Schierke or Drei Annen Hohne and hike or take the train.
• On foot: the Goethe Trail from Torfhaus, named for the poet who climbed the Brocken in 1777, is the classic route to the top.

Tips for your visit

Dogs are welcome but must stay on a leash everywhere in the park, and visitors must keep to the roughly 370 miles (600 km) of marked trails. The Brockenhaus and TorfHaus are wheelchair accessible, and the Brocken Railway makes the summit reachable without a long hike. Bring layers even in summer: the summit is often windy, wet and much colder than the valleys. Fall colors and snowy winter scenery are spectacular, and weekdays are far quieter.

Is it worth visiting? If you want the contrast of fairytale half-timbered towns and genuinely wild mountain landscape in a single trip, absolutely.

Nearby

• Wernigerode: half-timbered old town and hilltop castle.
• Goslar: UNESCO-listed old town and Rammelsberg mine.
• Torfhaus: the Harzturm observation tower and a raised bog trail.
• Schierke: mountain village at the foot of the Brocken.