YorkshireBear
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Just looking for any helpful advice from anyone who has ever been there especially in terms of ticketing which i am currently trying to work out!
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Harz Mountain Railway
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gordonthemoron
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You just buy the ticket from the ticket office, except at unmanned stations where you but the ticket on the train. Wernigerode is lovely and Nordhausen is interesting. Not stayed anywhere else. It can be very chilly at the top of the Brocken, I first went at Easter and the snow was two metres deep
gordonthemoron
Established Member
the cafe at the Brocken is expensive and can get rammed
DaiGog
Member
There is a 4-day rover ticket for around 86 Euros which covers the whole network, and a cheaper version without the Brocken line on it - but there's little point missing out on the ride up the hill! Once you've done two returns to the summit of the Brocken, it's paid for itself, so is good value for money. They can be purchased at the ticket office at Wernigerode, which opens about 20 minutes before the first train departs.
Agree with Gordon on both of his points above. The weather conditions at the top, which can be much colder/wetter/windier/mistier and vastly different to Wernigerode at any time of year, so be prepared. The booking office at Wernigerode has a webcam, as does their website, so you can get an idea of what it's doing up there before you leave town.
There is limited catering available at Drei Annen Hohne, and cafés at Brocken and Schierke. There is a café of some sort at Eisfelder Tahlmühle but it has limited opening hours / days. The station buffet at Wernigerode is very good, and is open from 8am for breakfast.
There are footpaths down from the Brocken, some of which run alongside the track, so if walking / photography interests you then this is a possibility too.
The Selketalbahn side is worth a look as well, although there is only one steam diagram each day. The morning one starts in Gernrode, goes up to Quedlinburg and back down to Eisfelder Tahlmühle via the two short branches, so is the only way to get all the lines on that side in for steam haulage. It takes a good while too! The return working doesn't do one of the branches. There is a connection direct (or with one change) from Quedlinburg to Wernigerode on the national network, operated by Harz-Elbe Express (HEx), roughly hourly.
Agree with Gordon on both of his points above. The weather conditions at the top, which can be much colder/wetter/windier/mistier and vastly different to Wernigerode at any time of year, so be prepared. The booking office at Wernigerode has a webcam, as does their website, so you can get an idea of what it's doing up there before you leave town.
There is limited catering available at Drei Annen Hohne, and cafés at Brocken and Schierke. There is a café of some sort at Eisfelder Tahlmühle but it has limited opening hours / days. The station buffet at Wernigerode is very good, and is open from 8am for breakfast.
There are footpaths down from the Brocken, some of which run alongside the track, so if walking / photography interests you then this is a possibility too.
The Selketalbahn side is worth a look as well, although there is only one steam diagram each day. The morning one starts in Gernrode, goes up to Quedlinburg and back down to Eisfelder Tahlmühle via the two short branches, so is the only way to get all the lines on that side in for steam haulage. It takes a good while too! The return working doesn't do one of the branches. There is a connection direct (or with one change) from Quedlinburg to Wernigerode on the national network, operated by Harz-Elbe Express (HEx), roughly hourly.
gordonthemoron
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Be warned, HEx timekeeping is attrocious
blackfive460
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There are 3 and 5 day tickets at 86€ and 129€ respectively which sound expensive but are actually good value compared with the return fare to the Brocken.
There are other Angebotstickets (special offer) on the web site but be aware that some can only be used up to a certain value, The previously excellent value HarzTourCard which excludes Schierke to the Brocken but includes buses an HEX trains can now only be used on HSB up to a value of 26€; it used to give 3 days unlimited travel for the same price as a Nordhausen to Wernigerode single.
The Selketalbahn is worth visiting but less interesting since the second steam diagram that ran Thursday to Saturday, usually Mallet hauled, ceased earlier this year.
The Selketalbahn (and the Harzquerbahn south of Drei Annen Höhne) is the route to take for uncrowded trains. Be aware that the morning trains ex Wernigerode can be busy!
As blackfive460 says, the old HarzTourCard is much less useful than it was.
However, if you are staying in the area (certainly in the ex DDR part), your tourist tax entitles you to free bus travel. There is a good Quedlinburg-Wernigerode bus which allows you to do a circular HSB trip by steam including Brocken (as my wife and I did a few months ago) - a return to Brocken allows you to return to a different terminus.
As blackfive460 says, the old HarzTourCard is much less useful than it was.
However, if you are staying in the area (certainly in the ex DDR part), your tourist tax entitles you to free bus travel. There is a good Quedlinburg-Wernigerode bus which allows you to do a circular HSB trip by steam including Brocken (as my wife and I did a few months ago) - a return to Brocken allows you to return to a different terminus.
DelW
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A group of us did the whole system a couple of years ago.
On day one we travelled from Hanover to Wernigerode, where we had plenty of time to look around the station and shop and buy tickets before catching a late morning steam service to the Brocken. We had about an hour at the top, then came back down to Drei Annen Hohne, and changed onto a train for Nordhausen, where we stayed the night.
On day two we did the line up to Quedlinburg and its branches, with time for a longish lunch stop at Quedlinburg before returning to Nordhausen.
The Wernigerode ticket office staff were very helpful in explaining the ticket options, IIRC we ended up with rover tickets at about EU50ish. The Brocken steam services were fairly fully loaded, but we found seats together. We used a mixture of steam and diesel railcar services on day two, which were mostly quiet (on a Sunday in autumn).
Quedlinburg is an attractive historic town, with lots of bars and cafes, whereas Nordhausen is more industrial than tourist orientated, although the hotel we stayed in there was good value. We didn't visit Wernigerode except for the station. The views from the Brocken were extensive, and there were a variety of eating options there, including take-aways which weren't unduly pricey. The rest of the lines go through pleasant rather than spectacular scenery.
At Nordhausen there's an unusual arrangement, where the local trams provide additional services over a stretch of the HSB line. Since that isn't electrified, a subfleet of the trams are fitted with an on-board diesel engine and generator to power the traction motors.
Overall it's an interesting and varied railway, well worth visiting.
On day one we travelled from Hanover to Wernigerode, where we had plenty of time to look around the station and shop and buy tickets before catching a late morning steam service to the Brocken. We had about an hour at the top, then came back down to Drei Annen Hohne, and changed onto a train for Nordhausen, where we stayed the night.
On day two we did the line up to Quedlinburg and its branches, with time for a longish lunch stop at Quedlinburg before returning to Nordhausen.
The Wernigerode ticket office staff were very helpful in explaining the ticket options, IIRC we ended up with rover tickets at about EU50ish. The Brocken steam services were fairly fully loaded, but we found seats together. We used a mixture of steam and diesel railcar services on day two, which were mostly quiet (on a Sunday in autumn).
Quedlinburg is an attractive historic town, with lots of bars and cafes, whereas Nordhausen is more industrial than tourist orientated, although the hotel we stayed in there was good value. We didn't visit Wernigerode except for the station. The views from the Brocken were extensive, and there were a variety of eating options there, including take-aways which weren't unduly pricey. The rest of the lines go through pleasant rather than spectacular scenery.
At Nordhausen there's an unusual arrangement, where the local trams provide additional services over a stretch of the HSB line. Since that isn't electrified, a subfleet of the trams are fitted with an on-board diesel engine and generator to power the traction motors.
Overall it's an interesting and varied railway, well worth visiting.
gordonthemoron
Established Member
If you're staying in Nordhausen, you can also visit KZ Mittelbau-Dora Memorial (tours Tuesday-Sunday + holidays) which has the remains of the V2 rocket factory, very impressive
Spamcan81
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If staying in Wernigerode, your hotel will give you a Hatix ticket. Lots of local free travel opportunities with it. http://www.hatix.info/en/
duesselmartin
Established Member
Hopefully the 800 runs smoother than those noisy erratic tram engines 
Hopefully the 800 runs smoother than those noisy erratic tram engines
Not sure that BMW would like their fancy diesel V8s described as noisy and erratic!
YorkshireBear
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Thanks everyone for the replies.
Unfortunately prices have increased somewhat.
One other option IIRC from a visit in April - a Brocken trip entitles you to a second trip on the rest of the system at half price.
Polarbear
Established Member
I had a 3 day pass for the Harz network earlier this year, and it was €85 or thereabouts. It's good value though given that's around the same cost of 2 return trips from Wernegerode to Brocken.
STEVIEBOY1
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I have been there in Summer, Autumn and Winter, all three times were great, have done all bits of the lines and some of the other mountains too. There was an interesting museum at the top of Broken too.
In Wernigerode the is a great restaurant underneath the wonderful town hall/Rathaus. I think there are some Brauhaus there too.
In Wernigerode the is a great restaurant underneath the wonderful town hall/Rathaus. I think there are some Brauhaus there too.
What is the validity of HarzTourCard now ?
Is it unlimited on HEX services in the area and effectively one single journey on the HSB (ie Wernigerode-Quedlinburg) ?
blackfive460
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The HarzTourCard is still unlimited on HEX.
See https://www.wernigerode-tourismus.de/planen/gaestekarten/harztourcard/ (in German) for validity.
See https://www.wernigerode-tourismus.de/planen/gaestekarten/harztourcard/ (in German) for validity.
317666
Established Member
I went for the first time last month and can wholeheartedly recommend it! As well as the Brocken I also did bits of the Selketalbahn and Harzquerbahn, on a mix of steam or railbus. Despite the amount of steam-hauled trains it very much feels like a proper working railway rather than a tourist attraction.
gordonthemoron
Established Member
How many similar steam routes are there in Germany? I've been on Racing Roland in Rugen and I know of one between Dresden and Leipzig
JonathanP
Member
Taking 'similar' to mean narrow gauge railways operating a year round steam hauled service as part of the public transport system:
There are three in the in the are area of Dresden/Chemnitz operated by the same company - the Fichtelbergbahn, Weißernitzalbahnn, and the Loßnitzgrundbahn, the latter is very close to Dresden and fairly flat, the others a bit further away and more mountainous. There are also 2 in the Baltic Coast resort areas, on Rügen as mentioned and at Kühlungsborn.
Finally there is the Zittauer bahn east of Dresden in the far east corner of Germany which has two different routes in a 'Y' formation.
There are of course others which operate at weekends using volunteer labour(the Pressnitzalbahn, yet again in the Erzgeberg aream comes to mind particularly), but off the top of my head I can't think of any others with a daily service. There's the Döllnitzbahn between Dresden and Leipzig, but that only has steam on special occasions,
There are three in the in the are area of Dresden/Chemnitz operated by the same company - the Fichtelbergbahn, Weißernitzalbahnn, and the Loßnitzgrundbahn, the latter is very close to Dresden and fairly flat, the others a bit further away and more mountainous. There are also 2 in the Baltic Coast resort areas, on Rügen as mentioned and at Kühlungsborn.
Finally there is the Zittauer bahn east of Dresden in the far east corner of Germany which has two different routes in a 'Y' formation.
There are of course others which operate at weekends using volunteer labour(the Pressnitzalbahn, yet again in the Erzgeberg aream comes to mind particularly), but off the top of my head I can't think of any others with a daily service. There's the Döllnitzbahn between Dresden and Leipzig, but that only has steam on special occasions,
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Yes, or however you prefer to spend the EUR26.
blackfive460
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gordonthemoron
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Hasserode beer is quite nice
DaiGog
Member
There is a Brauhaus in Wernigerode and one in Quedlinburg as well. The beer brewed on the premises in both is very good.
I'm fairly sure the 'Brauhaus' in Wernigerode doesn't brew on the premises and has its beer brewed by Hasseröder, but it's a decent enough place. The one in Quedlinburg is excellent and well worth seeking out. Slightly further afield but worth the trip is the Brauhaus in Goslar where Gose is offered.
gordonthemoron
Established Member
Gose is very good
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