Western Erzgebirge

The western Erzgebirge offers a wide range of features of interest, recreation areas and holiday centers. Among them are the Augustusburg, a 16th C. hunting lodge of the Electors of Saxony situated on the edge of the Zschopau valley, within easy reach of Chemnitz; the Sachsenring motor-racing circuit (8.7km/5.5mi long) at Hohenstein-Ernstthal; Schneeberg; the outlook tower on the forest-covered Auersberg; the well planned little town of Annaberg, with its monumental Late Gothic church of St Anne and the Frohnauer, an old ironworks; and the health resort of Seiffen, center of the Saxon toy-making industry, with the Erzgebirge Toy Museum.

Artificial lakes

Among popular recreation areas, particularly in summer, are the numerous artificial lakes (reservoirs) formed by the building of dams (e.g. on the Flöhe, the Rauschenbach and the Sosa).