Western Harz

Northwest of Braunlage is a dam over the Oder that comes to Altenau, one of the seven old mining towns in the Harz. In the Markt is a 17th C. wooden church with an altar of 1719.

Bad Grund is the oldest of the seven mining towns of the Oberharz. It has also been frequented for over a century as a spa. The road from Clausthal-Zellerfeld passes the spa installations. The Markt is surrounded by attractive 17th century half-timbered houses; parish church of 1640.

From here the route continues to the junction with the road from Bad Gandersheim, which is followed to Osterode.

Near the beautiful Rádau Falls is Bad Harburg, on the northern fringes of the Harz. The spa installations are in Herzog-Wilhelm-Strasse, which runs through the whole length of the town. Farther south is the beautiful Kurpark.

Above the town rises the Grosser Burgberg (483 m/1,585ft; cableway), from the top of which there are magnificent views.

At the point where the Oder leaves the artificial lake created by the Oder Dam and enters the Harz foreland is Bad Lauterberg, originally a copper-mining town founded in the 15th C. and now a popular spa (Kneipp cure). In the northern part of this long straggling town is the Kurpark (Wissmann Park).

A few kilometers southeast of Bad Lauterberg is Bad Sachsa, a summer resort and winter sports center. Four km/2.5mi north is the Ravensberg, from which there are extensive views.

From the Oderhaus forester's house near St Andreasberg the main road goes on to Braunlage, in the high valley of the Warme Bode. On the south side of the town lies the attractive Kurgarten, and near this is the Heimatmuseum.

To the north of the town is the Wurmberg (971 m/3,186ft; cableway; outlook tower).

The Harz-Hochstrasse (B 242) traverses the western Harz between Bad Grund and Braunlage.

Herzberg, in the Harz, is a little town with attractive half-timbered buildings. Above the town stands the Schloss (1510), birthplace in 1629 of Ernest Augustus, first Elector of Hannover and ancestor of the Hanoverian kings of Britain.

The medieval town of Osterode lies at the point where the river Söse emerges from the Harz. A little to the west the river is dammed to form a reservoir. On the Kornmarkt, the town's main square, is the Englischer Hof, a Renaissance building of 1610. To the east of this is the parish church of St Ägidii (St Giles; rebuilt 1545). Behind the church is the Town Hall (1552), and near this is the richly decorated Ratswaage (Municipal Weigh-House; 1553). The historic old Ritterhaus houses the Heimatmuseum.

From Bad Lauterberg there is a road that turns northeast, following the Oder and running past the Oder Dam. Turning left at the Oderhaus forester's house, the visitor will see St Andreasberg, one of the seven mining towns of the Oberharz. In the upper town is the parish church (1798). To the north of the town extends the beautiful Kurpark, on the west side of which is the Samson silver mine (843 m/2,766ft deep; conducted visits).

6km/4mi west of Clausthal-Zellerfeld in the Harz a road branches off on the right to the holiday resort of Wildemann. Ten km/6mi farther north is the Innerste-Stausee (reservoir).