Goslar and the Harz

Goslar sits about 100 km south of Hannover at the northern edge of the Harz mountains, reached in roughly 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes by regional express with a change at Hildesheim or Salzgitter. The medieval old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, grew wealthy on silver and copper mined nearby, and its Marktplatz remains the natural starting point, framed by the Rathaus with its gilded Huldigungssaal and the Gloriette fountain topped by an eagle weathervane. A morning walk through the old town takes in the Kaiserpfalz, the largest secular building to survive from the Romanesque period in Germany and once a seat of Holy Roman Emperors, along with the surrounding lanes of slate-roofed half-timbered houses. The Rammelsberg mine, itself a separate UNESCO site about 1.5 km from the Marktplatz, offers underground tours through more than a thousand years of continuous mining and suits the afternoon; the walking tour of the mine tunnels involves stairs and uneven underground surfaces, so comfortable shoes and a light layer for the constant underground temperature are worth bringing. Visitors with more time and good weather can instead spend the afternoon on one of the marked hiking trails into the Harz foothills starting from the edge of town, though this extends the day considerably given the return train schedule. Lunch is easiest found around the Marktplatz, where restaurants serve Harz regional dishes such as Harzer Käse and venison in season. Given the travel time from Hannover, an early morning departure is worth planning to leave enough daylight for both the old town and the mine tour. May through October is the strongest season for the Rammelsberg tours and any Harz hiking, while December draws visitors for the old town's Christmas market against the historic Marktplatz backdrop.