Mountain stream flows through autumnal forest with rocks

Theme booklets

In addition to our regular hiking pass, we have dedicated ourselves to other exciting topics typical of the Harz Mountains, for which we have developed special accompanying booklets.

Hiking pin
“HARZER-HEXEN-STIEG”

Long-distance hiking with the Harz hiking pin

On around 100 kilo­me­ters, from Osterode to Thale, through the Harz Nation­al Park and over the Brock­en, along the Ober­harz­er Wasser­re­gal and the Köh­lerp­fad, through Harz min­ing regions and the mys­ti­cal Bode­tal, you can expe­ri­ence the diver­si­ty of the Harz on a sin­gle hik­ing trail — the mul­ti-award-win­ning Harz­er-Hex­en-Stieg long-dis­tance hik­ing trail.

You col­lect the stamps in the accom­pa­ny­ing book­let HARZER-HEXEN-STIEG, which pro­vides you with exten­sive back­ground infor­ma­tion on each stamp loca­tion. For the badge you need any 9 stamps along the Harz Witch­es’ Trail and addi­tion­al­ly in any case the HWN 69 and 140 in the hik­ing pass and in the accom­pa­ny­ing book­let. The acqui­si­tion of the badge is not time-bound. 

Get more infor­ma­tion about the Harz­er Hex­en­stieg.

Brochure Harzer-Hexen-Stieg in the Harz Forest
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Hiking pin
“Harzer Steiger”

On the trail of mining in the Harz

The face of the Harz today has been shaped for cen­turies by min­ing and the asso­ci­at­ed trades such as forestry and met­al­lur­gy. Min­ing has been prac­ticed for thou­sands of years since the Bronze Age and almost every place in the Harz has its ori­gins in mining. 

On your hikes for the Harz­er Steiger, you will learn about the impor­tance and func­tion­ing of the Upper Harz Water Regal at var­i­ous sta­tions. You will learn inter­est­ing facts about the var­i­ous min­ing regions of the Harz, vis­it tech­ni­cal mon­u­ments, the unique Ram­mels­berg World Her­itage Site and his­toric min­ing trails. 

For the HARZER STEIGER badge you must 111 dif­fer­ent stamps of which 23 are com­pul­so­ry min­ing stamps. These com­pul­so­ry min­ing stamps are marked with the min­ing sym­bol “Schlägel und Eisen” in the list of stamps. These com­pul­so­ry stamps must be doc­u­ment­ed in the hik­ing pass and in the accom­pa­ny­ing booklet. 

Harzer Steiger hiking booklet and badge
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Hiking pin
“Harzer Grenzweg”

Experience contemporary history and nature

Most of the Harz Bor­der Trail runs direct­ly along secret bor­der paths or the for­mer “Kolon­nen­weg” along the for­mer inner-Ger­man border. 

From the bor­der tow­er in Rho­den to the Bor­der­land Muse­um in Tet­ten­born, it stretch­es almost 100 km along the Green Belt on a north-south route. 

On your hikes to the 20 stamp­ing points + 3 spe­cial stamp­ing points of the “Harz Bor­der Trail” theme pin, you will expe­ri­ence Ger­man con­tem­po­rary his­to­ry and unique biotopes that grew up in the shad­ow of the bor­der for­ti­fi­ca­tions under the con­di­tions of mil­i­tary use.

Brochure Harz Border Trail on the Green Belt
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Hiking pin
“Goethe in the Harz”

Searching for literary traces while stamping hiking trails

Johann Wolf­gang von Goethe was undoubt­ed­ly one of the most famous vis­i­tors to the Harz Moun­tains. The great poet left his mark in numer­ous places in the Harz Mountains. 

The “Goethe in the Harz” hik­ing pin takes you to 28 places where Goethe once stayed.

Accompanying booklet Harzer Wandernadel Goethe in the Harz Mountains
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Hiking pin
“Harz history sites”

Castles & palaces — a search for clues

The Harz dis­trict and the Harz Hik­ing Nee­dle invite you on a jour­ney into the past.

Dis­cov­er well-pre­served mon­u­ments, col­lect all 32 stamps in the accom­pa­ny­ing book­let of Harz his­to­ry sites and receive the themed pin.

Harz travel guide with tulips in a pot on the table
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Hiking pin
“Harzer Klosterwanderweg”

The pilgrimage route through the Harz region

The Harz Monastery Trail takes you from Goslar to Hal­ber­stadt past a vari­ety of monastery and church landscapes.

If you can prove that you have all 15 stamps of the Harz Monastery Trail in the accom­pa­ny­ing book­let, you will receive the themed pin with a cop­per pil­grim’s cross.

Get more infor­ma­tion about the Harz Monastery Trail

Brochure Harz monastery hiking trail next to tulips
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Hiking pin
“Experience nature on the Luther Trail”

On the trail of Martin Luther

The Luther Trail in the Harz Nature and Geop­ark has been great­ly enhanced in coöper­a­tion with the Harz Region­al Asso­ci­a­tion, Süd­harz loca­tion mar­ket­ing and the Harz Hik­ing Needle.

Three nature expe­ri­ence sta­tions were installed between Rodishain in Thuringia and the “Kalten Stelle” in Unter­riß­dorf near Eisleben, a vine­yard was re-nat­u­ral­ized, new infor­ma­tion boards were erect­ed and 10 spe­cial stamps of the Harz hik­ing pin were established. 

To receive the themed pin with the Luther rose, all 10 stamps in the infor­ma­tive accom­pa­ny­ing book­let must be verified

Tulips and flyers about the Luther Trail on a wooden table
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Hiking pin
“Festival year Quedlinburg”

1100 years of the world heritage town of Quedlinburg

With its dis­tricts of Bad Sud­erode and Gern­rode, which line up like pearls on the edge of the Harz Moun­tains, Quedlin­burg com­bines world cul­tur­al her­itage, active vaca­tions and nat­ur­al recreation.

The medieval defense sys­tem in Quedlin­burg con­sist­ed of a sys­tem of wait­ing rooms and moats. You can find out more about sev­en of these defen­sive walls in this booklet. 

Once you have col­lect­ed all the stamps in the book­let accom­pa­ny­ing the Quedlin­burg Year of Cel­e­bra­tion, you will receive the themed badge.

Get more infor­ma­tion about Quedlinburg.

Tulips next to Quedlinburg booklet on wooden table
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Hiking pin
“Karstwanderweg Südharz”

Experience the beauty of the karst region

With a total dis­tance of 256 km through the fed­er­al states of Sax­ony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Low­er Sax­ony, the karst hik­ing trail takes you past geo­log­i­cal fea­tures, impres­sive karst phe­nom­e­na and his­tor­i­cal wit­ness­es to fau­nis­tic or floris­tic rarities.

This themed trail has exist­ed since 1982 and has already been award­ed the “Cer­ti­fied Qual­i­ty Trail Wan­der­bares Deutsch­land” seal of approval four times.

Once your book­let has been filled with all the stamps from the Karst Trail, the themed pin in the shape of a bad­ger will be wait­ing for you.

Get more infor­ma­tion about the karst hik­ing trail.

Tulips and hiking booklet Karstwanderweg Südharz on the table
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Hiking pin
“Selketal-Stieg”

Pure nature with a varied landscape

There is plen­ty for you to dis­cov­er on the approx. 75 km long-dis­tance hik­ing trail from Stiege to Quedlinburg.

Falken­stein Cas­tle is one of 17 stamp­ing points for the Harz­er Wan­der­nadel “Selke­tal-Stieg” hik­ing badge — all locat­ed at places steeped in his­to­ry and beau­ti­ful van­tage points. 

For a filled stamp book­let, you can take home a themed pin in the shape of a king­fish­er as well as numer­ous mem­o­ries of unfor­get­table hik­ing moments in the pris­tine, pro­tect­ed nature of the Selke Valley.

Get more infor­ma­tion about the Selketal-Stieg.

Accompanying booklet Selketal-Stieg next to tulips in a pot
Pic­ture: AchtPfotenPhotography

Silhouette of trees and hills at night