Harz Steam Railway

In the forested hills of central Germany, the age of steam never quite ended. The Harzer Schmalspurbahnen — the Harz Narrow-Gauge Railways — still run vintage steam locomotives to a daily timetable, all year round, across the largest steam-worked narrow-gauge network in the country.

The star of the show is the climb to the Brocken. At 1,141 metres it is the highest point in the Harz and in all of northern Germany, and the Brockenbahn spirals up to it through dark spruce forest behind a hard-puffing engine, emerging at a bleak, wind-scoured summit that is wrapped in cloud some 300 days a year. It is a mountain steeped in legend — the gathering place of witches on Walpurgisnacht, and the setting for the witches' sabbath in Goethe's Faust.

The network fans out from the half-timbered town of Wernigerode, reaching south across the hills to Nordhausen and to the medieval streets of Quedlinburg. Ride it in summer sun or winter snow and it feels like time travel — real working steam through a storybook German landscape.

The classic run is the Brockenbahn, from Wernigerode up to the summit — about 34 kilometres that take the best part of two hours, because the little train has a mountain to climb.

It sets off from Wernigerode, whose half-timbered old town and hilltop castle are worth a day in themselves. The train potters out through the suburbs and into the woods, climbing steadily to the junction at Drei Annen Hohne, where the Brocken line branches off from the cross-Harz route. From here the real work begins: the engine digs in, the gradient steepens, and the line begins to spiral, curving around the mountain in a great loop to gain height.

Past the resort village of Schierke the trees thin, the weather closes in — the Brocken makes its own — and the train hauls itself up onto the bare, boulder-strewn dome of the summit. On a clear day the view runs for a hundred kilometres; more often you step out into swirling cloud, which only adds to the mountain's witchy reputation. Up top there are gardens, a museum in the old Cold War listening station, and hot soup against the wind before the run back down.

Beyond the Brocken, the wider network rewards exploration: the Harzquerbahn grinds south across the hills to Nordhausen, and the Selketalbahn wanders through quiet valleys toward Quedlinburg, one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Germany. A day rover ticket lets you hop between them, steam train to steam train.

The Harz railways are a scheduled, year-round steam operation — not a summer-only heritage line — run by the HSB. Steam hauls most Brocken trains; some services on the other lines use historic diesel railbuses. About four steam trains a day climb from Wernigerode to the Brocken summit, taking about 1 hour 36 minutes each way (via Drei Annen Hohne and Schierke).

The three lines:

Good to know:

• The Brocken train runs daily, all year — including through winter snow, a spectacle in itself. There are separate summer and winter timetables (the summer service runs from early March), so check the current one.
• Reserve in high season — the Brocken is hugely popular in summer, at weekends and around Walpurgisnacht (30 April).
• Get a rover for the network if you want more than the Brocken: a day ticket covers all three lines.
• Dress for the summit — cold, windy and often foggy on top even in summer.

Frequency and journey time as of the 2026 timetable. Confirm the current summer/winter schedule with the operator — see the Tickets section below.

Tickets are bought directly from the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (HSB) — at the station, or online in advance, which is wise for the Brocken.

Two ways to ride:

• Brocken return — the headline trip: a steam-hauled return from Wernigerode up to the summit and back. The most popular train on the network, so reserve ahead in summer and around Walpurgisnacht.
• Network day ticket — a rover over the whole 140 km system (Brockenbahn, Harzquerbahn and Selketalbahn), ideal for combining the summit with the Harz towns and a bit of steam-train-hopping.

A few pointers:

• Fares are seasonal and change, so we point you to the HSB for the live price rather than quote a figure that will date.
• The Brocken sells out on fine summer days and holidays — book a specific departure if you can.
• Combine train and trail. Many walk one way (the Goetheweg path shadows the line to the summit) and take the steam train the other — a wonderful way to do the Brocken.
• Bring cash for the summit soup and the small stations, and warm clothes for the top.

There is one thing to know here, and it decides everything: the national ticket that covers the rest of the Harz network stops at the bottom of the Brocken climb.

The Deutschland-Ticket, and where it stops

The Harzer Schmalspurbahnen takes part in the Deutschland-Ticket, and in the operator's own words:

Das Deutschlandticket-Abo gilt in unseren regulären Zügen auf dem gesamten HSB-Streckennetz, ausgenommen zwischen Drei Annen Hohne – Brocken.

The Deutschland-Ticket subscription is valid on our scheduled trains across the whole HSB network, except between Drei Annen Hohne and the Brocken.

So for €63 a month you can ride the Harzquerbahn from Wernigerode to Nordhausen, the whole Selketalbahn, and up as far as Drei Annen Hohne — and then you buy a Brocken ticket for the last, best 19 kilometres. The pass gets you to the foot of the mountain and no further.

That is not unreasonable. The Brockenbahn is the section everyone comes for, it is worked by steam, and it is priced accordingly under the railway's own Brockentarif.

⚠️ The Deutschland-Ticket is subscription-only, digital and personal — it carries your name and date of birth, is not transferable, and cannot be bought as a one-off for a day out. Turning up at Wernigerode hoping to buy one is not a plan. HSB sells the subscription itself, though at the time of writing new sign-ups through HSB were suspended for technical reasons, with existing subscribers unaffected.

Interrail and Eurail

Neither is valid on the HSB. The railway itself publishes nothing about them — its tariff conditions and fares pages mention no pass at all — but the answer comes from the other end. Interrail's coverage table for Germany covers DB and "all other Regional carriers", and its excluded column adds a line that decides every case it has not named: anything else falls to the list of German railway companies the table links. That list is closed, it runs to some fifty operators, and the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen is not among them.

HSB's own fares are therefore payable in full. There is no pass-holder rate to ask for, and nothing that can be added to a pass at the counter.

⭐ A pass does get you to the railway. Wernigerode, Nordhausen and Quedlinburg are all on the national network and all covered by Interrail and Eurail in the ordinary way, so the approach costs nothing extra.

Is a pass worth it for this journey?

No pass will pay for the Brocken. The operator's own return fare to the summit is the figure to plan around, and anything else a ticket happens to cover is a bonus on top of it.

The Deutschland-Ticket is worth carrying if you are spending a week in the Harz: it makes every other HSB line, and the buses between the towns, free at the point of use, and leaves you paying only for the mountain.

Deutschland-Ticket conditions from the operator, Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH, and pass coverage from Interrail's published list of railway companies, August 2026.

The Harz packs a lot of storybook Germany into a small area, and the railway links much of it. A day rover ticket lets you hop between the places below, steam train to steam train.

The Harz is compact, so most people base themselves in one of the pretty towns and make day trips by steam train.

• Wernigerode — the best base for the Brocken: characterful hotels and guesthouses among the half-timbered streets, and the Brocken trains steaming out from the station each morning.
• Schierke — higher up the mountain and closer to the summit, a quiet alpine-style village good for walkers and for an early start on the Brocken.
• Quedlinburg — worth a night or two of its own at the southern end, sleeping among the medieval lanes of a UNESCO town.
• On the Brocken — there's a summit guesthouse for those who want to watch the sun set and rise above the cloud, though most visit for the day.

The Harz is busy in the summer walking season, over Christmas-market weekends, and especially around Walpurgisnacht (30 April), when the whole region celebrates its witches — book well ahead for those dates. Snow is common in winter, when the steam trains look their most magical.