Discover Goslar: Half-timbered houses, mining and culture

Goslar combines a historic old town with museums, art and the history of mining. This makes it easy to shape your trip around different interests: half-timbered houses and city history, collections and exhibitions, or a glimpse into the mining tradition.

Old Town, Half-Timbered Houses and World Heritage

Goslar’s historic old town preserves richly decorated half-timbered houses, winding lanes, slate roofs and cobblestones. The town hall was built between 1295 and 1326, adding a specific chapter of medieval architectural history to the picture. Together with the Rammelsberg Ore Mine, the old town was recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1992. The two parts of this designation point to different sides of Goslar: its historic townscape and its long connection with ore mining.

Museums spanning city history and art

The Goslar Museum is home to the famous Krodo Altar, a masterpiece of medieval art dating from the early 12th century. Its coin collection includes well over 1,000 Goslar-minted coins. Religious art and numismatic history sit side by side, inviting visitors to explore different forms of expression from Goslar’s past. As part of the wider Goslar destination, the museum also conveys how people in Goslar lived and worked over more than ten centuries, as well as the city’s development.

The history of mining features prominently at the Rammelsberg Museum and Visitor Mine: four museum buildings tell the story of at least 3,000 years of ore mining at and inside Rammelsberg. Together with the UNESCO designation, this helps explain why the mine and the old town are jointly part of Goslar’s World Heritage Site. The Mönchehaus Museum offers a different focus, with changing exhibitions of modern and contemporary art; its exhibition programme changes over time.

Guided tours and special insights

City tours explore Goslar’s history and offer a way to get to know the city with a guide’s commentary. Public tours of the halls, as well as special, themed and school-group tours, are offered at the Imperial Palace. If a particular tour is important to your plans, check the latest dates before your visit. A digital city tour takes a different approach, combining 360° views with interactive scenes and audio content. This lets you choose between a group tour and a digital experience, without suggesting that the two offer the same experience.

The carillon in Goslar’s market square tells a story in its own way. A procession of figures and mining melodies trace the story from the legendary discovery by the knight Ramm through to modern times. The Zwinger houses a privately run museum of the late Middle Ages. Exhibits include armour for knights and musketeers, torture devices and weapons used by peasants in 1524. This collection has a different focus from the art at the Goslar Museum or the mining history at Rammelsberg.

Green spaces and other regional interests

Goslar’s former ramparts have been converted into gardens and parks, now forming a green belt around the city. The winding lanes and historic townscape are complemented by this greener side of Goslar. The wider Goslar destination offers additional themes: in Bad Harzburg, themed hiking trails pass, among other places, lynx and wildcat enclosures and the Radau Waterfall, before continuing to the Brocken. Braunlage offers hiking trails and mountain bike routes, as well as ski slopes, an ice rink and a toboggan run. Several ski jumps are located on the Wurmberg. Seasonal operation and opening conditions at the facilities may vary.

For an activity that children and adults can enjoy together, the Goslar Tin Figure Museum offers an open workshop where visitors can cast and paint their own tin figures. At the Samson Mine in Sankt Andreasberg, you can see the world’s last surviving original Fahrkunst (a mine conveyance system); check current visiting arrangements before your trip. Those interested in the region’s mining history will also find significant exhibits and original mining facilities at the Upper Harz Mining Museum in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, which visitors can explore and experience for themselves.

This offers a practical starting point when choosing accommodation: Goslar itself focuses on the old town, museums and city tours, while other places in the wider Goslar destination add hiking and mountain bike routes, seasonal facilities or further mining history. If you plan to use HATIX, note the eligibility requirement: during a Harz holiday, overnight guests can use the service free of charge if they pay the current visitor’s tax in a participating town. Check participation and network coverage in advance, too.

Discover more destinations: Hahnenklee, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Sankt Andreasberg, Braunlage, Vienenburg, Bad Harzburg, Lutter Am Barenberge, Oberharz.

Back to the main travel overview: Goslar.