On the night of the 30^th April, the annual Walpurgisnacht – witches’ night – is celebrated in several locations around the Harz foothills, and even up on its highest peak, the 1,411 metre Brocken.

Given that it overlooks the former west Germany, the Brocken’s location in the former east was exploited by the GDR as a listening post to eavesdrop on the decadent Wessis below. Accordingly for many years it was a no-go area for civilians, but it also has a legendary backstory which has long kept ordinary mortals away. Because it was up here that the witches would come together for their annual party.

Back in the Middle Ages, being outed as a witch meant being blamed for every kind of disease and natural disaster. It regularly ended with an innocent person being burned at the stake.

These days, witches have been re-cast in a cuddlier mode. We know that disease, famine and natural disasters have other causes. So today’s Walpurgisnacht is an excuse for a massive costume party, a bit like a Venetian masquerade, but with more broomsticks and crooked noses.

The town of Wernigerode in the Harz foothills is witchery HQ. A half timbered place whose cobbled main square is dominated by a 15^th century town hall crowned by roof conicals like witches’ hats. I particularly liked the pedestrian crossings: a horned red devil for stop, and a green flying witch for go. This is also the home of the vintage Harz Narrow Gauge Railway, whose steam-hauled trains get right to the top of the Brocken, a spectacular 90 minute climb through forests.

There are other destinations in the foothills of the Harz which also cash in on all this witchery. Thale, deeper into the former east, has a modern fantasia of a witches’ village, recently built around an original Hexentanzplatz, literally ‘witches’ dancing place’. This is primarily a family attraction, with witch tour guides and upside down houses. The Walpurgisnacht party up here attracts 7,000 guests on the night of the 30^th April.

Back across the border into the former west, Goslar too hosts Walpurgisnacht. But this town is richer, wonkier and more culturally diverse than Wernigerode, favoured by several Holy Roman Emperors, who stayed here.

Goslar’s state of preservation, combined with its shopping, eating and mountain hiking options, means that it doesn’t feel the need to jump on the broomstick-bandwagon. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site three times over, for its architecture, for its ancient water system and its thousand year old mines. Here, the annual Walpurgisnacht is just a passing fancy.

In many parts of Germany the train still plays the role of local bus service, holding rural communities together with trains that seem to stop at every other cow pat. And just occasionally it performs this function in spectacular, old-fashioned style, as in the Harz Mountains. Here, the towns of Wernigerode and Quedlinburg in the north and Nordhausen in the south, spanning the borders of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, are linked by a unique, privately-run railway the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (HSB).

What makes this narrow-gauge railway so special is the fact that the vast majority of trains are hauled by steam locomotives, in a year-round service. It’s a network of 140km, connecting some of the most charming of towns, and for enthusiasts and for hill-walkers there’s the extra bonus of the terrain, for the trains climb up and over the Harz range, working spectacularly hard under great pillars of steam. There are few places anywhere in the world where you can experience at such close quarters the charisma and power of steam as the huge tank locomotives tackle the steep gradients. And it is not just for tourists: schoolchildren, commuters and shoppers rely on the railway.

Wernigerode is the heart of the HSB, where the locomotive workshops and largest engine shed are located beside Westerntor station, and the trains leave the town with much ceremony and clanging of bells.

Long-haul passengers have to change trains

Otherwise, key stations are Drei Annen Hohne, up in the forests, and Eisfelder Talmühle on the high Harz plateau, and passengers who want to travel from one end of the network to the other are likely to have to change trains at one or other of these two stops.

At Drei Annen Hohne a lot of walkers get on and off, particularly because a branch of the line climbs all the way up the Brocken (1,125metres) from here. This is called the Brockenbahn.

Between Drei Annen Hohne and Eisfelder Talmühle, the junction for the line to the east ending up at Quedlinburg, the landscape is mainly forest. The Quedlinburg route – a longer journey, the Selketalbahn – gets progressively more pleasant and pastoral as it first crosses the high plateau and then descends, ending up in a town famous for its cobbled streets of timber-framed houses.

Meanwhile Nordhausen (on the Harzquerbahn) is a bit more prosaic, with the trains sharing the line with the local tram service for the last few stops. The town was the site of a concentration camp during the Second World War, providing labour to the V2 rocket factory, and as a result it was heavily bombed by Allied forces.

Getting There: International airports are at Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig and Erfurt. International rail connections are via Cologne from Brussels (Thalys), which connect with the Eurostar from London. See our Travel page for airlines, rail and tour operators.

Staying There: The Harz sits on the border of several regions. Our recommended hotels are here for Niedersachsen, here for Berlin, here for Saxony-Anhalt and here for Thuringia.

Harz Railway site, in German only.

Harz Mountains general website, which also has details of the Harz as a ski destination.

The climbers amongst you will know of the Brocken Spectre, but few will know where it originates. The Brocken is the highest peak in the Harz Mountains, effectively the only mountain range in northern Germany (although it also has a foot in the east). At 1,141 metres this round-shouldered beast is hardly an alpine peak, but it does have winter skiing, and it also has a wonderful old steam railway that runs scheduled services, winter and summer, up and down the mountain and across from one side to the other. Around the mountain’s base are pretty towns such as Osterode, Wernigerode and Goslar, which have a fairytale feel to them, particularly in the snow.

But the top of the mountain is a different matter. Bare, barren, windswept and once the site of a Soviet listening post (this was East Germany not so long ago), it is mist-shrouded and cloud-wrapped for a staggering 300 days in the year, and it is this which has given rise to so many of its legends. There’s a long tradition of witches up here, perpetuated by Goethe who described the Brocken as a centre of witchcraft revelry in his Faust. One of his scenes is of Walpurgisnacht, (Walpurgis Night, 30^th April) when witches meet on Brocken to hold revels with their gods, and there are still bonfires lit on the mountain to this day.

The Brocken is mist-shrouded and cloud-wrapped for a staggering 300 days in the year

Up here, it is easy to think you’ve seen a shape in the mist, and often you will have, but it will have been your own, and it’s called a Brocken Spectre. This natural phenomenon occurs when a climber or hiker is back-lit, usually by a low sun, and his shadow is projected onto the mist in front of him, distorted and often with a rainbow halo. This result looks like a ghost from the sixties, for it is surrounded by rainbow colours and has very flared trousers.

In moments of tiredness it is easy to assume the apparition is something other than it is, particularly because the spectre can appear to move of its own accord, depending on air currents within the mist or fog. You can imagine how such occurrences could be misconstrued by a weary and superstitious imagination.

Of course the phenomenon is not just limited to the Brocken, but the mountain is usually a fair bet, either during winter time or at the beginning or end of the day. Don’t come here expecting to see much of the surrounding landscape, however, as the poet Heine found out when he climbed the Brocken. Popular tradition has it that he wrote the following in the visitors’ book on the summit: “Viele Steine, müde Beine, Aussicht keine, Heinrich Heine”. Lots of stones, tired legs, no view. But no mention of any spectres.

Getting There: International airports are at Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig and Erfurt. International rail connections are via Cologne from Brussels (Thalys), which connect with the Eurostar from London. See our Travel page for airlines, rail and tour operators.

Staying There: The Harz sits on the border of several regions. Our recommended hotels are here for Niedersachsen, here for Berlin, here for Saxony-Anhalt and here for Thuringia.

Harz National Park Website