Stolberg is a small Harz town in southern Saxony-Anhalt, tucked into a narrow valley of steep roofs, forested slopes, and half-timbered houses. It calls itself the pearl of the southern Harz, which sounds like tourist-board embroidery until you walk the old lanes and see how much of the medieval and Renaissance town survived.
The best reason to come is the texture of the place. The market square, Rittergasse, Niedergasse, and the lanes climbing toward Stolberg Castle are dense with timber-frame houses, many from the 15th to 18th centuries. Alte Münze adds the old mining and minting story, while the castle above town explains why such a small place once had courtly weight.
Stolberg also works as a gentle Harz walking base. Josephskreuz rises on the Auerberg east of town, and the surrounding woods make a good change from the busier Harz towns of Wernigerode and Quedlinburg. It is not a big destination, but if you are already in the region, Stolberg easily earns a spare day.