Wernigerode is one of the most attractive towns in the Harz mountains, a medieval market town of half-timbered houses that survived the 20th century largely intact. The neo-Gothic castle on the hill above the old town and the ornate Rathaus on the Marktplatz are the headline attractions, but it is the dense concentration of timber-frame houses in the lanes around the square that gives the town its real character — some of the houses here date from the 16th and 17th centuries and are painted in warm ochres and reds that brighten even a grey Harz day.
The town makes an excellent base for the wider region. The narrow-gauge Brocken railway departs from Wernigerode station and climbs by steam to the summit of the Brocken — the highest peak in northern Germany and, for Cold War East Germans, a summit that was off limits for decades because of the Soviet listening station at the top. Quedlinburg and Goslar, two UNESCO-listed medieval towns, are both within easy reach by car or train.
The surrounding Harz National Park has hundreds of kilometres of marked walking trails, good cycling routes, and the wild, atmospheric plateau around the Brocken summit. Wernigerode has the infrastructure of a proper tourist town — hotels, restaurants, and cafes — without being overrun. It rewards a stay of two nights rather than a single day.