Show caves and mines in the Harz23 underground places to visit

The largest accessible cave in the Western Harz, with a total length of around 700 metres, of which just under 300 metres is a guided trail. For centuries, people dug here in search of ‘unicorn bones’; today it is best known as a site where Neanderthal remains have been found.

Route

300 m

Adults

€12.00

During the summer months, Fri–Sun 11 am–4 pm with guided tours every hour, the last one at 3 pm; also open on public holidays and long weekends. einhornhoehle.de

The Iberg is a fossilised coral reef dating from the Devonian period, and the cave lies right at its heart. It forms part of the Cave Experience Centre, which also features a replica of the Bronze Age cave grave from Lichtenstein on the surface.

Temperature

8 °C

Steps

100

Adults

€12.00

Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am–5 pm; closed on Mondays; individual visitors do not need to book in advance. hoehlen-erlebnis-zentrum.de

Ore was mined at the Rammelsberg for over a thousand years with almost no interruption – until Preussag ceased operations on 30 June 1988. Four years later, the mine, together with Goslar’s old town, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming Germany’s first industrial monument to be included.

Temperature

12 °C

Duration

75 min

Steps

101

Adults

€10.00 (Adults, day ticket for above-ground museum buildings (without a guided tour))

Open daily, closed only on 24 and 31 December. April to October: 9.00 am to 6.00 pm; the last guided tour starts at 4.30 pm. rammelsberg.de

Germany’s oldest tourist cave, offering guided tours since 1646. The Goethe Hall, the largest chamber, features a permanent open-air stage: it hosts cave theatre performances, concerts and wedding ceremonies – on such days, the guided tours finish earlier.

Duration

50 min

Steps

300

Adults

€10.50

Daily from 9.30 am, guided tours run every 20 minutes as scheduled; reduced opening hours from November, closed on Mondays and for periods of several days. harzer-hoehlen.de

On a sandstone ridge stand the remains of a medieval rock-cut castle and a Prussian fortress dating from 1671. Living quarters, cellars and casemates are hewn directly into the rock; however, the majority of the complex is above ground.

Adults

€4.00

April to October: daily 10 am–6 pm, last admission 5.30 pm; November to March: Tuesday to Sunday 10 am–4 pm. Closed on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, and in the event of a storm warning. blankenburg.de/tourismus/kultur/burg-und-…

Not a tourist attraction, but a memorial site: from 1943 onwards, concentration camp prisoners were forced to assemble rockets in the tunnels at Kohnstein under deadly conditions. The guided tour of the camp grounds takes visitors into the preserved tunnel complex.

Temperature

8 °C

Adults

€7.00 (guided tour including the adit; free access to the grounds and museum)

Grounds and museum: April to October, Tue–Sun 10 am–6 pm; November to March, Tue–Sun 10 am–4 pm; closed on Mondays. Guided tours of the tunnels: April to October, Tue–Sun and on public holidays at 11 am and 2 pm; November to March, Tue–Fri at 11 am, Sat/Sun and on public holidays at 11 am and 2 pm. Advance booking recommended. dora.de

Coal instead of ore: the ‘Rabenstein-Express’ mine railway travels into the mountain as far as the underground station on the first level; from there, the journey continues on foot through 18th-century mining areas, some of which are cramped and noisy, with compressed-air machinery still in operation.

Temperature

8 °C

Adults

from €17.00

Several tour options (History Tour, Family Adventure Tour, candlelit mine tour, photo tour); dates and prices are available via the online ticket shop; advance booking is recommended. rabensteiner-stollen.de

A river cave just a five-minute walk from the Baumannshöhle, featuring caverns up to 50 metres high and a sparkling crystal chamber. Germany’s only cave salamanders live in Lake Olmensee – they are most likely to be spotted early in the morning.

Duration

50 min

Adults

€10.50

Daily from 9.30 am, guided tours every 20 minutes; closed from 14 November 2026 until spring 2027. harzer-hoehlen.de

A silver mine since 1521 and, at times, the deepest mine in the world. The winding machine from 1837, which the miners used to transport goods in and out, has been preserved; it is still in operation today and powers a hydroelectric station.

Temperature

8 °C

Duration

60 min

Adults

€12.00

17 March to 31 October: open daily, guided tours at 11.00 and 14.30; 1 November to 7 December: closed for the annual break, then open with restricted hours. grube-samson.de

A gypsum karst cave with underground lakes, 2 kilometres long, of which 700 metres are open to the public; the guided tour route crosses the border into Thuringia. In 1944–45, the cave was used as an armaments factory employing concentration camp prisoners – the memorial in the ‘Kleiner Dom’ is included in the guided tour.

Temperature

8 °C

Route

700 m

Adults

€9.00

Information Centre: Tue–Sun 10 am–5 pm, closed on Mondays, open on public holidays; guided tours at 10 am, 12 noon, 2 pm and 4 pm, the last one by appointment only. gemeinde-suedharz.de/schauhoehle-heimkehle

Two original floor sections dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, with oak timberwork, and above ground a wheel house housing a 9.50-metre-wide waterwheel. The guided tour lasts up to two hours, making it one of the longest in the Harz Mountains.

Adults

€12.00

1 February to 31 October: Wed–Sun 9.30 am–4 pm, guided tours at 10 am, 12 noon and 2 pm; November to January: closed for the winter. No card payments accepted. grube-glasebach.de

An iron ore mine, which operated until 1970. Underground, original overhead loaders, rock drills and ore scrapers are demonstrated – you can hear just how noisy mining used to be. Unusually for a visitor mine, dogs and photography are expressly permitted.

Adults

€10.00

Open all year round, Mon–Sun; guided tours daily at 10.30 am, 12 noon and 2.00 pm (60 to 70 minutes), for groups of 4 or more; closed on 24 and 25 December and 1 January. No card payments accepted. schaubergwerk-elbingerode.de

Not a fully developed exhibition mine, but a volunteer-run educational mine: cramped, dark, wet and dirty – but in its original condition. The association provides helmets and torches; your own clothes will get dirty.

Adults

Free of charge, donations welcome

Every Saturday from April to October at 2 pm; larger groups and other times by prior arrangement only. lehrbergwerk.de

A dolomite cave with a rounded arch, approximately 28 metres long and up to eight metres high, which served as a church from the 9th century onwards – the pulpit and altar are carved out of the rock. Before that, Palaeolithic reindeer hunters had already made their home here.

Freely accessible, no opening hours and no admission charge; accessible on foot via the Karst hiking trail above Scharzfeld.

A small cave in the northern Harz Mountains with a long history: Liutbirg, a hermit, is said to have lived here around 850, and in 1146 Cistercian monks settled at the cave church before moving down into the valley to Michaelstein. Between 1884 and 1887, the cave was uncovered once again.

Freely accessible, no opening hours and no admission charge; stamp point 87 on the Harz Hiking Pin trail, a walk from Michaelstein Monastery (around 3.5 km) or from the Eggeröder Brunnen (around 1.5 km). Bring a torch.

The mine adjacent to the Samson Mine was refurbished in 2025 and has been accessible again since 2026. The route leads through narrow, hand-dug tunnels dating from before 1575; a completely mined-out tunnel gap is crossed via a grating.

Temperature

8 °C

Duration

45 min

Adults

€8.00 (€7.00 with a guest card)

1 May to 31 October: Monday to Saturday, guided tours daily at 1 pm; closed from November to April, when the bats hibernate. Suitable for ages 10 and over, maximum 15 people; descent via a ladder with 18 rungs. grube-samson.de/museen/catharina-neufang

Water drainage tunnels from the Upper Harz mining industry, now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Upper Harz Water Management System’. The guided tour covers a distance of one kilometre there and back, including a descent of 25 metres into the turbine and compressor room and into the Ernst-August mine.

Depth

25 m

Route

1,000 m

Adults

€10.00

May to 1 November, guided tours at 11.00, 14.00 and 15.30; closed on Mondays, except during the Lower Saxony school holidays. 19-lachter-stollen.de

The Knesebeck shaft forms part of the ‘Hilfe Gottes’ mine, the last ore mine in the Upper Harz region, which did not close until 1992. The guided tour includes the hoisting engine and electric compressor from 1923, two wheel houses with water wheels up to twelve metres high, and a section of the tunnel system.

Temperature

8 °C

Adults

€9.50

May to October: Tuesday to Sunday; November to April: Sundays only; guided tours at 11 am and 2 pm daily; closed on Mondays, except on public holidays. knesebeckschacht.de

The mine railway takes you into the mountain, then across three levels through old mining galleries and past the underground St Barbara’s Chapel. A highlight of the journey is the ride in a replica ore barge along a 450-year-old waterway.

Duration

120 min

Adults

€14.00

April to October: Wednesday to Friday at 11 am and 1 pm; Saturday, Sunday and public holidays at 11 am, 1 pm and 3 pm; November to March: Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays only at 11 am and 1 pm. Please arrive 20 minutes beforehand. lautenthals-glueck.de

In the 18th century, the Dorothea Mine was the most productive in the Burgstätter mining district. The tour takes visitors through the Dorotheer Rösche, the mine’s old watercourse; the exit is via a 20-metre-high haulage ladder in the Caroliner ventilation shaft.

Duration

150 min

Adults

€45.00

Only on a few dates each year: in 2026, on 25 July, 29 August and 3 October, at 2.00 pm on each occasion; please book at least five days in advance with the Oberharz Mining Museum; ages 14 and over; meeting point: car park at Am Pulverhaus 1. oberharzerbergwerksmuseum.de/fuehrungen/g…

A small copper-slate mine on the southern outskirts of Ilfeld, which has been left in the state it was in during the last mining period of the 19th century and was opened to visitors in 1982. Above the mine, a mining history and geology trail leads past further mine shafts and the outcrop from which the site takes its name.

Run on a voluntary basis; guided tours for individual visitors and groups are available only by prior telephone arrangement with the Ilfeld-Wiegersdorf Mine and Hiking Guides Group.

Germany’s oldest mining museum: 29 exhibition rooms in two 300-year-old town houses, plus an outdoor area featuring a horse-drawn winch, a wheel house and a miners’ smithy. Housed in a 200-year-old shaft building is the visitor tunnel, which connects the above-ground and underground sections.

Duration

60 min

Adults

€9.50 with a guided tour, €7.00 without

April to October: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am–5 pm; November to March: 10 am–4 pm; guided tours daily at 11 am and 2 pm, including Mondays on public holidays; closed on 24 December. oberharzerbergwerksmuseum.de

The Rosenhöfer mining area is regarded as the cradle of mining in Clausthal. The circular wheel chamber was originally above ground but was eventually buried beneath the growing spoil heaps; today, the chamber lies 24 metres underground.

Depth

24 m

Only by booking in advance with the Oberharz Mining Museum; meeting point: the Ottilia shaft, on the corner of Berliner Straße. Helmets are provided. oberharzerbergwerksmuseum.de/fuehrungen/f…