Saxony-Anhalt: Culture, Rivers and Natural Landscapes

Saxony-Anhalt offers a wide range of experiences for different travel interests: UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Bauhaus history, long-distance cycling routes along rivers, and protected areas with distinctive landscapes. Activities range from hiking and wildlife watching to canoeing, sailing and swimming. When planning your stay, it helps to decide on your main focus first and then choose a hotel location to match.

Cultural history from the Bauhaus to the Bronze Age

Saxony-Anhalt is home to six UNESCO World Heritage Sites. One of them is the Bauhaus Dessau: the Bauhaus Building, the Masters’ Houses and the Törten Estate invite visitors to take guided tours, join workshops and discuss design and society. At the Bauhaus Museum Dessau, the collection “Bauhaus Experimentation. The Collection” tells the story of the Bauhaus school in Dessau through more than 1,000 exhibits. The collection and the Bauhaus sites mentioned offer different ways to explore design and its social significance.

The Nebra Ark offers a different perspective on history. The visitor centre is located at the place where the Nebra Sky Disc was found. The planetarium presents “A Journey into the Universe of the Bronze Age,” a show produced especially for the visitor centre, twice an hour. If the show is important to your visit, check the current schedule in advance. This lets you focus on a cultural attraction that is quite different from Bauhaus history.

Cycling routes of various lengths

Several cycling routes offer clearly specified distances and endpoints. In Saxony-Anhalt, the Elbe Cycle Route follows the Elbe for just under 350 kilometres, from Havelberg in the north to Lutherstadt Wittenberg in the south. The Saxony-Anhalt section of the Saale Cycle Route runs for around 180 kilometres between Saaleck and Barby. For detailed stage planning on the Saale Cycle Route, it is worth checking the current route.

The Sky Disc Cycle Route links Halle (Saale) and the Nebra Ark over 71 kilometres. The Garden Kingdom Tour of Prince Franz links parks and palaces over 72 kilometres. Together, these examples show how varied a cycling trip in the region can be: along a river, between two named destinations, or with parks and palaces as the theme. Which route suits your stay depends mainly on which of these routes and destinations you would like to include.

Explore protected areas and landscapes

The protected area of Harz National Park covers more than 240 square kilometres. It provides a refuge for rare species such as the black stork, wildcat, lynx and Eurasian pygmy owl. More than 560 kilometres of hiking trails cross the national park, and guided tours with rangers are also available. The combination of protected landscapes, rich wildlife and an extensive trail network makes the Harz a destination for travellers who enjoy spending time outdoors.

The UNESCO Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve protects one of Central Europe’s last near-natural floodplain landscapes and stretches for 300 kilometres along the Elbe. You can explore the landscape on floodplain trails, by bike or by canoe. In the Drömling, ditches, wet meadows and wooded islands shape the water-rich cultural landscape. It is a resting and breeding ground for cranes, storks, white-tailed eagles and more than 400 endangered species. Observation towers, nature farms and guided tours make the area accessible all year round.

In the south, the South Harz Karst Landscape Biosphere Reserve combines a gypsum karst landscape of European significance with the Karst Hiking Trail, which runs for more than 230 kilometres through the area. The Saale-Unstrut-Triasland Geo-Nature Park, in turn, brings together vineyards, limestone cliffs and historic cultural landscapes. Its hiking trails pass through open dry forests, over sunny slopes and by orchards. Saale-Unstrut is also Germany’s northernmost wine-growing region. Swimming, sailing and cycling are among the activities available at Lake Goitzsche.

Plan your arrival and hotel location

Saxony-Anhalt is connected to Deutsche Bahn’s ICE network; Halle (Saale) and Magdeburg are rail hubs. If you are travelling by train, you can take these hubs into account when planning.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Halle, Wittenberg, Stendal, Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, Salzlandkreis, Saalekreis, Mansfeld-Südharz, Jerichower Land, Harz, Börde, Burgenlandkreis, Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Dessau-Roßlau, Magdeburg.

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