Olbersdorf: Lake, Narrow-Gauge Railway and Cultural Sites

Olbersdorf offers several distinct travel interests: a lakeside landscape shaped by lignite mining, the narrow-gauge railway, the nature park and local cultural sites. When looking for a hotel in Olbersdorf, you can first decide what you want to focus on during your stay: Olbersdorf Lake, railway history, or crafts and local history. Sights include the Uhrenhof, the Hilger coconut-weaving workshop, the Mill Trail, the Sculpture Park and the Steam Railway Educational Trail. These themes offer different points of interest and give you several ways to include the town in your travel plans.

Olbersdorf Lake, landscape and events

Olbersdorf Lake was created from a former lignite mine and is part of a landscape shaped by mining. A beach and an adjacent campground were established at the lake following the 1999 State Garden Show. If either of these places is part of your plans, check the latest information on their use in advance. The lake thus represents both landscape change and later tourism development.

A shorter, five-kilometre route around Olbersdorf Lake is wheelchair accessible. Olbersdorf also hosts major sporting events such as the Zittau Mountains Run & Hiking Meet and the O-See Challenge. If you are planning to visit for one of these events, check the current dates.

Narrow-gauge railway and Steam Railway Educational Trail

The 750 mm Zittau narrow-gauge railway runs through Olbersdorf towards the Zittau Mountains. With information panels and pictures, the Steam Railway Educational Trail explains the history of the Zittau narrow-gauge railway. Completed in 2015, the trail extends from Zittau to the spa resorts of Jonsdorf and Oybin.

At Bertsdorf station, the railway branches off towards Oybin and Jonsdorf. You can also watch two steam locomotives depart at the same time there. This offers two different railway perspectives: the route through Olbersdorf and the historical interpretation along the educational trail.

Technology, crafts and art

The Uhrenhof preserves clocks from closed factories; the exhibition also covers the complete production of electric clocks in the former GDR. The collection and exhibition have different focuses: individual surviving clocks on the one hand, and the entire production of electric clocks on the other.

At the Hilger coconut-weaving workshop, durable products made from coconut fibre, sisal and hemp are crafted in a demonstration workshop. The focus here is on materials and the making of durable products.

Along the Goldbach stream, the Mill Trail uses information panels to mark at least 18 documented sites of former waterwheels. The information thus relates to a single watercourse and several historical sites.

The Sculpture Park displays works in stone, wood and clay by artists from the surrounding area and neighbouring countries. The materials and the artists’ origins give this place a different focus from the technical collections and interpretive trails.

Olbersdorf in the nature park

Olbersdorf is part of the Zittau Mountains Nature Park.

Discover more destinations: Vierkirchen, Krauschwitz, Jonsdorf, Kreba-Neudorf, Großschweidnitz, Lawalde, Weißkeißel, Oderwitz

Go to the main travel overview: Görlitz.