Re: Cruising to the Harz Mountains

Holland America and Norwegian Cruise lines offer Baltic cruises that visit various Scandanavian Ports, the Baltic States, St. Petersburg and Warnemünde in Germany, the port for Rostock, which is used for visits to Berlin. There are actually two narrow gauge steam railways quite near Rostock. Only about 15 miles west is the Bad Doberan to Kühlungsborn meter gauge line. About 40 miles east, on the Island of Rügen, is the Putbus to Göhren 750 mm (30") gauge line known as the "Racing Rolander."

For a visit to the Harz, as John has mentioned, Wernigerode is only about 2 hours from Berlin. In addition to being an attractive city on its own, Wernigerode is only about 30 minutes from the World Heritage city of Quedlinburg, noted for its half timbered buildings.

Another possibility would be to take a Rhine/Mosel cruise. A one week cruise from Frankfurt to Trier and return will also visit Cologne and is highly recommended. The Rhine portion is known as the Romantic Way. From Frankfurt you can reach Wernigerode in about 4 hours by ICE and Regional Express.

Michael Allen

Photo one is the Anger Schloss, above the city of Wernigerode
Photo two is the HSB engine terminal in Wernigerode
Photo three is out on the line, between Drie Annen Hohne and Eland






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2010 02:08PM by trainrider47.