Quedlinburg

A small town at the edge of the Harz mountains with more than 1,300 half-timbered houses spanning six centuries, one of the largest collections in Germany and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Above the town, the Romanesque collegiate church of St Servatius on the castle hill holds a treasury of medieval manuscripts and reliquaries.

Quedlinburg is a good base for the Harz, where the Harz narrow-gauge steam railway climbs the Brocken, northern Germany's highest mountain, and the Bode Gorge has dramatic walks.