Hahnenklee offers a range of reasons to visit: a stave church with its own music programme, hiking trails with cultural and natural highlights, and activities at ErlebnisBocksBerg.
Stave Church and Local History
Hahnenklee Stave Church was built between 1907 and 1908 in a ten-month construction period. It was modelled on older Norwegian stave churches, and the building material was spruce wood from the surrounding area. The church has seating for 240. It also has a carillon with 49 bells, as well as regular organ and carillon performances.
From May to October, concerts featuring organ music, chamber music and the large tower carillon take place on Thursdays. If music is an important reason for your trip, these concert days offer a specific date to plan around. Another way to explore local history is the Hahnenklee Local History Museum: it has been housed in the Kurhaus since 22 May 2016 and displays historical exhibits about the history of Hahnenklee-Bockswiese and Upper Harz mining.
Hiking with Different Themes
Hahnenklee has been a climatic health resort for more than 130 years, with a health-promoting climate and five designated terrain therapy hiking trails. Numerous circular and point-to-point hikes also start right in the village. The Liebesbankweg is a 7-kilometre circular hiking trail around Hahnenklee-Bockswiese and the first certified premium hiking trail in the Harz and Lower Saxony.
Along the Liebesbankweg are 25 handcrafted benches and numerous works of art. The Auerhahn Cascade is also on the trail: it is the largest pond cascade in the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Upper Harz Water Management System”. The circular trail thus combines its route with art installations and a tangible connection to the World Heritage Site.
The “Mensch & Wald” (People & Forest) themed hiking trail takes a different approach. It connects Hahnenklee with Goslar and explores the history of long-forgotten occupations once carried out in the forest. While the Liebesbankweg features its benches, works of art and cascade as points of interest, “Mensch & Wald” focuses on historical forest occupations. The two trails therefore differ mainly in the themes they explore.
Things to Do on Bocksberg
The nostalgic gondola lift to ErlebnisBocksBerg departs right from Hahnenklee’s pedestrian zone; the chairlift starts at the foot of ErlebnisBocksBerg. The Zipline Adventure Bocksberg is located at the summit and can be reached by gondola or chairlift. This makes it easy to distinguish between the lift departure points and the destination at the summit when planning your visit.
The summer toboggan runs also differ in their specific features. The “Drachenblitz” at ErlebnisBocksBerg is 560 metres long, passes through a dragon’s cave and has five spirals. The “BocksBergBob” summer toboggan run is 1,250 metres long and has a double spiral. The comparison shows how the runs differ in length and distinctive features, without suggesting they have the same equipment.
The Zipline Adventure Bocksberg also has a climbing park. It is 100 metres long and includes seven climbing elements. There are therefore several specific themes to choose from, including hiking, history and activities on the mountain; the toboggan runs can also be compared by their length and course features.
For an overview of the wider area: Goslar.
