Wernigerode · Altstadt · Germany

Wernigerode Castle

castlehilltopGothicgoogle verified

moderate

9/10

best: late afternoon, summer

romantic, grand, fairy-tale

A local would say...

A castle so perfectly fairy-tale it looks like it was built as a film set — and yet it's genuinely medieval underneath all that 19th-century flair.

A fairy-tale hillside castle originally built in the 12th century to protect German Kaisers during hunting expeditions in the Harz. Its storybook façade was added by Count Otto of Stolberg-Wernigerode in the 19th century. The stunning Schlosskirche (1880) has an altar and pulpit of French marble, and the tower offers spectacular free views over the town.