The Harz Hiking Badge on the Monastery Trail
Along the Harz Monastery Trail, you’ll find 15 stamping points. The red boxes labelled “Harz Monastery Trail” are located at selected sites, churches, and monasteries. If you collect all the stamps, you can get the special hiking pin with a copper pilgrim’s cross – available at the Harzer Wandernadel service office or at the tourist information centres.
If a stamping device is missing or cannot be used due to the weather, it’s enough to note the identification number of the stamp box (on the inside of the front flap) together with the location in the stamp field. This entry is also accepted as valid proof.
Since 2025, there have been two special stamping points:
Collegiate Church in Bad Gandersheim
Stiftsfreiheit 1, 37581 Bad Gandersheim
www.stiftskirchengemeinde.de
Note: Access to the stamp box in the church
Open daily 11:00–13:00, 14:00–16:00, closed on Mondays
Cistercian Museum Kloster Walkenried
Steinweg 4a, 37445 Walkenried, entrance area
www.kloster-walkenried.de
These two partner monasteries lie outside the main trail. Their stamps don’t count towards earning the copper hiking pin, but they are regarded as special “treasures” in every stamp booklet! Walkenried is also the starting point for the first circular route of the “Monastery Trails”, while the Collegiate Church in Bad Gandersheim, a Romanesque basilica in the heart of the town, can be experienced with events during the “Spiritual Autumn”.
You can get the Harzer Wandernadel stamp booklet for the Monastery Trail (with stamp fields for the Blue Stamp Box Harzer Monasteries and special stamps) in the Harzer Wandernadel shop and at the tourist information offices along the route – also available to order online.
