Schlossgärten Blankenburg (Harz)

Start and finish at the Kleines Schloss. The normal circuit explores the Terrassengarten, climbs into the Berggarten near the Teehaus and Obere Mühle, then returns through the Schlosspark and Fasanengarten. Pick up the garden-walk leaflet at the entrance. The Großes Schloss, Schlossteich and Luisenburg lie outside this compact circuit.

Choose individual lower-garden sections with advice from the tourist information if steps or steep slopes are a problem. No continuous wheelchair-friendly circuit is promised.

Use the Schnappelberg main entrance at the Kleines Schloss to look around the Terrassengarten. Return to the entrance area, then visit the Fasanengarten by an open approach that suits your mobility before coming back to the same starting point. You can end after either garden.

Step-free entrances are available, but assistance may be needed on gradients. Ask for route advice before setting out with a wheelchair or pushchair.

From the garden area near Obere Mühle, use open public park paths and signs towards the Großes Schloss. Keep the castle itself as the turnaround point. A guided interior visit needs its own place in your day and cannot be replaced by wandering through the building alone.

Do not treat this add-on as a step-free route or assume that palace interiors are accessible. Ask the palace operator about your requirements.

Let each person choose one wide view of the terrace layout, one small detail on a stone figure, and one living plant. Compare the pictures at your rest stop: which one explains the place best? You can do this without climbing every staircase.

In the Fasanengarten, look at the shapes and colours of the metal feathers. Ask children how they would suggest a bird using only a line or a colour. There is no need to find a living pheasant for this garden game.

Look for the old chestnut avenue when you enter the Schlosspark near the main garden circuit. Try a photograph that includes several trunks to show the avenue’s shape, then a closer view of a leaf still attached to the tree. These are cultivated park trees.

When the Berggarten is open, slow down in the Rosenwinkel and compare the rose flowers that are actually in bloom. A close photograph and a wider picture of the bed make a nice pair. Flowering varies with the weather and the variety, so a visit outside the flowering season can look quite different.

Aim for the tourist information at Schnappelberg 6. The nearby car park is on the east side of the old town. Coming from the railway station, the approximately 750 m described by the garden network ends at Schnappelberg; budget the same approach again for your return to the train, separately from time inside the gardens.

The Kleines Schloss combines tourist information, accessible toilet facilities and a small exhibition about the gardens, palaces and Welf family. Plan a stop while the building is open. Exhibition access can be restricted during events, and its hours differ from the garden gates.