Hann. Münden, a jewel of half-timbered houses and a city on three rivers, is the starting point of the tour and also the hub of the Werra, Fulda and Weser cycle paths.

On a densely wooded route, the path winds over the hills between the Weser and Leine valleys into the Harz foreland, first to Dransfeld. Here it is worth making a detour to the 478 m high "Hoher Hagen" to the Gaußturm (only open on request) with its magnificent panoramic view to the next destination, the old university town of Göttingen.

The "city that creates knowledge" is a historic yet young-at-heart city with a lively cultural scene and many leisure facilities such as the Eiswiese adventure pool.

On the way to the reunited Eichsfeld, you pass the romantic Reinhausen Monastery. Stone Age settlement remains, dreamy half-timbered villages and quiet streams line the route through meadows and hilly forests. The medieval town of Duderstadt, the "capital" of the Eichsfeld region, is characterised by over 600 half-timbered houses, churches and architectural monuments. Outside its gates, the Heinz-Sielmann Foundation at Gut Herbigshagen offers unique nature adventures for the whole family. The Rhum Spring, one of the largest karst springs in Europe, idyllically embedded in the forest, already announces the proximity of the Harz Mountains, whose edge we reach in Herzberg.

From Herzberg with its towering Guelph castle, the trail winds through the gentle hills of the Harz karst landscape to Osterode, where a cosy old town invites you to take a break before the climb into the mountains. (Less experienced cyclists prefer to bypass the Harz to Goslar on the Harz Circular Trail).

Just like the donkey caravans with grain from the former Harz grain depot in the past, today we pull up to the Upper Harz on bikes. Along the Sösetalsperre, which supplies drinking water as far as Braunschweig and Bremen, the trail takes us to old free mining towns that owe their origins to ore and silver mining. Altenau attracts with its herb park and spice gallery, Clausthal-Zellerfeld with the Upper Harz Mining Museum.

From here it's back downhill to Wildemann, where you can follow in the footsteps of the miners in the 19-Lachter-Stolen. Before reaching the Innerste reservoir, where you can also swim, you pass the model railway centre in Lautenthal - a must for railway fans.

Goslar, the over 1.000-year-old imperial town and UNESCO World Heritage Site, also owes its wealth to silver mining. The facilities at Rammelsberg, both above and below ground, look as if the miners had only gone for a break to leave the mountain to you. The impressively preserved old town with half-timbered buildings from many centuries bears witness to the former importance of the town, where the Salier and Staufer emperors wrote European history.

From the Harz Mountains down along idyllic mountain ranges such as the Elm and Hainberge, through river and stream valleys, the route takes you through the Wolfenbütteler Land to Braunschweig. The extraordinary snake farm in Schladen and the "Alte Mühle" museum there, the remains of the imperial palace of Werla, Hornburg, the "Rothenburg of the North", the birthplace of Pope Clement II, or the Eulenspiegelstadt Schöppenstedt: all of these destinations are worth a short detour from the trail.

The Lessing town of Wolfenbüttel, once the Guelph residence, with its magnificent palace, the famous Duke August Library and the State Archaeological Museum, is just as much a testament to the cultural diversity of the region as the large city of Braunschweig.

The route leads idyllically along the Oker river, past the Kennelbad baths through the Bürgerpark to the city centre. Before that, the rococo pavilion, the Schriftsassenhof and the Großes Weghaus, where Lessing and Rabe already stopped off, beckon.

Following the edge of the pedestrian zone, you reach Burgplatz square with its beautiful ensemble of buildings, dominated by Henry the Lion's castle, the city's landmark. Past the State Theatre and through an impressive Wilhelminian quarter, you are back in the countryside and leave the city area at the research airport. Via the Mittelandkanal, past the Holländerwindmühle into the Meine and the Tankumsee, you finally reach Gifhorn.

At the mouth of the Aller and Ise rivers lies the "mill town" of Gifhorn with its open-air mill museum and the Renaissance castle of the Guelph dukes. The castle chapel is one of the first German Protestant religious buildings.

Through the "Sacred Grove", the best-known heathland in southern Heath, you come to Hankensbüttel, whose otter centre is a nature experience for the whole family. At Bokel, the route splits: on the left, the path leads to the Hösseringen museum village and past the Ebstorf monastery with its famous Ebstorf world map.

On the right, the main route continues to the knight's castle in Bad Bodenteich with its medieval playground. In Uelzen, the next destination, you must have seen the curiously impressive Hundertwasser Banhof. Through the Jastorfer See nature reserve and the Klein Bünstorfer Heide, you then come to Bad Bevensen, where the lavishly restored thermal baths await. You should also plan some time for the heath monastery in Medingen. The route leads through idyllic heath villages such as Bienenbüttel and Wichmannsburg with its small fieldstone church and late Gothic carved altar to its destination - Lüneburg.

Everywhere you can sense 500 years and 20 generations of city history. In the incomparable setting of the lovingly restored old town with its youthful flair, you come across art treasures from past eras. This is the right atmosphere to review the past tour...

The Weser-Harz-Heide Cycle Route: Experience body and soul.