Baumwipfelpfad Bad Harzburg, Canopy walkway in Bad Harzburg, Germany
Baumwipfelpfad Bad Harzburg is an elevated walkway running 300 meters through the Harz Mountains forest at varying heights above ground. The route features observation platforms and resting spots positioned to showcase the surrounding Lower Saxony countryside.
The first sod was turned on 23 September 2014, and Biedenkapp Stahlbau GmbH built the walkway between November 2014 and March 2015 for about 4.6 million euros. It opened on 8 May 2015 as Lower Saxony's and the Harz's first tree-top path, and welcomed its millionth visitor on 9 October 2019.
The site serves as a learning center where visitors discover forest ecosystems through informational displays positioned throughout the route. The panels show how the woodland functions and which plants and animals inhabit this environment.
The route is fully barrier-free, with a maximum gradient of 5.8 percent, so wheelchairs and pushchairs can manage the whole circuit. The entrance crown spirals upward for about 300 metres before the bridges begin. The walkway lies in the Kalte Tal south of the Großer Burgberg, reachable from the B4 road to the west or through the Kurpark.
The 2019 addition is a zipline-style ride: suspended from a harness, visitors glide about 1,000 metres from the 483-metre Burgberg down into the Kalte Tal at up to 15 km/h, ending at the foot of the walkway. It opened on 1 August 2020 and cost 2.5 million euros; environmental groups criticised it as a "Verrummelung" of the protected landscape.
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