Holiday Route Silver Road

Over about 275 kilometers, between Zwickau and Dresden and also crossing the border into the Czech Republic, the holiday route impressively connects the witnesses of history. These outstanding cultural treasures and high-quality events are the basis of today’s richness of the Ore Mountains.

So simply follow the silver ribbon on your personal discovery journey to the treasures of the experiential homeland Ore Mountains.

Saxon-Bohemian Silver Road

Experience 800 years of mining culture comfortably by car

Discover the Ore Mountains along the Silver Road, which connects cities and sites of centuries-old silver mining over a length of 275 km, fascinating in their diversity like nowhere else in Germany!

Anyone traveling in the Ore Mountains still encounters the miners’ traditions everywhere today. The heartfelt "Glück auf" greeting you hear here is the best proof of this. Where it has its roots can best be explored by entering one of the many show mines.

Nowhere in Germany today are there so many historical witnesses from mining of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, so many buildings and artworks related to mining as in the Ore Mountains. They form a unique cultural landscape in Europe, for which the region is striving for UNESCO World Heritage status.

More than 800 years ago, the people of the Ore Mountains discovered that their land is rich in ores, and they set about extracting the valuable treasure. Countless tunnels and shafts, hammer mills, and smelting works were created. Gradually, a modern industrial region developed whose reputation drew thousands of people. With the new wealth, magnificent towns were built, for example Marienberg – a place completely designed on the drawing board – or the mining town of Freiberg, the silver town par excellence. Magnificent sacred buildings such as Freiberg Cathedral, St. Anne’s Church in Annaberg-Buchholz, and St. Wolfgang’s Church in Schneeberg were also constructed, which still rank among Germany’s most important cultural monuments today.

The witnesses of the various mining epochs line up – like pearls on a string – along the Saxon-Bohemian Silver Road. Over about 275 kilometers from Zwickau to Dresden and across the border into the Czech Republic, the old trade route impressively shows what everyday life must have looked like back then. It tells the story of the shining metal that shaped this region. Mills, copper hammers, the first arithmetic school of Adam Ries, and Silbermann organs are just a small part of the attractions awaiting curious visitors in the Ore Mountains.

For a very long time, mining set the pace. From it developed the Christmas tradition and the craftsmanship of the Ore Mountains, as well as customs and traditions that are still alive today and can be experienced most intensively during Advent. On these days, festive fanfare sounds accompany the miners as they march in their magnificent costumes.