Schwarzenberg, in the western Erzgebirge, is a town of steep streets, slate roofs and a castle and church perched on a rock above the Schwarzwasser river, and the hills around it are riddled with old mine workings. The Rother Berg, the red mountain, takes its name from the iron ore that colours its soil, and it is one of the components of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border UNESCO site listed in 2019. For eight centuries, miners in these mountains dug for silver, tin, iron, cobalt and later uranium, and their work shaped not only the landscape but the culture of the whole region.
Around the Rother Berg you can find traces of shafts, spoil heaps and old mining paths in the forest, and the nearby village of Pöhla has a visitor mine, a former tin and iron mine with huge underground chambers. The mining culture lives on in the traditions of the Erzgebirge: the wooden Christmas decorations, candle arches called Schwibbögen that once lit the miners' way home, nutcrackers and smoking men, and the parades of miners in their black uniforms during the Advent season. Schwarzenberg's Christmas market is one of the most atmospheric in the region.
The riding here is genuinely good. The Erzgebirge is a long, gently tilted range, with roads that climb from the valleys through spruce forest to the high plateau along the Czech border, with tight bends, steep gradients and changing surfaces. From Schwarzenberg, routes lead south to Johanngeorgenstadt and across the border into Bohemia, or east to Oberwiesenthal and the Fichtelberg, at 1,215 metres the highest mountain in eastern Germany. The weather is cooler and wetter than in the lowlands, with snow lingering into spring on the heights and mist common in autumn. Weekends bring many motorcyclists, and some popular stretches have speed controls.
Schwarzenberg has fuel, supermarkets, cafés and restaurants, and the surrounding villages have traditional inns. Local dishes are hearty mountain food: potato dumplings, Buttermilchgetzen, a potato cake made with buttermilk, and the Christmas stollen. A ride across the border is easy, as there are no controls, and the Czech side offers cheaper fuel and beer, as well as spa towns like Karlovy Vary within easy reach.