Nordhausen is a 44 000 inhabitant town in Thuringia. It is situated within the greater Harz area.
In Germany Nordhausen is a household name, mostly for the "Nordhäuser Doppelkorn" that has been produced here continuously since at least 1507, when the first mention of a tax on locally produced liquor was made. Korn or its higher alcohol variety Doppelkorn is a distilled spirit made from grain, usually rye.
Just out of town lies one of the most notorious concentration camps on German soil from World War II. Mittelbau-Dora is the site where forced laborers had to produce V2 rockets that were later fired on London, Antwerp and other cities throughout the Western front in the waning months of the war. Despite the deadliness of the weapon itself, conditions in the forced labor camps were so horrific that actually more people died producing V2 than through its actual use.
Nordhausen also lies on the Harzer Schmalspurbahn (HSB) a narrow gauge steam railway that covers most of the Harz, including a line up to the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz. The Nordhausen tram (streetcar) system is connected to the HSB network and in fact one line uses part of it for an interurban connection to Ilfeld.
The few airports in the vicinity of Nordhausen have a rather limited number of flights. As such your best bets are probably Leipzig-Halle (IATA: LEJ) to the east or (a bit further away and to the southwest) Frankfurt Airport (IATA: FRA). Both airports are connected to the S-Bahn network of their respective cities and you can book a train and plane combined ticket with most airlines. See rail air alliances for more on specifics.
See also: intercity buses in Germany
Nordhausen has a tram system that also connects to neighboring Ilfeld via an interurban line that uses the tracks of the Harzer Schmalspurbahn. The line is unique in the sense that the trains have a diesel-electric hybrid engine, using electricity from the overhead wires for most of their trip and the internal diesel generator for the stretches without overhead wires. The fare system is zone based and divided into five zones with one zone costing 1.60€ and the full five zones costing 3.70€ per single ride. Week tickets are also available on a zone basis. The cheapest (one zone) week ticket costs 10.40€ (meaning it is worth it after the seventh trip) whereas the full five zone week ticket costs 24.10€ (making it break even after seven five zone trips).
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