The Ethnographic Museum Herrnhut is an unexpected treat for hikers exploring Upper Lusatia - a small but fascinating mission museum that has been collecting objects brought back from around the world by missionaries of the Moravian Church since 1878. It's a great stop after a day on the trails, bridging local history with distant cultures from Greenland, the Caribbean, Australia and Africa.

Herrnhut sits in the gently rolling countryside of Upper Lusatia, a peaceful base for walking trips through nearby hills and forests. The town itself has a distinctive character - quiet, orderly, shaped by the historic Moravian community, and pleasant to visit year-round, though especially charming in autumn and winter when the small-town calm is at its best.

How to get there

• Herrnhut town centre - short walk, a few minutes, easy
• Also reachable by car or regional train to Herrnhut

Practical information

• The museum closed to visitors in January 2023 for reconstruction and a new exhibition concept
• The collection holds around 6,500 ethnographic objects
• Part of the State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony, belonging to the Dresden State Art Collections

Interesting fact: the collection includes original artefacts brought back from James Cook's third voyage in 1781, from Polynesia and the northwest coast of North America.