The home of the Brothers Grimm in Germany's green center is made for recreation with its gentle landscapes, cultural treasures and natural riches. If you don't need a long sandy beach or high mountains, you'll find your vacation happiness in northern Hesse. Here are ten recommendations.
Poppy blossom: country idyll in pink and purple
Millions of delicate pink to dark purple blossoms transform the poppy fields in the Frau-Holle-Land Geo-Nature Park into flaming carpets of color from around mid-June to mid-July. In total, their areas around the villages of Meißner-Germerode, Grandenborn and Wendershausen are about 30 soccer fields in size. They cannot be overlooked even from distant hiking trails. It is great fun to walk along the straw-covered paths through the seas of blossoms, to cycle around them or to look at them during a picnic. For many people, their colorful glow inspires them to dream or meditate. The most beautiful time of day to experience the spectacle is early morning. Wise is the one who spends the night nearby. After the first visit to the field, poppy seed pastries and coffee taste especially good. Later there is poppy seed sausage from the grill.
Info: www.mohnbluetefrauholle.land
Overnight stay/eating: www.meissnerhof.de | www.derteichhof.de
Hoher Meißner: House mountain of an ancient goddess
The Kasseler Kuppe, at its peak just under 754 meters above sea level, is the highest point of the Hohe Meißner. Although the small low mountain massif with its gentle slopes lies more like a hill on the Fulda-Werra mountain range, it is one of the most dominant elevations in Germany. Only a 59 kilometer distant spur of the Großer Inselberg is higher. The Hohe Meißner is also known as the residence of Frau Holle. Long before the Brothers Grimm collected their fairy tales in the area around the mountain, it was the cult place of this ancient pre-Christian deity. The entrance to her realm lies under water in the Frau Holle pond. Those who hike there can include in their tour the nearby barefoot park, two kilometers away.
Info: www.naturparkfrauholle.land
Overnight stay/eating: www.berggasthof-hoher-meissner.de | www.gasthaus-eberhardt.de
Crib and hiel holes: landscape like a big cheese
With the Hohe Meißner in good view, hikers near Frankenhain and Frankershausen experience a mysterious up and down through a meadow- and juniper-green rocky landscape that is quite something. From soft, easily changeable limestone and carbonate rock, remnants of a sea millions of years old, nature modeled here depressions, caves, funnels - most of them densely overgrown, among others with gentian and orchids: the Kripp- and Hielöcher. Since there are no paths through the beautiful terrain, which is slightly fragile in places, it may only be entered with a guide who is familiar with the area. In order to preserve the special flora and fauna of the biotope, the 17-hectare protected area is used as pasture as it once was. For the sheep take care that instead of bushes only the species-rich meager grassland grows.
Info: www.berkatal.de
Overnight/dining: https://der-urgeschmack.de
Gut Dankerode: Four-legged friends against stress
Dankerode is located on the Haselbach in the picturesque Stölzing Mountains, only a few kilometers from Rotenburg an der Fulda. One of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in the village, besides the church from 1520, is a knight's estate from the 18th century, today a vacation and equestrian farm with guest apartments and a manor house.
Here live horses, ponies, goats, dogs, cats, chickens and inseparable pair of friends Salvatore and Don Carlos - a llama and a donkey. The close and harmonious relationship of the two is obviously inspiring for people. Already many have benefited from the good-natured, very relaxed animals during joint walks through the nature of Waldhessen.
More offers for deceleration are individual coaching with horses, meditative riding as well as forest bathing. You can also learn to ride here. Those who prefer just to look at the beautiful animals can explore and enjoy the beauty of the surroundings by bike - for example, on an excursion to the nearly 550-meter-high Alheimer mountain. After a panoramic view from the Alheimer tower (21 meters high, 1930), you go to the Alheimerhütte for refreshments. The Breitenbach lakes are also ideal for swimming, sailing or surfing, kayak tours on the Fulda or excursions to Rotenburg or Bad Hersfeld.
Info: www.mittleres-fuldatal.de
Accommodation/dining: www.gut-dankerode.de | https://alheimerhuette.de | https://stiftung-adam-von-trott.de
Eschwege: With Lieschen through the alleys
Lovely half-timbered buildings without end, medieval churches, towers, richly decorated town houses, the castle of the landgraves ... The fact that Eschwege is located on the long-distance hiking trail Werra-Burgen-Steig Hesse has its reasons.
If you really want to see everything worth seeing in the city, you should get help - for example from an original who knows the area, such as "Lieschen vom Schloss". Because the maid, who likes to guide guests through all the alleys, knows every stone in her hometown and many entertaining as well as instructive stories.
Interesting things can also be found in the surrounding area. On the Großer Leuchtberg opposite, for example, is the Bismarck Tower, from which you can look out over Eschwege, the Werra Valley and the Hohe Meißner.
Info: www.werratal-tourismus.de
Overnight stay/eating: www.villa-ponte-wisera.de | www.goldener-engel-eschwege.de
The Werra and its valley: hiking, biking, canoeing
The most beautiful route connecting Hesse with Thuringia and Lower Saxony is the Werra. From its sources in the Thuringian Slate Mountains to Hann. Münden, where it joins the Fulda to form the Weser, it is just under 300 kilometers long.
Those who want to paddle the 22 kilometers from Eschwege to Wahlhausen just past Bad Sooden-Allendorf on the leisurely flowing little river will gladly accept the interruptions at the weir and lock. For the scenery of wooded elevations and small towns through which it winds along this stretch is simply enchanting. It can also be experienced and enjoyed from the saddle of a bicycle. Because the Werratal cycle path follows the river along its entire length.
Info: www.werratal.de
Overnight/dining: http://gasthaus-zur-linde-kleinvach.de
Bad Sooden-Allendorf: At the well in front of the gate
Probably the most important building in the pretty spa and half-timbered town on the Werra is the graduation house. In the past, it was used to extract salt. Today it is used for healing or wellness purposes. The salty water that drips over its brushwood walls creates a soothing and healthy air all around. Part of the facility, which locals call the "vertical North Sea," is part of the sauna landscape of the neighboring Werrataltherme spa.
The salt museum in the Söder Tor at the Kurpark documents the town's salt history of around 1000 years. Four kilometers further on, directly on the death strip of the former border between West and East Germany, is the Schifflersgrund Border Museum. Also worth a visit is the linden tree at the fountain in front of the gate - a living monument dedicated to the German folk song that probably originated here.
Info: www.bad-sooden-allendorf.de
Overnight/dining: www.cafe-feldmann.de
Habichtswald: Green expanses, small wonders
Between junipers, white anemones and yellow primroses blooms bright purple orchid - beautiful wild orchids. There are many small wonders to discover while walking attentively through the Habichtswald. Wonderfully large Lümmelbänke invite you to relax. The hilly nature park is characterized by beech forests and remnants of the volcanic period, which rise as basalt peaks from the green landscape. The rock group Helfensteine, one of the six Dörnberg peaks, is a fabulous background for a picnic on the meadow.
The Habichtswald also includes the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe including Hercules and the castle in Kassel, other castles and ruins, ringwalls and megalithic tombs. In the half-timbered town of Naumburg, in addition to a stroll through the pretty center, a visit to the bumblebee workshop is recommended - a garden specially created for all seven native bumblebee species with an exhibition and observation station.
Info: www.naturpark-habichtswald.de
Overnight stay/eating: www.emstaler-hoehe.de | www.bergcafe-friedrichstein.de
Kellerwald and Edersee: Hesse's National Park
Your gaze sweeps over dense beech foliage and tall, thick trunks, over rocks covered in grass and moss. In between flashes the blue mirror of a body of water. Parts of this forest around the Edersee in the Kellerwald mountains were never used for forestry, so they are really untouched and very, very old - "primeval forest relics," as the scientists say.
Hikes through the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park are journeys through time. One of its most beautiful trails is the 68-kilometer-long Urwaldsteig (primeval forest trail), which reaches up to 521 meters in altitude. Here, in addition to highly aged trees, you will also encounter plants from the Ice Age such as the Pentecostal carnation, owls, woodpeckers and, with a bit of luck, survivors of prehistoric times: the violet-blue root-necked click beetle. These tiny creatures like nothing better than to eat dead wood in large quantities. In this way, they help the forest to reproduce itself.
Recommendations for individual visit program: wildlife park Edersee, treetop path, boat trip on the Edersee, Eder dam and Aqua Park, Waldeck castle, Waldecker mountain railroad
Info: www.nationalpark-kellerwald-edersee.de | www.edersee.com
Accommodation/dining: www.schloss-hotel-waldeck.de | https://hotel-werbetal.com | www.belvedere-edersee.de | www.nationalparkzentrum-kellerwald.de/nz/de/gastronomie/gastraum
Willingen: The heath is the summit
For most, the name of this northern Hessian town sounds like winter sports. Located in Upland, the northeastern part of the Rothaar Mountains, it is the annual venue of the FIS World Cup Ski Jumping.
But a trip to the town of 6,000 inhabitants is also worthwhile in summer. And not only because the Mühlenkopf ski jump, the largest ski jumping facility in the world, and its glass elevator are open to guests. You can also visit the Hochheideturm on the Ettelsberg. From its viewing platform at an altitude of 875 meters, you can enjoy a magnificent panorama. The structure, which opened in 2002, can be reached by cable car or on foot. Before or after, be sure to stop at Siggis Hütte!
Thanks to its location in the Diemelsee Nature Park with its unique mountain heaths, Willingen has direct access to attractive cycling and hiking trails, including special mountain bike and racing bike routes. Worth seeing is, in addition to the Itterbrücke, a 294-meter-long, up to 31-meter-high railroad viaduct from 1917, the Upländer Milchmuhseum and the "Christine slate mine". The mine, which was closed in 1971, can be visited on guided tours, as can the glass manufactory and the brewery. The summer toboggan run is also interesting. The lagoon adventure pool will reopen after reconstruction in spring 2023.
Info: www.willingen.de | www.waldecker-land.de | www.ettelsberg-seilbahn.de
Accommodation/dining: https://familienbauernhof-fass.de | www.bestwestern.de, www.ettelsberg-seilbahn.de/ettelsberg/siggis-huette | https://don-camillo-willingen.de
Note on our own behalf: This article was partly supported by tour operators, restaurants, hotels, airlines and/or tourism agencies. We attach great importance to independent and neutral reporting; therefore, the opinions, impressions and experiences of the respective authors correspond to their personal views.
Advertising: The links marked with an asterisk (*) are affiliate links (advertising).
Photo note: all pictures by Carsten Heinke
