Must-see attractions in Fairy-Tale Road

  • A vertical shot of the Hercules monument in Wilhelmshoehe Castle Park in Kassel, Germany.

    Herkules

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Erected between 1707 and 1717 by Landgrave Karl and declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 2013, the 8.25m-high copper Herkules statue stands atop a…

  • The historical townhall and market place of Marburg, Germany.

    Altstadt

    Fairy-Tale Road

    One of the joys of Marburg is simply strolling around its steeply winding medieval core. Its focal point is the Marktplatz; on the southern side is the…

  • Old tree and roots at Edersee lake, at Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, Waldeck-Frankenburg, Hessen, Germany.

    Nationalpark Kellerwald-Edersee

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Hesse's first national park encompasses the Kellerwald, one of the largest extant red-beech forests in Central Europe and a rare survivor of the last Ice…

  • St. Michael's church in Fulda, Germany.

    Michaelskirche

    Fairy-Tale Road

    A living kernel of Fulda's long history, this early-9th-century church was once the cemetery chapel for the Benedictine monastery around which the town…

  • Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Situated 6.5km west of Kassel Hauptbahnhof, and 3km west of Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe station, in the enchanting Habichtswald nature park, this spectacular 560…

  • Schloss Wilhelmshöhe

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Erstwhile home to Kaiser Wilhelm II, Wilhelmshöhe Palace (1786–98) at the foot of Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, today houses one of Germany’s greatest art…

  • Grimmwelt

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Occupying a prime position atop the Weinberg bunker in the scenic Weinbergpark, the fabulous Grimmwelt could be described as an architect-designed walk-in…

  • Stadtschloss

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Fulda's spectacular Stadtschloss (town castle) was built from 1706 to 1721 as the prince-abbots' residence. Designed by famed baroque architect Johann…

  • Schloss Hämelschenburg.

    Schloss Hämelschenburg

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Some 11km southwest of Hamelin, in pretty parkland near the Emmer River, sits this stunning palace, built in the Italianate Weser Renaissance style…

  • Church Elisabethkirche in Marburg, Germany.

    Elisabethkirche

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Built by the knights of the Teutonic Order between 1235 and 1283 (its two high spires were added later), the Protestant Elisabethkirche is Germany’s…

  • The Fridericianum museum in the center of Kassel, Germany.

    Fridericianum

    Fairy-Tale Road

    This excellent contemporary art museum hosts temporary exhibitions and symposia exploring relevant, topical themes such as the re-emergence of fascism in…

  • Treetops of beech and oak trees in a forest near Göttingen.

    Göttinger Wald

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Göttinger Wald is one of the best mixed forest stands of predominantly beech and oak in the region. It’s easily reached by following Herzberger…

  • Schloss Wilhelmsthal

    Fairy-Tale Road

    About 15km northwest of Kassel you'll find one of Germany's best-preserved and most beautiful rococo palaces, built by Landgrave Wilhelm VIII as a leisure…

  • Altes Rathaus

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Built in 1270, the Old Town Hall once housed the merchants’ guild. Inside, later decorations added to its Great Hall include frescos of the coats of arms…

  • Landgrafenschloss

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Perched at the highest point in Marburg is the massive Landgrave Castle, built between 1248 and 1300 by the first Hessian Landgrave, Heinrich I, on the…

  • Museum Hameln

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Many of Hamelin’s finest buildings were constructed in the Weser Renaissance style, which has strong Italian influences. Since 1912, two of the best have…

  • Vonderau Museum

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Named for an amateur archaeologist who discovered Stone, Bronze and Iron Age relics in the area (the seeds of the current collection), the Vonderau has…

  • Städtisches Museum

    Fairy-Tale Road

    This lovely four-storey fachwerk house, where Johannes Brahms stayed in the summer of 1853, is home to an interesting series of exhibits on Göttingen's…

  • Hochzeitshaus

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Situated on the corner of Markt and Osterstrasse is the Hochzeitshaus (1610–17), built to house weddings and other ceremonies. The last structure built in…

  • Dom zu Fulda

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Inside the baroque Dom (cathedral), built from 1704 to 1712, you’ll find gilded furnishings, plenty of putti (figures of infant boys), some dramatic…

  • WildtierPark Edersee

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Species native (and often those that have been reintroduced) to the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, including wolves, red deer, eagle owls, lynx, bison,…

  • Burgruine Polle

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Sitting on a crag in a loop of the Weser River in the little village of Polle, 15km from Bodenwerder, this wonderfully accessible castle ruin (c 1200),…

  • Brüder Grimm-Haus and Museum Steinau

    Fairy-Tale Road

    The famous German folklorists, born in nearby Hanau, lived in this handsome Renaissance stone house as children, from 1791 to 1796. It now houses exhibits…

  • Schloss Steinau

    Fairy-Tale Road

    One of the most complete surviving early-modern castles in Europe, Steinau Castle is well worth a visit. Built for the Count of Hanau in the mid-16th…

  • Löwenburg

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Situated within Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, the faux-ruined 'Lion's Castle' was built between 1793 and 1801 in a 'medieval' style so ornately romantic it's…

  • Münchhausen Museum

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Bodenwerder’s principal attraction struggles a little with the difficult task of conveying the chaos and fun associated with the ‘liar baron’ – a man who…

  • Museum für Sepulkralkultur

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Billed as ‘a meditative space for funerary art’, this atypical museum examines attitudes to death and burial practices, and challenges western reluctance…

  • Historisches Museum Schloss Philippsruhe

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Located within the early-18th-century Philippsruhe Palace, this museum displays 17th- to 20th-century art and crafts (faience, silverwork and the like),…

  • Deutsches Hugenotten Museum

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Over three floors of a former tobacco warehouse, this interesting museum traces the history of the French Hugeunot refugees in Germany. The exhibits…

  • Dommuseum

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Reached through a delightful garden strewn with stone carvings, the Domdechaneigarten, this museum occupies the cathedral's former seminary chapel. Relics…

  • Documenta Halle

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Built expressly to augment the Museum Fridericianum as the primary exhibition space for Kassel's quinquennial art extravaganza Documenta, the Halle hosts…

  • Neue Galerie

    Fairy-Tale Road

    The restored Neue Galerie, once the town residence of Napoleon's little brother Jérôme but sadly damaged in WWII, showcases paintings and sculptures by…

  • Marburger Kunstverein

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Seven temporary exhibitions of contemporary art each year are fleshed out with recitals of experimental music in this compact gallery.

  • Gänseliesel

    Fairy-Tale Road

    The Gänseliesel (little goose girl) statue, the symbol of the city, is hailed locally as the most kissed woman in the world – after graduating, doctoral…

  • Bismarckturm

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Set amid parkland southeast of the centre, Göttingen's 1898 Bismarck Tower has a 31m viewing platform from which you can see as far as the Göttingen…

  • Mittelalterliche Synagoge

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Beneath this giant glass cube lie the excavated and illuminated remains of a 13th- and 14th-century synagogue.

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