These are the best places to travel this summer

Must-see attractions in Central Germany

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    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…

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    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…

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    Wörlitz Park, Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

    Wörlitz Park & Schloss Wörlitz

    Central Germany

    With peacocks feeding on the lawn before a neo-Gothic house, a tree-lined stream flowing towards a Grecian-style temple and a gap in a hedge framing a…

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    The Bauhaus master house building designed by architect Walter Gropius in 1925, Dessau, Germany.

    Meisterhäuser

    Central Germany

    You’ll find the four surviving Meisterhäuser – Gropiushaus, Haus Feininger, Haus Muche/Schlemmer and Haus Kandinsky/Klee – on leafy Ebertallee, a 15…

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    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…

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    Lutherhaus in Wittenberg, Germany.

    Lutherhaus

    Central Germany

    Even those with no previous interest in the Reformation will likely be fascinated by the state-of-the-art exhibits in the Lutherhaus, the former monastery…

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    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…

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    Neuenburg Castle, Freyburg, Germany.

    Schloss Neuenburg

    Central Germany

    This large medieval castle on the hill above town is one of Freyburg’s highlights. It houses an excellent museum that illuminates various aspects of…

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    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…

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    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…

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    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…

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    Bauhausgebäude

    Central Germany

    It’s almost impossible to overstate the significance of this building, erected in 1925–26, as a school of Bauhaus art, design and architecture. Today a…

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    Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte

    Central Germany

    This phenomenal collection of major archaeological finds is one of the most significant in Europe. Priceless permanent exhibits shed light on the early to…

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    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…

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    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…

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    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…

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    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…

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    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…

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    Hundertwasserschule

    Central Germany

    How would you like to study grammar and algebra in a building where trees sprout from the windows and gilded onion domes balance above a rooftop garden?…

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    Stadtkirche Wittenberg

    Central Germany

    The Stadt- und Pfarrkirche St Marien (Stadtkirche Wittenberg) was where Martin Luther’s ecumenical revolution began, with the world’s first Protestant…

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    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…

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    Törten Estate

    Central Germany

    The leafy Törten Estate, built in Dessau’s south in the 1920s, is a prototype of the modern working-class estate. Although many of the 300-plus homes have…

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    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…

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    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…

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    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…

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    Haus Muche/Schlemmer

    Central Germany

    Haus Muche/Schlemmer makes it apparent that the room proportions used by Bauhaus architects, and some of their design experiments, such as low balcony…

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    Schlosskirche

    Central Germany

    Did he or didn’t he nail those 95 theses to the door of the Schlosskirche? We’ll never know for sure, since the original portal was destroyed by fire in…

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    Elbauenpark

    Central Germany

    The Elbauenpark was carved out of the landscape for a 1999 garden exhibition, and has rose, sculpture and other gardens along with a butterfly house. Its…

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    Wasserstrassenkreuz

    Central Germany

    You’ll rub your eyes in disbelief when you first see it: a massive, water-filled bridge straddling the Elbe River. The Wasserstrassenkreuz is Europe’s…

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    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…

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    Dom

    Central Germany

    Magdeburg’s main historical landmark traces its roots to 937 when Otto I founded a Benedictine monastery and built it into a fully fledged cathedral…

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    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…

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    Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen

    Central Germany

    Halle’s central square has no fewer than five towers. One of these is the freestanding bell tower known as Roter Turm, but the other four rise up from the…

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    Haus der Geschichte

    Central Germany

    If you want to catch a glimpse of daily life in the region, especially life beyond the former Iron Curtain, pop by the Haus der Geschichte. The ground…

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    Naumberger Dom

    Central Germany

    The enormous Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul is a masterpiece of medieval architecture. While the crypt and the east choir feature elements of the…

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    Grüne Zitadelle

    Central Germany

    This piglet-pink building with trees growing from its facade and meadows sprouting on its rooftops was the final design of Viennese artist Friedensreich…

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    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…

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    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…

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    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…

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    Haus Kandinsky/Klee

    Central Germany

    Closed for renovation in 2018, Haus Kandinsky/Klee is scheduled to reopen in 2019 and is most notable for the varying pastel shades in which Wassily…