Fairy-Tale Road

The 600km Märchenstrasse (Fairy-Tale Road) is one of Germany’s most popular tourist routes. It’s made up of cities, towns and hamlets in four states (Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine–Westphalia and Bremen), and isn't actually a single road: all its sites are connected by association with the works of Jakob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859) Grimm.

There are over 60 stops on the Märchenstrasse. Major ones include (from south to north): Hanau, the birthplace of Jakob and Wilhelm; Steinau, where the brothers spent their youth; Marburg, in the university in which they studied for a short time; Kassel, with a world-class museum dedicated to the Grimms; Göttingen, where they served as professors in the university before being expelled in 1837 for their liberal views; Bodenwerder, made (in)famous by the 'Liar Baron' von Münchhausen; and Hamelin (Hameln), forever associated with the legend of the Pied Piper.