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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.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Fairy-Tale Road.

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Herkules
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 towering stone pyramid, atop an octagonal amphitheatre, atop an imposing hill at the western end of Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe – altogether some 600m above sea level. Perhaps more phenomenal than the statue itself is the engineering genius behind its 2.3km Wasserspiele cascade, which takes place every Wednesday, Sunday and public holiday from 1 May to 3 October.
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Altstadt
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 historic Rathaus (1512). From there it’s a steep climb to the Lutheran St-Marien-Kirche, an imposing red-brick church with great views over the lower town. The terrace on the southern side is the place to watch the sunrise, particularly on weekends, and often in the company of students, revellers, dog walkers and rough sleepers.
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Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe
Situated 6.5km west of Kassel Hauptbahnhof, and 3km west of Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe station, in the enchanting Habichtswald nature park, this spectacular 560-hectare, Unesco-listed baroque parkland takes its name from Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, the late 18th-century palace situated within. You can spend an entire day here, walking through the forest, enjoying a romantic picnic and exploring the castles, fountains, grottoes, statues and water features. The Herkules statue and water feature and faux-medieval castle Löwenburg are also here.
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Nationalpark Kellerwald-Edersee
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 Age, and the Edersee, a serpentine artificial reservoir 55km northeast of Marburg. Animals such as red deer, lynx, honey buzzards, eagles, bats and fire salamanders live wild in the park, while some can be seen in protective custody at the Wildtierpark in Edertal. E-bikes and information aplenty are available at the NationalparkZentrum in Vöhl-Herzhausen.
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Schloss Wilhelmshöhe
Erstwhile home to Kaiser Wilhelm II, Wilhelmshöhe Palace (1786–98) at the foot of Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, today houses one of Germany’s greatest art collections, especially of Flemish and Dutch baroque painting. The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meiste (Old Masters Gallery) features over 500 works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Jordaens, Cranach, Dürer, Van Dyck and many others. The 23 rooms of the Weissenstein wing comprise the oldest part of the palace, dating from 1790, undamaged in WWII and filled with original furnishings and paintings.
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Schloss Hämelschenburg
Some 11km southwest of Hamelin, in pretty parkland near the Emmer River, sits this stunning palace, built in the Italianate Weser Renaissance style between 1588 and 1613. Among the finest of its kind in Germany, the schloss lies on a former pilgrimage road that eventually led to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. Tours take you through rooms decked out with original Renaissance furnishings and paintings, with the south wing especially preserved in its original layout.
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Elisabethkirche
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 earliest purely Gothic hall church. The highlight inside is the Hohe Chor (high choir), where you can see beautiful Gothic stained glass behind an astounding stone Hochaltar (high altar). The cathedral also houses the golden Elisabeth-Schrein (Elisabeth Shrine), dedicated to St Elisabeth, whose burial here made the church a site of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages.
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Schloss Wilhelmsthal
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 palace between 1747 and 1761. The magnificent baroque Schlosspark Wilhelmstahl is free to explore, while the palace itself can be visited only on an hourly guided tour. Among the many delightful rooms, visitors love the 'Gallery of Beauties' (paintings of court ladies) and the master kitchen, where the Bratenwendemaschine (roast turning machine) still functions.
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Grimmwelt
Occupying a prime position atop the Weinberg bunker in the scenic Weinbergpark, the fabulous Grimmwelt could be described as an architect-designed walk-in sculpture housing the most significant collection of Brothers Grimm memorabilia on the planet. Visitors are guided around original exhibits, state-of-the-art installations, and fun, hands-on activities, aided by entries from the Grimms' German Dictionary: there was more to these famous folklorists and linguists than just fairy tales, didn't you know?