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 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.

To get here from Kassel, take the B7 north to Calden and follow the signs, or from Wilhelmshöhe, take the L3217 north and follow the signs.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Fairy-Tale Road attractions

1. Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe

5.37 MILES

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

2. Schloss Wilhelmshöhe

5.4 MILES

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

3. Herkules

5.41 MILES

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…

4. Löwenburg

5.65 MILES

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…

5. Fridericianum

6.52 MILES

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

6. Museum für Sepulkralkultur

6.59 MILES

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

7. Grimmwelt

6.61 MILES

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

8. Documenta Halle

6.66 MILES

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