The Fairy-Tale Road

If you're in search of Sleeping Beauty, the Pied Piper, or Rumpelstiltskin, the Fairy-Tale Road, or Märchenstrasse, is the place to look. One of Germany's designated tour routes, the Märchenstrasse leads deep into the heart of the country through the landscapes that inspired the Brothers Grimm. It's a route perhaps even more in tune with romantics than the Romantic Road. Fairy tales come to life in forgotten villages, ancient castles, and misty valleys where the silence of centuries is broken only by the splash of a ferryman's oar. The meandering, progressive path seems to travel back in time, into the reaches of childhood, imagination, and the German folk consciousness. These old-world settings are steeped in legend and fantasy.

This part of Germany shaped the lives and imaginations of the two most famous chroniclers of German folk history and tradition, the Brothers Grimm. They sought out the region's best storytellers to bring us such unforgettable characters as Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White.

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