Places to Explore

• Bad Karlshafen

  Viewed from one of the benches overlooking the inland harbor, there's scarcely a building in the pretty little spa of Bad Karlshafen that's not in the imposing baroque style—grand and starkly white... (more)

• Bergen-Belsen

• Bodenwerder

  The charming Weser town of Bodenwerder plays a central role in German popular literature. It's the home of the Lügenbaron (Lying Baron) von Münchhausen (1720-97), who was known as a teller of... (more)

• Bremen

  Germany's smallest city-state, Bremen, is also Germany's oldest and second-largest port (only Hamburg is larger). Together with Hamburg and Lübeck, Bremen was an early member of the merchant-run Hanseatic... (more)

• Bremerhaven

  This busy port city, where the Weser empties into the North Sea, belongs to Bremen, about an hour to the south. You can take in the enormity of the port from a promenade, which runs its length. In addition... (more)

• Fulda

  The episcopal city of Fulda is well worth a detour off the Fairy-Tale Road. There are two distinct parts to its downtown area. One is a stunning display of baroque architecture, replete with cathedral... (more)

• Gelnhausen

  Gelnhausen's picturesque Altstadt (Old Town) offers the first taste of the half-timber architecture and cobblestone streets that await in abundance farther north.... (more)

• Göttingen

  Although Göttingen is not strictly on the Fairy-Tale Road, it's closely associated with the Brothers Grimm because they served as professors and librarians at the city's university from 1830 to 1837... (more)

• Hameln

  Hameln (or Hamelin, in English) is home to the story of the gaudily attired Pied Piper, who rid the town of rats by playing seductive melodies on his flute. The rodents followed him willingly, waltzing... (more)

• Hanau

  The Fairy-Tale Road begins in once-upon-a-time fashion at Hanau, the town where the Brothers Grimm were born. Although Grimm fans will want to start their pilgrimage here, Hanau is now a traffic-congested... (more)

• Hannover

  Hannover is somewhat off the Fairy-Tale Road, yet its culture and commerce influence the quieter surrounding towns. As a trade-fair center, where hotel rooms are sometimes hard to come by, Hannover competes... (more)

• Hannoversch-Münden

  This delightful town, known as Hann. Münden and seemingly untouched by the modern age, shouldn't be missed. You'll have to travel a long way through Germany to find a grouping of half-timber houses... (more)

• Höxter

  Stop at Höxter to admire its Rathaus, a perfect example of the Weser Renaissance style, combining three half-timber stories with a romantically crooked tower. Though it has no better claim than any... (more)

• Kassel

  The Brothers Grimm lived in Kassel, their mother's hometown, as teenagers, and also worked there as librarians at the court of the king of Westphalia, Jerome Bonaparte (Napoléon's youngest brother)... (more)

• Marburg

  "I think there are more steps in the streets than in the houses." That is how Jacob Grimm described the half-timber hillside town of Marburg, which rises steeply from the Lahn River to the spectacular... (more)

• Sababurg

• Steinau an der Strasse

  The little town of Steinau—full name Steinau an der Strasse (Steinau "on the road," referring to an old trade route between Frankfurt and Leipzig)—had a formative influence on the Brothers Grimm... (more)