German Fairy Tale Route

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Hanau

   Hanau sits where the Kinzig flows into the Main, east of Frankfurt, and it is the starting point of the German Fairy Tale Route because it is the birthplace of the Brothers Grimm. Jacob was born here in 1785 and Wilhelm a year later, and a large bronze monument of the two seated figures stands in front of the town hall on the market square. Hanau has about eighty-nine thousand people and was heavily damaged in the Second World War, so it is not a pretty old town, but it has a pleasant riverside and a long tradition of goldsmithing and jewellery.

   Read the complete Hanau write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hanau is where the day begins. Next is Steinau an der Strasse.

2. 2. Steinau an der Strasse

   The Brothers Grimm spent part of their childhood here, and the town has not forgotten it. Jacob and Wilhelm lived in Steinau from 1791 to 1796, when their father was the district magistrate, and they played in the courtyard of the Amtshaus, a handsome half-timbered building that is now a museum. The Fairy Tale Route runs through the town, and the old market square has a fountain and a plaque dedicated to them.

   Read the complete Steinau an der Strasse write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Steinau an der Strasse comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Marburg.

3. 3. Marburg

   Marburg climbs a steep hillside above the Lahn river, with a castle at the top, a Gothic church on the slope and a student at nearly every corner. It is a university town in the real sense: the university was founded in 1527 as the first Protestant university in the world, and roughly a quarter of the population is made up of students. That gives the narrow lanes of the old town an energy that few places in Hesse can match, with bookshops, cafes and bars crowded into every nook.

   Read the complete Marburg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 183 km into the recorded legs you reach Marburg. Next is Kassel.

4. 4. Kassel

   Kassel is a city that rebuilt itself after being flattened by wartime bombing, so the first impression from the ring road is more concrete than fairy tale. Give it an hour and the other Kassel appears. This is where the Brothers Grimm lived and worked for years in the early nineteenth century, collecting the tales that would make them famous, and the city is the start of the German Fairy Tale Route to Bremen. A museum in the city, the Grimmwelt, tells their story and shows original manuscripts.

   Read the complete Kassel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kassel, about halfway. Next is Hamelin.

5. 5. Hamelin

   In Hamelin, the rats are on the pavement. A trail of little brass rats leads through the old town to the Rattenfängerhaus, the house of the Pied Piper, and the town has built its identity around the legend. According to the story, in 1284 a stranger in colourful clothes came to Hameln, as the Germans spell it, and offered to rid the town of its rats. He led them into the Weser with his pipe, the citizens refused to pay him, and he returned and led away their children. The earliest records speak of a loss of a hundred and thirty children, and historians still argue over what actually happened.

   Read the complete Hamelin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hamelin sits at 658 km, late in the day. Next is Bremen.

6. 6. Bremen

   Bremen is the city of four animals, and you will meet them before you have parked: a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster standing on each other's backs in bronze beside the town hall. In the Grimm tale they set out to become musicians in Bremen, but they never actually get there, finding a robbers' house on the way, so the city is the destination of a story whose characters stopped short. The statue's front legs are polished gold by visitors rubbing the donkey's hooves for luck.

   Read the complete Bremen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 583 km.