Family vacations on the German Fairy Tale Road

Of bats, princesses and many magical encounters: A Journey to Hesse - Where Many of the Brothers Grimm's Fairy Tales Originated.

We see old oaks with gnarled knotholes, that look like eyes. Magical delicate mushrooms growing on dead trunks. Large ferns and deep green. Experience a great silence. In the primeval forest Sababurg in the Reinhardswald we have a picnic. Sitting on a blanket, we have a snack and read a Grimm fairy tale to the children - the one about Sleeping Beauty, of course. The nearby wildly romantic ruins of the Sababurg are said to have served Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm as a model for the description of the castle in Sleeping Beauty. The children are amazed when suddenly a hunter, who looks like something out of a storybook, turns the corner: forest-green uniform, rifle over his shoulder, dog on a leash. "Is he real?" my daughter whispers, but then has to laugh herself.

By train and bus comfortably to the Sababurg: Plan arrival.

We travel along the German Fairy Tale Route, which is 600 kilometers long and runs from Hanau to Bremen. Here in the Hessian section, where the Brothers Grimm spent most of their lives, they collected almost all of the famous fairy tales that almost every child grows up with today. And the Reinhardswald Nature Park is such a sparsely populated and lonely low mountain range that one would not be very surprised if Little Red Riding Hood suddenly appeared - or if we did not find our way back as Hansel and Gretel once did. The imagination is certainly somewhat fired in this ancient forest. And our travel guide, besides the smartphone, is a beautifully illustrated edition of the Grimm's "Kinder- und Hausmärchen".

Not far from the Sababurg lies Germany's oldest zoo - which we will of course also visit: stop by the BienenWelt and the Archepark farm, where specimens of old domestic animal breeds live. We watch bison and wild horses and experience birds of prey. My daughter is thrilled when she is allowed to have her picture taken with Mona, a female desert buzzard, after the flight show. Of course, she looks like a very brave fairy tale princess.

Nach unserem Ausflug zu den Tieren des Waldes fahren wir nach Kassel, um in der GRIMMWELT, einem preisgekrönten Museum rund um das Leben und Arbeiten der Geschwister Grimm, unser Wissen über die Märchen aufzufrischen. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?", the children call out at one of the interactive stations - and receive a somewhat surprising answer. In the museum, you also learn that the youngest Grimm brother Ludwig Emil was a well-known painter and graphic artist. And you can see world-famous hand copies of the Children's and Household Tales - which have since been included in UNESCO's World Documentary Heritage. In these, Jacob and Wilhelm made handwritten corrections to the texts before the fairy tales were finally printed. Incidentally, the Grimms, who lived from the late 18th to the mid-19th century, were not only collectors of fairy tales. They also initiated an important work of German studies: the German Dictionary, which they did not live to see completed. And they were committed to democracy and freedom.

By train comfortably and without traffic jams to Kassel: Plan arrival.

Wir schauen als nächstes in Marburg vorbei, wo die beiden berühmten Brüder einst studierten, denn wir möchten unbedingt den Grimm-dich-Pfad ausprobieren, der durch die Old Town bis hinauf zum Schloss führt. Dort kann man unterwegs Figuren und Symbole aus Grimm-Märchen entdecken. Für uns als Familie ein lustiges Ratespiel: Zu welcher Geschichte gehört der Korb mit dem Wein? Der rosarote Schuh? Oder der große Fisch im Teich? Schön anzusehen sind auch das Lichtkunstprojekt „Sterntaler“ von Doris Conrad an der Universitätskirche sowie „Das blaue Licht“ im Marburger Schlossbrunnen. Aber natürlich fühlt man sich in der Stadt mit ihrem Mittelalterflair durchweg ein wenig wie in einer anderen Zeit. Auch Stadtführungen und Pauschalen rund um die Grimms werden dort angeboten.

By train comfortably and without traffic jams to Marburg: Plan arrival.

Im Märchenhaus in Alsfeld, einer weiteren Station, beschäftigen wir uns mit dem Rotkäppchen-Text, denn die rote Tracht des Kindes soll wie die hiesige Schwärmer Tracht aussehen. Und in Steinau schauen wir in dem Haus vorbei, in dem die Brüder Grimm als Kinder lebten – einem schönen alten Renaissance-Fachwerkbau. Anschließend geht’s in die Teufelshöhle, Hessens älteste Tropfsteinhöhle mit geheimnisvollen Stalaktiten und Stalagmiten – und allerlei teuflischen Sagen und Geschichten dazu. Die Kinder allerdings interessieren sich mehr für die hier lebenden Fledermäuse als für die Geologie der Höhle, aber sie haben ihren Spaß. Und Fledermäuse sind ja durchaus auch sagenhafte Wesen.

By train comfortably and without traffic jams to Alsfeld: Plan arrival.

Only one thing remains - to say goodbye, visit the birthplace of the Grimms. There we briefly consider whether to stay the night. Although there are more than 200 Grimm fairy tales, Hanau has its very own legend - it revolves around the Brothers Grimm National Monument on the market square. Who is who, the children ask, looking up at the two linguists in bronze. Yes, well ... in Hanau, people are quite familiar with fairy tales and have therefore circulated the story that Jacob and Wilhelm secretly swap places at midnight. Of course, this makes such a national monument even more exciting. The children are eager to stay up to check it out, we rather not. No fairy tales today, and certainly no witching hour, just a clear announcement: Wilhelm sits, Jacob stands. And if they haven't swapped, that will still be the case tomorrow. The suggestion for kindness is only moderately well received: We can come back tomorrow after breakfast and have another quick look.

By train comfortably and without traffic jams to Hanau: Plan arrival.

Cover photo: Once a year, the Brothers Grimm Festival ensemble in Hanau impresses with its productions of the popular fairy tales © Fabian Boehle