The German Fairy Tale Route, a 360-mile long stretch in North Germany, brings forth all the destinations that inspired scholars Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm to write fairy tales such as the Pied Piper of Hamelin and Cinderella.
The Grimm brothers were authors who together specialised in collecting and publishing folklore during the 19th century. They were among the best-known storytellers of folk tales, and made immortal the tales of Sleeping Beauty, The Frog Prince, The Goose-Girl, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, and Snow White.The route leads from a national monument in Hanau, near Frankfurt, where the two brothers were born in the years 1785 and 1786, through the Kinzig valley to Steinau an der Straße, the place of their childhood, where the Fairytale House of the German people can be visited today.The next station of their life was the picturesque upper-town of Marburg – where they discovered their love for the almost forgotten tales of the people. In the North Hessian metropolis Kassel, they collected their world famous fairy-tales, founded the German grammar and started the German dictionary.The Brothers Grimm Museum in the Palais Bellevue, where they once worked, displays memorabilia, manuscripts and their books today. Until 1837, they were professors in the romantic university town of Göttingen.Fairy-tale figures can be found at various points in the journey. Little Red Riding Hood in the Schwalm region, Sleeping Beauty at the Sababurg Castle hidden in Reinhard-Forest, and the world- renowned "Pied Piper" of Hamelin. The Fairy Tale Rout offers much art, culture and eight national parks. After exiting the Autobahn, you’ll drive on meandering byways through dreamy river valleys and magnificant forests. Soak up the atmosphere, admire centuries-old architecture, colourful villages with half-timbered houses, romantic towns, quiet market squares, old churches and imposing castles.Country towns like Hanau and Marburg, Göttingen and Hameln are architectural gems of exhibit beauties and historical interests. The Wilhelmshöhe just above Kassel imparts a special fascination, and the coastal city of Bremen carries that typical hanseatic flair.The route offers a variety of events that are staged every year, like the weeks of fairy tales in Bad Oeynhausen, Steinau and Bad Sooden-Allendorf and the Fairy Tale Festival in Hanau as well as different open-air performances.