Solingen Travel Guide
A detailed destination guide for your next Germany vacation
Solingen Overview
In Medieval times, the swordsmiths of Solingen coined the town's image, which is preserved to this date. In the latter part of the 17th century, a group of swordsmiths from Solingen broke their guild oaths by taking their sword-making secrets with them to Shotley Bridge, County Durham in England. Some 90% of German knives are produced in Solingen.
Solingen lies southwest of Wuppertal (Wuppertal vacation rentals | Wuppertal travel guide) in the Bergisches Land. The city has an area of 89.45 square kilometers, of which roughly 50% is used for agriculture, horticulture, or forestry. The city's border is 62 kilometers long, and the city's dimensions are 15.6 kilometers east to west and 11.7 kilometers north to south. The Wupper river, a right tributary the Rhine, flows through the city for 26 kilometers. The city's highest point at 276 meters is in the northern borough of Gräfrath at the Light Tower, previously the water tower, and the lowest point at 53 meters is in the southwest.
Where to stay in Solingen?
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Things to See in Solingen
Schloss Burg, the Castle of the counts of Berg
Rhineland Industrial Museum Hendrichs Drop Forge, an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage
Klosterkirche, church, built in 1690
Deutsches Klingenmuseum, German Blade Museum, presenting swords and cutlery of all epochs
Müngsten Bridge, a railroad bridge connecting Solingen with the neighbour town of Remscheid (Remscheid vacation rentals | Remscheid travel guide). Standing at 107 m above the ground, it is the highest railroad bridge of Germany.
Botanischer Garten Solingen, a botanical garden
[ source: wikipedia ]
Maps and Driving Directions to Solingen
Museum
[ source: Flickr]
Popular Points of Interest in and near Solingen
Schloss Burg
[ source: Wikipedia ]
Schloss Burg, located in Burg an der Wupper (Solingen), is the largest reconstructed castle in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and a popular tourist attraction. Its early history is closely connected to the growth of the Duchy of Berg.
In the beginning of the 12th century (after 1133), count Adolf II von Berg built Schloss Burg on a mountain over the river Wupper. The old castle of the counts, Castle Berge in Odenthal near Altenberg, was abandoned. The original name of the new castle was Castle Neuenberge (Newmountain). Not until the 15th century, after significant reconstruction as a hunting castle, did it receive its current name reflecting its palatial extension.
Today’s appearance does not exactly match the condition documented by Erich Philipp Ploennies at about 1715. The reconstructed castle of today contains the Museum of the Bergische Land, and the castle church is popular for weddings. The castle also is home to the Memorial for Deportation and the Memorial of the German Eastern Provinces with church bells from Königsberg and Breslau.
Hours: Monday 1pm - 6pm, Tuesday - Sunday 10am - 6pm (closed on Mondays in the Winter.
Admission: Adults 5 €, Concessions 3 €.
The surroundings offer hiking trails to the forests and to Unterburg, that is where the village is located, at the foot of the mountain. There you can buy the Burger Brezel, a local pretzel specialty; the pretzel bakers even have a monument. An aerial train connects Unterburg and the castleGerman Blade Museum
[ source: Museum website ]
The Deutsches Klingenmuseum (Blade Museum) in Solingen arguably has the most extensive collection of knives, swords, daggers and culinary cutlery in the world. The collection spans more than 4000 years starting in the Bronze Age (about 2000 B.C.) up to contemporary times. The museum documents the history of Solingen, Germany, and beyond from the perspective of the knife.
Nearly everything that defines a society can be seen in the design, popularity and manufacture of blades. The development of technology, the rise and fall of the economy, the turbulence of war, the excess or depletion of natural materials, the level of crime and violence all effect the design and manufacture of certain kinds of edged weapons, knives and cutlery. There is also a children's museum adjacent to the main building.
Hours: Tuesday - Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10am - 5pm, Friday 2pm - 5pm.
Related Sites
We collected some useful links related to Solingen. If you know a few more sites not listed here, or also know some insider tips or point of interests for this destination? Please share and submit your Germany travel tip. If approved it will be shown on this page!
- Homepage of Solingen: Solingen (official home page)
- Wikipedia: Solingen
More about the History of Solingen
Solingen was first mentioned in 1067 by a chronicler who called the area "Solonchon". Early variations of the name included Solengen
, Solungen
, and Soleggen
, although the modern name seems to have been in use since the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Coins issued after World War I by the City of Solingen. Blacksmith smelters, dating back to over 2000 years, have been found around the town adding to Solingen's fame as a Northern Europe blacksmith center. Swords from Solingen have turned up in places such as the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the British Isles. Northern Europe prized the quality of Solingen's manufactured weaponry, and they were traded across the European continent. Solingen today remains the knife-center of Germany. It was a tiny village for centuries, but became a fortified town in the 15th century. In World War II, the Old Town was completely destroyed by an air raid in 1944 and 1,040 people died, so there are few sights in the center. In 1929, Ohligs, located in the Prussian Rhine Province, 17 miles by rail north of Cologne (Cologne vacation rentals | Cologne travel guide) became part of Solingen. Its chief manufactures were cutlery and hardware, and there were iron-foundries and flour mills. Other industries are brewing, dyeing, weaving and brick-making. Before 1891, it was known as Merscheid. More recently, the city has been well known because of a May 29, 1993 arson in which two women and three girls died in an arson attack on the house of a Turkish family in Solingen. Seven more people were severely injured. The fire was set by local followers of Neo-Nazism. The incident ignited further controversy when the German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, refused to attend the funeral for the Solingen victims.
[ source: wikipedia ]
What makes this Live Like a German Solingen Travel Guide special...
This Solingen travel guide provides you with an overview of Solingen, Solingen pictures, and a local travel guide that suggests many special trips, unique activities, and vacation ideas, that you can't find in a typical Germany travel guide.
Some of this information is compiled from popular and well-known sources (e.g., such as Wikipedia, Wikitravel, and great pictures from Flickr). However, what makes this Germany travel guide special is that most of the travel suggestions and insider tips are provided by local residents, property owners, and our readers, who share and submit their travel tips with us. All submissions are then editorially reviewed to ensure high quality. All this information is logically organized within this destination guide to make it easy for you to find things quickly.
In addition, the Solingen destination guide features restaurant recommendations, restaurant reviews, where to go for grocery shopping, sports activities, getting around, cultural events and highlights, entertainment, and health related information - so you are informed for your travel to Germany, and you can learn about all the cool things you can do during your Germany vacation!
