Weimar Travel Guide
A detailed destination guide for your next Germany vacation
Weimar Overview
Here, you feel as grand and free as the wondrióus nature before your eyes
- Goethe's words still ring true today and are a perfect description of what awaits visitors in and around Weimar. With beautiful scenery including seven country parks and numerous historical gardens - many of which are included on the UNESCO World Heritage list - it's no surprise that Weimar's theme in this year is the city of parks and gardens
. The National Goethe Museum is the most important monument to the classical period. But the town has plenty more museums to visit – more than 40, in fact! They include the Bauhaus Museum, the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, and even the German Bee Museum! The magnificent Town Castle, the exquisite summer residence in Belvedere, or Tiefurt Palace, altogether a much simpler affair: the dukes had some beautiful summer residences built in and around Weimar – every one a gem.
Where to stay in Weimar?
Check out our selection of hand-selected and quality Weimar vacation rentals and holiday apartments.
Things to See in Weimar
Goethe's Home-This Citizen's House was built in 1709 in the Baroque style. Goethe lived there from 1782 to 1789 as a tenant, then from 1792 to 1832 as the owner. The poet planned the form and furnishing of the rooms as well as its rich collections, e.g. in the Juno Room.
Duchess Anna Amalia Library-Anna Amalia had the ‘Green Palace’ turned into a library comprising a unique combination of books, an art collection and architecture. The Rococo Hall is especially famous. After the library was hit by a devastating fire in September 2004, it was reopened in December 2007 as the jewel of Weimar's museums.
Schiller House-Friedrich Schiller spent the last three years of his life in this townhouse on the former Weimar Esplanade. Still containing part of the original furnishings, it reflects the style prevalent in Schiller’s day
Goethe’s Summerhouse-Bought for Goethe by the Duke, the poet lived here until moving to the house on Frauenplan. A place of refuge for Goethe, after his death it became a shrine for his admirers.
Belvedere Palace-Laid out in Duke Ernst August’s day in strict French style, in the late eighteenth century the gardens were transformed along the lines of the English landscape approach and many of the original buildings were demolished. Those which have been preserved are the cavaliers’ houses, the orangery along with the gardener’s house, and the inn. The palace contains an exquisite collection of arts and crafts, including precious porcelain, faïence, glasses and select furniture.
Ettersburg Palace-The Ettersburg Palace complex consists of the old palace itself, the adjacent church, and the new palace in front, and was originally used as Anna Amalia’s summer residence. During this time, a literary and artistic circle met here, to which Wieland, Goethe or Herder belonged, among others.
[ source: wikipedia ]
Maps and Driving Directions to Weimar
It is connected by one motorway and two routes: Autobahn, A4, Routes 7 & 85. There are railways running from Weimar to Erfurt (westbound), Halle/Leipzig (north-east-bound), Jena-Gera-Chemnitz (eastbound) and Kranichfeld (southbound). The ICE-line-trains from Frankfurt to Dresden arrive in Weimar every hour.
Stadtschloss Weimar
[ source: Flickr]
Popular Points of Interest in and near Weimar
Bauhaus sites in Weimar
Between 1919 and 1933, the Bauhaus School, based first in Weimar and then in Dessau, revolutionized architectural and aesthetic concepts and practices. The buildings put up and decorated by the school's professors (Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Wassily Kandinsky) launched the Modern Movement, which shaped much of the architecture of the 20th century.
In December of 1996 the Bauhaus Sites in Weimar and Dessau were included as part of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO on the grounds that the Bauhaus buildings in Weimar and Dessau represent the so calles Bauhaus School
of architecture, which introduced revolutionary ideas of archtitecture, building and town planning between 1919 and 1933. The buildings by various Bauhaus professors - like Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Wassily Kandinsky - established the Bauhaus Style, which decisively shaped the architecture of the 20th century. The Bauhaus in Weimar is represented by the former Grand Duke's Saxon School of Fine Arts, the Grand Duke's Saxon School of Arts and Crafts and the Haus am Horn.
Classical Weimar UNESCO World Heritage Site
[ source: Wikipedia ]
The World Heritage Committee designated the ensemble of buildings from the Classical Weimar
period as being one of UNESCO's Wolrd Heritage Sites at its 24th session in Kyoto, Japan in 1998. The Weimar Classic age coincided with the peak of German national literature (circa 1800). The Weimar Classic period ran from 1775-1832, which was when Goethe lived and worked in this small town. Apart from Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Christoph Martin Wieland and Johann Gottfried Herder also contributed to the Weimar Classic period. It could only developed in an intellectual cultural atmosphere created by Duchess Anna Amalia and further encouraged by Duke Carl August. Important European ideas of literary criticism, art theory, aesthetics and teaching evolved in Weimar in that time.
The World Heritage Site of classical Weimar contains: Goethe's Home at the Frauenplan, Schiller's Home, The Widow Palace, The Town Church St.Peter and Paul, The Residential Palace, the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, the Ducal Vault and Historic Cemetery, the Park on the river Ilm with its Roman House, Goethe's Garden House, the Tiefurt Palace and Park, the Belvedere Palace and Orangery and its Park, and the Ettersburg Palace and Park.
For more information visit the Weimer Tourism Bureau
Related Sites
We collected some useful links related to Weimar. 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 Weimar: Weimar (official home page)
- Wikipedia: Weimar
More about the History of Weimar
Weimar is one of the great cultural sites of Europe, having been home to such luminaries as Goethe, Schiller, and Herder; and in music the piano virtuosi Hummel (a pupil of Mozart), Liszt and Bach. It has been a site of pilgrimage for the German intelligentsia since Goethe first moved to Weimar in the late 18th century. The tombs of Goethe and Schiller as well as their archives, may be found in the city. Goethe's Elective Affinities (1809) is set around the city of Weimar. On September 3, 2004, a fire broke out at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library. The library contains a 13,000-volume collection including Goethe's masterpiece Faust, in addition to a music collection of the Duchess. An authentic Lutheran Bible from 1534 was saved from the fire. The damage stretched into the millions of dollars. The number of books in this historic library exceeded 1,000,000, of which 40,000 to 50,000 were destroyed past recovery. The library, which dates back to 1691, belongs to UNESCO world heritage, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. The fire, with its destruction of much historical literature, amounts to a huge cultural loss for Germany, Europe, and indeed the world. A number of books were shock-frozen in the city of Leipzig to save them from rotting.
[ source: wikipedia ]
What makes this Live Like a German Weimar Travel Guide special...
This Weimar travel guide provides you with an overview of Weimar, Weimar 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 Weimar 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!
