Messel: Earth’s History, Fossils and Half-Timbered Houses

Messel is shaped by the Messel Pit, its wealth of fossils and its historic town centre. This offers several ways to plan your stay: the geological history of the fossil site, learning about it at the museum, half-timbered houses and local history, or hikes with a range of destinations. You can explore these themes individually or combine them.

The Messel Pit and the history of the Earth

In 1995, the Messel Pit became Germany’s first UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. The fossil site documents the history of the Earth 47 million years ago; the preservation, quantity and variety of the fossils found there are unique. An observation platform on the site offers a view into the pit. The freely accessible outdoor area also invites you to marvel, play and linger. This lets you experience the place not only as a fossil site, but also from an on-site perspective.

Understanding fossils at the museum

The Messel Fossil and Local History Museum provides information about exceptionally well-preserved fossils, 48 million years old, from lake deposits, as well as the living conditions of the time. The explanations connect the finds with the question of the environments in which those organisms lived. Written explanations are provided alongside the exhibits. For selected items, particularly fossils, you can also access spoken explanations on your smartphone. This service covers selected objects; written information is available directly alongside the exhibits.

Half-timbered houses and local history

The historic centre of Messel is a protected heritage ensemble. It consists mainly of buildings on both sides of Bruchgasse, Langgasse, Hanauer Straße and Holzhäusergasse. The streetscapes are characterised by two-storey half-timbered houses with their gable ends facing the street, courtyard complexes, sandstone posts and steep, red-tiled gable roofs. “Gable end facing the street” describes the orientation of houses with their gable side towards the street. The settlement structure can be traced back to the Carolingian period. The townscape thus combines clearly recognisable architectural features with a settlement history stretching far back in time.

Hiking trails with different highlights

Trails of varying lengths and with different destinations run around the Messel Pit. The easy, 11-kilometre Urpferdchen-Weg is a circular hike around the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, passing the Messel Local History Museum and spoil heaps; it follows in the footsteps of the early horse. The easy-to-walk, 15.2-kilometre Kranichsteiner Waldweg route leads from the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site through the Kranichstein Forest to Kranichstein Hunting Lodge. The Mörsbacher Grund loop is an easy circular walk through extensive forests, meadows and small ponds. Along the way are Messel and its Fossil Museum, a landgrave’s hunting pavilion and burial mounds.

In the surrounding area, south of the Messel Pit, the easy, 15.4-kilometre Ölschiefer-Weg, with only a slight incline, passes through forests and by the Naturfreundehaus and a bathing lake. The stated distances make it easier to compare the route lengths; the destinations and landscapes described each offer a different focus. If you are planning your stay around a hike, you can choose between circular trails, a route through the forest and a trail in the surrounding area.

Visitor centre and getting to the hiking trail

The “Zeit und Messelwelten” Visitor Centre serves as the northern gateway to the Bergstraße-Odenwald Geo-Nature Park. Parking is available at the Messel Pit Visitor Centre, Roßdörfer Straße 108, 64409 Messel, for hikes around the pit. The Messel Pit Visitor Centre bus stop is also located there. Check public transport information before travelling.

The wider Darmstadt-Dieburg travel destination has an extensive network of well-signposted routes for hiking, walking and Nordic walking. This is a broader overview of the district; each of the routes mentioned above has its own described course and destinations.

Discover more destinations: Erzhausen, Weiterstadt, Alsbach-Hähnlein, Darmstadt, Groß-Zimmern, Münster, Bickenbach, Reinheim.

Go to the main travel overview: Darmstadt-Dieburg.