Witzenhausen: Cherry Culture, Half-Timbered Houses and City History
Accommodation in Witzenhausen
Witzenhausen combines cherry-growing culture and a historic half-timbered old town with museums, churches and experiences in the surrounding countryside. Whether you are interested in the city’s history, want to see the cherry trees in spring or are choosing an activity for your stay, you can explore its varied themes according to your own interests.
Cherry Experience Trail, Blossoms and Kesperkirmes Festival
The Cherry Experience Trail runs around Witzenhausen through a changing cultural landscape. Its 17 stations explore the importance of cherries to the city and the variety of cherry cultivars. The stations invite you to discover the topics in an interactive, hands-on way and experience the landscape with all your senses.
In spring, thousands of cherry trees cloak Witzenhausen and its surroundings in white and pink. Walks through blossoming orchards, over gentle hills and along the Werra offer a different view of the landscape from the stops on the Experience Trail. The blossom season gives a stay a seasonal focus; its timing varies from year to year.
Another way to explore the cherry-growing landscape is the 22-kilometre Cherry Cycling Trail. It runs around Witzenhausen, passing numerous stands of cherry trees. This route is distinct from the Werra Valley Cycle Path: in Witzenhausen, bicycle parking facilities for bikes and luggage are available along this route.
The Kesperkirmes Festival also celebrates the town’s cherry-growing tradition. The German cherry-stone-spitting championships are held there every year. Visitors of all ages can try their hand at spitting cherry stones for distance. As event details may change, it is worth checking the dates before your trip.
Half-Timbered Old Town and City History
The historic old town is characterised by half-timbered buildings, including the town hall and magnificent half-timbered houses. There is also a sculpture of Jacob Grimm in the market square. The Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) adds a building with a long architectural history to the scene: it was built around 1250 as a Gothic three-aisled hall church. Before that, a late Romanesque basilica with a tall church tower stood on the site.
The church’s design also reflects changes made later on. During its renovation, Hubert Distler was commissioned in 1962 to design new church windows. The windows depict Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. The Liebfrauenkirche thus offers a glimpse of both its earlier architectural history and a later artistic addition.
The city’s history also includes Jewish life, which has a long tradition here. Several synagogues, a Talmud school and the Jewish cemetery, which is still preserved today, bear witness to this history. Witzenhausen Museum displays the ethnographic collection of the DITSL. It was assembled from 1900 onwards through donations from graduates and people associated with the former German Colonial School in Witzenhausen. The Chewing Tobacco Museum also gives visitors an overview of Witzenhausen’s traditional chewing-tobacco industry.
More Things to Do in Witzenhausen
Coffee, tea and cocoa grow in the tropical greenhouse, along with more than 500 other plant species from around the world. The plants thrive in a tropical environment beneath tall banana plants. This glimpse of the plant world is quite different from the seasonal impressions of cherry blossoms and the historical themes of the old town.
For a self-guided tour of the historic old town, there is a free audio city tour you can enjoy on your smartphone. It takes about 1 to 1.5 hours. Check before your trip to see if the tour is available. For a different kind of cultural programme, Capitol Kino Witzenhausen enriches city life with concerts, readings and other events; specific dates may change.
The Diebesturm is a lookout tower in Witzenhausen; its opening during the summer half of the year may change. Together with the opportunities to walk through orchards, over hills and along the Werra, it offers a choice of different perspectives on the city and landscape. When planning, you can therefore prioritise a city tour, cultural history, cherry-related activities or time outdoors without limiting yourself to a single offering.
Practical Information
Parking for the Cherry Experience Trail is available in central Witzenhausen, including at the market square, Walburger Straße, Diebesturm and Schlagd. As parking arrangements may change, check the current situation before you arrive. If you are travelling by bicycle, note that the parking facilities mentioned in Witzenhausen are located along the Werra Valley Cycle Path.
Discover more destinations: Ziegenhagen, Wanfried, Eschwege, Sontra, Herleshausen, Neu-Eichenberg, Waldkappel, Datterode.
See the overarching travel guide: Werra-Meißner District.
