Discover Heidekreis: Culture, Thrills and Landscapes

Heidekreis offers a variety of reasons to stay: cultural and historical sites, activities for younger children, roller coasters, active pursuits and scenic landscapes. If you’re looking for a hotel in Heidekreis, you can first decide whether cultural history, rides, exercise or nature should be the focus of your trip.

Culture and History

One notable exhibition destination is the German Tank Museum in Munster. Its collection includes more than 150 large objects and spans five halls covering more than 10,000 square metres. As the displays may change, it’s worth checking the latest information before your visit.

In Bad Fallingbostel, the history of the “Hof der Heidmark” tells the story of a building with several chapters: it was built in 1642, dismantled in 1936 and rebuilt in Liethwald. Today it is a listed building and one of the oldest buildings in Heidekreis district. Walsrode Abbey is the oldest of the famous heathland monasteries. Ahlden Castle was built in 1579 on the Alte Leine and is associated with the banishment of Electoral Princess Sophia Dorothea.

The Seven Stone Houses near Ostenholz offer a very different timescale: they are megalithic tombs from the Stone Age. The range therefore extends from archaeological evidence to a rebuilt listed building, as well as an abbey and a castle. Each of these places offers its own historical focus rather than telling the same kind of cultural history.

Rides and Active Pursuits

Heide Park in Soltau offers a variety of reasons to visit. Peppa Pig Land features gentle rides and family entertainment for younger children. The park’s Big 7 include the roller coasters Colossos, Krake and Scream. This lets you choose between attractions aimed at younger children and a group of named roller coasters.

Buhl Activity Park Walsrode offers high ropes courses and an 18-hole football golf course. The availability of individual activities may change, so check the latest information before your visit. At Serengeti Park, a ten-kilometre safari drive in your own car takes you through the Serengeti Safari. Its length and the fact that you drive your own car make this a different kind of excursion from a high ropes course or football golf. Soltau Therme offers relaxation with brine and adds another reason to visit.

Landscape and Getting Around

Heidekreis has kilometres of signposted cycling, hiking, Nordic walking and riding routes that lead to rewarding destinations. Individual routes may change, so it’s a good idea to check your own route plan. Wilseder Berg is also a prominent landmark in the landscape: at 169 metres, it is the highest elevation in the North German Plain.

The area around Wilseder Berg is almost car-free. Cars can only use access roads to car parks in the villages around the nature reserve; otherwise, people get around on foot or by bicycle. Check the parking situation before you travel. This offers a different way of getting around from the ten-kilometre safari drive in your own car: at Wilseder Berg, walking and cycling routes shape your time there, while the safari is designed as a self-drive route.

Discover more destinations: Samtgemeinde Ahlden / Hodenhagen, Schwarmstedt, Gilten, Bad Fallingbostel, Bomlitz, Häuslingen, Frankenfeld, Böhme, Essel, Rethem, Soltau, Walsrode, Wietzendorf, Bispingen, Munster, Schneverdingen, Hützel, Bierde, Wolterdingen, Oerrel, Behringen, Dorfmark, Siedlung Am Krummen Winkel, Neu Bosse, Volkwardingen, Oberhaverbeck, Kirchboitzen, Lindwedel, Tewel, Neuenkirchen, Buchholz, Ahlden (Aller).

See the overarching travel overview: Lower Saxony.