Discover Willebadessen: Wildlife Park, Trails and Monastic Heritage

Willebadessen offers a range of starting points for planning a trip, with nature watching, cycling tours and historic buildings each providing a different focus. At the wildlife park, you can observe various wild animal species up close and learn more about their way of life. Trails through protected landscapes and the buildings of the former monastery add to the character of the town. The topics that interest you most can help you plan a stay that suits you.

Experience Nature and Wildlife

The Willebadessen wildlife park combines opportunities to observe wild animals with the chance to learn more about their way of life. An observation platform offers wide-ranging views over the park and the surrounding landscape. The Egge spring is also located within the wildlife park. The Water Ecology Discovery Trail begins right next to it: its seven stations explore different aspects of bodies of water. The two attractions therefore focus on different nature topics—the animal species in the park and ecological relationships in the water. The discovery trail is free to access; check the current access conditions before your visit.

Landscape and Routes

On the outskirts of Willebadessen, the Butterfly Trail passes through an important nature reserve. It is an approximately 3.7-kilometer section of the Hitgenheierweg. The walk can also start at Willebadessen train station. If you are planning to travel there by train, check the timetable and connection separately. Another example of the area’s natural attractions can be found at the limestone grasslands near Willebadessen, where more than 50 day-flying butterfly species have been recorded to date. The Butterfly Trail and the limestone grasslands thus offer two specific ways to explore the landscape and its butterflies.

For cyclists, the network of routes in the Willebadessen municipal area covers approximately 300 kilometers and is uniformly signposted. One specific cycling tour is the 25-kilometer Egge Route around Willebadessen. These figures describe different scales of planning: the cycling network across the municipal area on the one hand, and a named tour on the other. If you would first like to focus on a single route, the Egge Route offers a clearly stated distance; the signposted cycling network gives you access to the wider network of routes in the municipal area.

The park also makes a distinctive contribution to the landscape: it covers seven hectares, serves as the spa park for the climatic health resort of Willebadessen, and surrounds the historic buildings of the former monastery. The park and historic monastery buildings are therefore set within the same area. The expansive views from the wildlife park, the protected landscape on the outskirts and the spa park offer different perspectives on the surrounding area.

Former Monastery and St. Vitus

The former Benedictine convent in Willebadessen was founded in 1149. The monastery includes convent buildings and a Romanesque church. St. Vitus Church has been a Catholic parish church since 1830. It houses a reliquary of the church’s patron saint, St. Vitus, dating from around 1200, as well as a founders’ chapel. These details refer to several historical dates: the founding of the monastery, the approximate date of the reliquary and the start of the church’s role as a parish church. Taken together, they give the former monastery a clear cultural and historical focus, distinct from nature watching and cycling tours.

When planning your trip, you can focus on these topics individually: wildlife watching and water ecology, trails and cycling routes, or the history of the former monastery. The stated distances of the named routes can help you get your bearings: the Egge Route is 25 kilometers long, while the Butterfly Trail is approximately 3.7 kilometers long. However, these are different offerings and should not be understood as comparable routes of the same kind.

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