Discover Weimar

Weimar brings together literary history, Bauhaus and designed landscapes. If you are looking for hotels in Weimar, the focus of your visit can help guide your choice: the city offers different ways to explore culture and history, from Park an der Ilm and the homes of Goethe and Schiller to the Bauhaus Museum. First decide whether you are most interested in literary sites, design or a landscaped garden. This way, you can start your search with the destination and the themes you want to shape your stay.

Park an der Ilm: landscape and relaxation

The 48-hectare Park an der Ilm lies on the edge of Weimar’s Old Town and is a unique landscaped garden. To this day, it is a place for recreation, education and the aesthetic enjoyment of nature. Here, the focus is on the designed landscape, distinguishing it from an interest in individual manuscripts, pieces of furniture or design objects. The park can therefore be a reason in its own right to see Weimar as more than a destination for literature and museums.

Goethe and Schiller: homes and literature

Goethe’s Garden House in Park an der Ilm was Goethe’s first private residence in Weimar in 1776. There, he wrote the ballad “The Erlking” and the poem “To the Moon.” The Garden House displays original furnishings, works of art, manuscripts and a selection of drawings from Goethe’s estate. The garden is also home to the “Stone of Good Fortune,” erected in 1777 and designed by Goethe together with his drawing teacher, Adam Friedrich Oeser. The monument is considered one of Germany’s first non-figurative monuments. The site thus combines the history of home and writing with a collection and a historic garden monument.

Schiller’s home also offers a different way to explore literary history. On display are Schiller’s original writing desk and bed. You can write there with a quill and ink, create your own silhouette and experiment with color. This combines historic objects with hands-on activities for writing, designing and experimenting. Friedrich Schiller spent the last three years of his life and creative work in the house on Esplanade.

Bauhaus in Weimar: collection and design

The Bauhaus Museum Weimar presents one of the country’s most important Bauhaus collections, as well as the world’s oldest Bauhaus holdings. The Klassik Stiftung Weimar collection now comprises 13,000 objects and documents. Its outstanding exhibits include the Wagenfeld lamp, Marcel Breuer’s slatted chair and Marianne Brandt’s teapot. A terrace leads from Weimarhallenpark into the Bauhaus Museum Weimar and invites you to linger even before entering.

Weimar Classicism and a walking tour

The buildings and parks of Classical Weimar bear witness to the cultural flowering of Weimar Classicism. The enlightened patronage of the dukes in the late 18th and early 19th centuries drew important German writers and thinkers such as Goethe, Schiller and Herder to Weimar. This background links the literary sites to a broader cultural history. The Grand City Tour is a public guided walking tour along Weimar’s main sights. If you prefer a guided introduction to exploring just one house or collection, this tour offers another way to get to know the city.

Discover more destinations: Gaberndorf, Mellingen, Lehnstedt, Kapellendorf, Schwerstedt, Auerstedt, Hohenfelden, Berlstedt

For the overview of the wider area: Weimarer Land.