Kassel

The Hercules statue and cascading water features of Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while documenta and the Grimmwelt give the city both artistic and fairy-tale flair.

Kassel lies on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany, with a population of about 200,000, and was once the capital of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. The city was badly damaged in World War II and much of the old town was rebuilt after the war, but Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe on the western edge of town preserves a magnificent 18th-century landscape park intact: the Hercules statue on the hilltop, the Cascades, Wilhelmshöhe Palace and the Löwenburg are laid out along an axis several kilometers long. The park was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2013, and its summer gravity-fed water displays are Kassel's biggest highlight. In the city center are the Grimmwelt, the Hessian State Museum, the Neue Galerie and the Fridericianum. The Brothers Grimm lived and worked here for about thirty years, making Kassel a key stop on the German Fairy Tale Route, and documenta, held every five years, has made it a major center of contemporary art. Day trips include the Edersee and Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, Sleeping Beauty's Sababurg, and half-timbered towns such as Hann. Münden and Fritzlar. The best season is May–Oct, with water displays on Wednesday, Sunday and holiday afternoons. Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe station is served by ICE high-speed trains, about 1.5 hours from Frankfurt; trams make getting around town easy, and bus 22 goes up to the Hercules statue. Plan on 2–3 days.

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