The Wartburg is one of Germany’s iconic castles. Visible on the crest of a mountain as you pass through Eisenach on the train, the whopping 1000-year history and its two very famous residents make the Wartburg a magnet for castle-lovers and history buffs alike. It is especially wonderful to visit in the Christmas season because the castle complex hosts a Christmas market on three weekends during Advent. Not only is the castle itself impressive, but the surrounding forest contains many natural wonders worth hiking to.
I learned about the Wartburg through a project I did with my students. They could design their own castle out of 3D figures (and had to calculate the surface area and volume of them). Extra points were awarded for making it look like an existing castle. One of my students chose the Wartburg and was surprised I hadn’t visited yet, but it has been on my wish list ever since!
In planning our weekend visit to the castle, C and I contemplated visiting other cities on our way back to Berlin – Göttingen, Magdeburg, Dessau… In the end we decided to spend the whole weekend in Eisenach. We’d have one day for the Wartburg and a second day for a hike. I would not regret this for a second. There are so many hikes that I want to do in Eisenach now, we’ll have to go back again!
Check out my favorite weekend trips from Berlin
Getting to the Wartburg in Eisenach
The ICE travels every other hour with a direct connection from Berlin to Eisenach (departures more often if you’re willing to switch trains) and takes about 2.5 hours. I was very pleasantly surprised as we walked through Eisenach that the architecture is so beautiful. There is a nice pedestrian and shopping zone in the Altstadt. I was already looking forward to coming back in the evening for the Christmas market on the main square.
The walk from the train station to the Wartburg is about 3 km and about 200 m of elevation gain, taking 45-60 minutes. If you don’t want to walk, there is a bus (#3) from the bus station (directly next to the train station) which takes you up to the main parking lot of the castle. From there, you can get a paid shuttle up to the Wartburg.
The cost in 2024 for the Christmas market was 10€ and also includes the Festsaal and museum. We paid an additional 5€ to get a brief tour in English which gave us access to a few extra rooms. Outside of the Christmas market season, a ticket to the castle and museum costs 13€.
Visit to the Wartburg castle and Christmas market
We visited the Wartburg Christmas market in Eisenach in some pretty terrible Schietwetta – a cold drizzle that never went away and a biting, bitter wind. Schietwetta is the north German word for crappy weather 😉. I didn’t know how thankful I would be the next day for all the rain we had to endure at the market!
The Christmas market is spread all over the castle grounds. Since the Wartburg is a medieval castle, it has many buildings from various time periods spread out over one castle village. The Christmas market had Glühwein, bratwurst, potato pancakes, fire places, bagpipe players, Christmas decorations and ornaments, knights, and candle making – the whole nine yards! It was fun to walk all around and see the stands in each of the different courtyards. It’s usually fun to discover all the parts of a castle, but this was next level.
Famous residents
Our English tour of the castle took us through some of the oldest sections in the lowest level. We learned about Martin Luther’s 10 month stay and of St. Elisabeth’s residence at the Wartburg.
One of the rooms was decorated with ornate mosaics to tell the story of St. Elisabeth’s life. She married Ludwig von Thüringen in the 13th century and moved to the Wartburg from Hungary. Since she cared for the poor and sick, her husband’s family didn’t really get along with her well. She continued to set up and serve in hospitals until her death at 24 years old. Shortly afterwards St. Elisabeth was canonized in 1235.
Martin Luther at the Wartburg
Martin Luther came to the Wartburg to hide for nearly a year in 1521 after posting his famed theses on the church doors in Wittenberg. At the Wartburg he called himself “Junker Jörg” or “squire George.” Here he completed some of his most famous works, including his German translation of the New Testament. Due to saying he was “fighting the devil with ink,” a legend arose that the devil came to him in his room to tempt him, so Luther threw his inkpot at the devil to evade him. For hundreds of years, pilgrims who came to visit Luther’s room scratched off pieces of the wall where the ink spot was rumored to be located.
Festsaal at the Wartburg
After the tour we went upstairs (partially to warm up) to see the Festsaal which was used for banquets and concerts. Since it was Christmas market time, there was a real concert happening and the hall was decorated for the season. There was a big fir tree and a yellow star hanging from the ceiling. We sat on the red velvet and wooden chairs while a pair of musicians played many unique instruments and sang several Christmas songs in different languages. It was a beautiful way to experience the room.
Museum at the Wartburg
Then we waited to go into the museum. Groups of about 30 were let into the first room of the museum every 10 minutes or so. It wasn’t the most relaxing way to experience a museum with so many other people, but I am still glad we got to go in. There were musical artifacts and exhibits about the various types of castles based on their purpose and foundational structure. At the end of the museum, we waited in another long line to walk past Luther’s room. It does have a gash in the wall where people presumably picked at the ink stain, but other than a desk and chair is quite bare.
Visit the Wartburg at Christmastime!
The Wartburg is really cool and I’m so glad that we got to see it at a special time. I would highly recommend visiting the castle when the Christmas market is happening. Despite the crowds, the festive atmosphere makes the visit so much more magical. In total we spent over 4 hours visiting the museum, castle grounds, and Christmas market. I think we would have spent more time if the weather had been better.
Christmas Market on the town square in Eisenach
After checking in to our accommodation, I really wanted to see the Christmas market on the town square. It was totally cute! There were lights EVERYWHERE, it was so bright and cheery. There were many stands with Hungarian food, like Langos (fried dough topped with sour cream and cheese), as well as churros (becoming more of a thing in Germany now). Of course, there were traditional things too, like fries, wurst, raclette, Glühwein, and Christmas decorations.
Hiking to the Wartburg and Dragon Gorge
The next day was our hike through the Dragon Gorge via the Wartburg castle. We had beautifully clear and sunny weather to hike back up to the castle and through the two gorges. Luckily, we could hike the bit through the castle without paying the 10€ Christmas market fee. We reached the castle at around 9:30. I think an hour later we would have needed tickets to get through. If you’re hiking here during the Christmas season, be sure to keep this in mind.
Our trail followed many famous ones like the Internationaler Bergenweg (through Germany, Czechia, and Poland) as well as the Lutherweg, following Martin Luther through various important places in his life.
The hike can start and end at the train station, but our loop begins from the Old Town since we had stayed the night before and had a bit of time to kill before our train came at the end. The Christmas market on the square was great for that!
Hiking to the Wartburg (again!)
From town, the trail hikes one of the many paths up to the Wartburg. If you want to do this hike as well as visit the castle, you’ll need to start early. With the Christmas market, we spent nearly 5 hours the previous day there. Moving away from the castle we had several great viewpoints, including from the Landgrafsbank on the way to the Teufelskanzel (devil‘s pulpit).
Elf Grotto and Dragon Gorge
Next we hiked downwards into the valley. The Elfengrotte (elf‘s grotto) is a beautiful waterfall which feeds the dragon‘s gorge. This canyon was amazing!! It was already a tourist attraction in the 1830’s. You hike through the very narrow gorge atop a metal grate floor with the creek rushing underneath you. The gushing water echoes off the walls of the canyon and is so loud at certain points. There was water dripping from above the whole time on me and down the green mossy sides of the gorge. This made me happy about all the rain the day before – I’m not sure if the waterfall at the Elfengrotto or the sounds in the Drachenschlucht would have been as good without it.
The Dangers of Hiking in Germany: Animals
Landgrafschlucht
Our route took us on just a couple hundred meters of the Dragon Gorge, but it is several kilometers long in total. I would love to hike the whole thing another time. At the end of the Dragon gorge, we crossed the street and continued to another gorge – the Landgrafschlucht. Instead of hiking in the canyon, the trail is on the ridge and allows you to look down into it from above. Legend has it that a count hid out here in order to get revenge on his father/family for not being the next in line for the Wartburg (or something like that…).
At the top of the gorge, we had a great view and so much sunshine that it was time for lunch. Then there was a short and steep descent back into Eisenach, which followed another creek through the forest for most of the way.
Best hike of the Year!
I had not expected this hike to be so good, and it turned out to be my favorite hike of the year! I used Komoot to search for hiking suggestions to help find it. There were so many highlights that I wanted to see, and this route seemed to be the best combination of them all. Now that I have experienced the region, I definitely want to go back and see more. Here’s the whole route on Komoot.
Here’s all of the best hikes in Germany
More to see in Eisenach
Instead of going to the train station at the end of our hike to the Wartburg, we made another loop in town, stopping at the Bach Museum (he was born in Eisenach, you can walk through the house he was born in) and the Luther Museum. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time left for either, so we’ll have to come back again. There are so many other highlights hiding in the forest that there are definitely more trails to discover too! I’m not sure how this has been my first real visit to Thüringen, but I’ll be back for sure!