Bad Hersfeld is a town in North Hesse that Hersfeld is known across Germany for the Bad Hersfelder Festspiele (festival). The festival has taken place each year since 1951 at the ruins of a monastery which are said to be Europe's biggest Romanesque church ruin.

Understand

Bad Hersfeld is a rather old, mid-sized town with roughly 30,000 inhabitants (2018) that was around during the times of Charlemagne. The word "Bad" in the name means that it is an officially acknowledged spa and has been since 1949. As Bad Hersfeld is roughly in the centre of the reunified Germany several companies like Amazon have decided to have delivery centres here.

Get in

By train

Despite its rather small size, there are direct ICE trains that stop at this city's train station with connections from Frankfurt, Fulda, Eisenach, Erfurt, Weimar, Leipzig, Berlin and Dresden. Regional trains from Kassel, Bebra, Fulda and Göttingen.

• 1 Bad Hersfeld station, Bahnhofstr. 16. (updated Jun 2024)

By plane

Even though there is an airport in nearby Kassel, chances are you will be flying into Frankfurt Airport (FRA ^IATA)

By car

The A4, A5 and A7 intersect just west of the town.

Get around

The town is quite walkable.

See

• 1 Hersfeld Abbey (Reichsabtei Hersfeld). ruins of Benedictine imperial abbey 
• Küsterhaus (sexton’s house). the town’s oldest timber-frame house, built in 1452. 

Do

• Bad Hersfelder Festspiele:  – August. Theatrical pieces and musicals are performed on a large stage in the ruins of the abbey in July and August. (date needs fixing)

Eat

City view

As well as the restaurant in "Zum Stern" and gourmet restaurant L'Étable; and Parkrestaurant und Tiroler Stube in the hotels listed in the sleep section.

• 1 News Cafe, Linggplatz 17, ☏ +49 6621 914747. Restaurant and cafe. 
• 2 Göbels Schlosshotel "Prinz von Hessen", Schlossplatz 1, Friedewald, ☏ +49 6674 92240. 
• 3 Ristorante Italiano Garda, Am Neumarkt 2, ☏ +49 6621 73322. 

Sleep

• 1 Hotel am Kurpark, Am Kurpark 19-21, ☏ +49 6621 164 - 0. Parkrestaurant und Tiroler Stube. 
• 2 Haus am Park, Am Hopfengarten 2, ☏ +49 6621-92620. 
• 3 Hotel Thermalis, Am Kurpark 10, ☏ +49 6621 7950910. 
• 4 Romantik-Hotel "Zum Stern", Linggplatz 11, ☏ +49 6621 189 - 0. Restaurant in "Zum Stern" and Gourmet-Restaurant L'Étable 
• 5 Hotel am Klausturm, Friedloser Straße 1, ☏ +49 6621 5096-0. 
• 6 Stadt-Hotel, Am Perfort 9, ☏ +49 6621 400780. 

Go next

• Eisenach with the Wartburg is not too far away, though the roads have suffered from being severed during the German partition
• Fulda
• Marburg

Routes through Bad Hersfeld

Frankfurt ← Fulda ←

Frankfurt  Dresden

→ Eisenach → Erfurt