Wetzlar is a university city of 55,000 people (2020) in Hesse. Tourists know the city for its ancient town and its medieval Catholic/Protestant shared cathedral of St. Mary. Notable architectural features include the Eisenmarkt and the steep gradients and tightly packed street layout of a mediaeval town.

Understand

Wetzlar skyline

• Wetzlar City Government website

Get in

By train

Regular services go to Frankfurt, Cologne, Fulda, Limburg. There extensive connections on the German high speed train network (ICE) from these cities.

By plane

Wetzlar has no airport so head for Frankfurt/Main (FRA ^IATA), Germany's busiest airport.

By car

Wetzlar has a good connection to the German "Autobahn". Three junctions leads from the Autobahn 45 in the city. The federal route B49 begins in Luxembourg and leads through the city.

See

Karl-Wilhelm-Jerusalem House

• The almost complete ensemble of historic buildings and houses in the old town has been largely preserved and restored to its condition at the end of the 18th century. Its half-timbered houses and stone buildings date from the Romanesque period (Wetzlar Cathedral), the Gothic period, the Renaissance and the Baroque period. It includes the squares Buttermarkt/Domplatz, Fischmarkt, Eisenmarkt, Kornmarkt and the former Franziskanerhof (now Schillerplatz). The 50 or so particularly noteworthy buildings include: a so-called wall-post building from 1356, the Old Mint on the Eisenmarkt, the 15th-century Roman Emperor (a former theatre and ballroom), the former Teutonic Order Court (today the Municipal Museum), the Lotte House (home of Charlotte Buff), the Karl-Wilhelm-Jerusalem House (in which the legal trainee Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem shot himself and thus achieved sad fame as Werther in Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther), and the princely Palais Papius (which houses the collection of historical furniture put together by Baroness Irmgard von Lemmers-Danforth).
• Considerable remains of the city fortifications from the 13th and 14th centuries are preserved, for example a fortification tower known as the Schneiderturm or Säuturm, the Kalsmuntpforte as a city gate to the former suburb of Silhofen as well as large parts of the city wall.
• In the old suburbs of Langgasse and Neustadt, which are connected to the old town by the Old Lahn Bridge, there are still some historic buildings worth seeing. However, the Neustadt in particular has lost its medieval character as a result of the construction of four-lane roads in the 20th century.
• 1 Wetzlarer Dom (cathedral), Domplatz 4. One of the oldest churches in Germany, it was built in various architectural styles in the 14th century. It is used jointly by Catholic and Lutheran congregations. (updated Feb 2016)
• 2 Old Lahnbridge (Alte Lahnbrücke), Lahnstraße. Built before 1288. (updated Feb 2016)
• 3 Lottehaus (Memorial for Charlotte Kestner née Buff), Lottestraße 8-10. Tu-Su and public holidays: Apr-Oct 11:00-17:00, Nov-Mar: 11:00-16:00. A reminder of the time when Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a frequent guest here. The former Teutonic Order House (German Order) in Wetzlar was reconstructed to almost the same state in which Johann Wolfgang Goethe found it at the end of the 18th century. Every year, thousands of Goethe tourists from all over the world visit this building, which is reminiscent of the book The Sorrows of Young Werther. The entrance ticket is valid for both the Lotte House and the Jerusalem House. Adults €3, children €2.  

Do

In Wetzlar you can do many things. You can go canoeing on the Lahn, the river, which flow through Wetzlar. You can also hike in the forests or on the bord of the Lahn, where are very good paths for hiking and biking.

Buy

You can go shopping in the oldtown, with its little shops and stores. There are bakeries, butcher, florists, shops with clothes but also shops odds and ends.

• The "Forum". shopping mall with 110 shops 

Eat

You can eat in the oldtown, where are many restaurants and cafés. There are pizzerias, with Italian food, but also real German restaurants with the traditional food. The cafés are often very small and the cakes were self-made. You needn't go in a restaurant, if you didn't like it, because in Wetzlar are fast-food-restaurants too, e.g. McDonald's or Burger King. In the district of Wetzlar are restaurants, too.

Sleep

• Best Western Hotel Wetzlar, Karl-Kellner-Ring 40, ☏ +49 6441 9060.