Fairy Tale Trail - a magical hiking treasure

The start and finish of the Fairy Tale Trail is the Evangelical City Church in Bad Berleburg. From here, you pass the entrance of the church, go down through the churchyard into the enchanted castle park. The magical park fascinates with large ponds and impresses with its old trees. The ponds are inhabited by many ducks, geese, goldfish, and carp. The area was originally designed as a game park during the Baroque period. One animal feels especially comfortable here. "Sneak quietly along the path, then you might hear the Frog Prince croak."

A few meters further on, the magnificent castle with its tower appears. Do you know the story of Rapunzel? "Do you hear the prince calling: 'Rapunzel, let down your hair?' ..."

We take a few more steps and leave the castle park. The Fairy Tale Trail now leads along a paved service road lined with more ponds. After a short distance, we leave this passage again and turn right onto an old hollow way with historic cobblestones.

We continue through the extraordinary natural forest with its large, majestic trees and soon arrive at the memorial forest. The memorial forest is marked with a wooden cross and groups of benches. At the memorial forest, we choose the upper hiking trail and come across a small slate-roofed half-timbered house. Locals call the building "Christkindhaus"—and perhaps the Bremen Town Musicians might have moved in there? In the fairy tale, the animals once looked for such a house to rest on their long journey.

We follow the magical hiking sign further through the Bad Berleburg forests until we reach above the cafe-restaurant "Hof Mühlbach." Here, there is a wide view over the Odeborn valley with the surrounding mountain ranges. Young and old fairy tale explorers can test their balance and dexterity on the new wooden adventure course. The course is made from native wood and deliberately designed to be natural and original. The wooden stations invite you to play adventures and climbing fun. An information panel provides details about the current topic "Forest."

The path leads along the lower level of the steep slope toward the old town. On the way, we discover a well in a notch: "Could it be that the Iron John once spent his life here? Then watch out, everything the water in the well touches turns to gold."

Along the winding paths in the forest and past a kindergarten, we soon reach the Chestnut Avenue. This magnificent path was arranged at the time for the princely family. They used the avenue to ride to the hunt. The hunter also plays an important role in the next fairy tale: He saved Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. "Can you still see the rest of the stones with which the hunter filled the wolf's belly?"

We leave the Chestnut Avenue again and turn left onto a path that takes us to the eastern source of the Berlebach River. The path continues alongside until a large meadow appears beside us, which is the setting of our next fairy tale, The Golden Goose. "Look closely, isn't the simpleton with the golden goose on the meadow?"

From there, the path leads past a pond and then back to the castle park. We pass through the gate, keep to the left, and go up to the castle. Passing the orangery, we reach the large courtyard of Berleburg Castle, the residence of the princely family of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. Even today, real princes and princesses live here. Then we continue toward Goetheplatz and into the old town. Anyone needing a break is invited to stay at the restaurants around Goetheplatz and in the old town.

We follow the picturesque Castle Street downhill and arrive again at the Evangelical City Church, the starting point of our hike. From here, we go down to the marketplace and the tourist information. Those who have collected all the stamps and answered all the questions will receive a small reward.

Directions for starting from the Nature Park Information Center:

From Raumland via the B480 to Bad Berleburg. Turn right at the 2nd traffic light, take the third exit at the roundabout and drive into Schulstraße. (The 3rd entrance on the right is the parking garage.)

From Winterberg via the B480 to Bad Berleburg. Take the 2nd exit at the roundabout. Drive via Bahnhofstraße, Unter Höllscheid street, and Schulstraße.

The marketplace is located on the right side of the street.

Free parking spaces are available.

The Fairy Tale Trail is located directly in the core of Bad Berleburg. We recommend starting from the Tourist Information at the marketplace. You can get the city map and fairy tale quiz card directly at the tourist office on site.

Timetable information:

Bus  www.zws-online.de

Train www.bahn.de

Quiz flyers for the stamp stations are available at the Tourist Information!

Fairy Tale Trail Flyer

Fairy Tale Quiz Flyer

Start at the Tourist Information at the marketplace and pick up the quiz flyer!

Nearby you will find parking spaces that can be used without time restriction on weekends. Walk a small incline to the Evangelical City Church in Schlossstraße. Here you will find the first signs of the Fairy Tale Trail.

This path is not suitable for strollers.