Mini Trips: Fairytails in Marburg
- MiniWurm
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Hello Humans! Happy 2025!
I know you have been missing me, wondering "oh, what's that MiniWurm up to now?" Well, fear no longer! I am here to share my exciting new plans for 2025 with you all!
I have decided to take advantage of the unlimited public transportation ticket (the Deutschland ticket) in Germany to go on a series of adventures throughout the country in 2025. North, south, east, west, I want to see it all and the Deutschland ticket is my perfect passport to doing so. I'm naming this series of smaller adventures, Mini Trips!
Of course, I will be recording all the interesting things I find along the way. Maybe i'm coming to a town near you! If you have a suggestion for a Mini Trip, let me know in the comments below!
I've already explored some towns and cities in Germany throughout January, February and March. Without further ado, let me tell you about my first adventure in Marburg!
Marburg is a city about an hour from Frankfurt. With around 75000 residents, most of who are students, it's also a small city. It's got a very cozy vibe, with narrow, picturesque streets flanked on either side by medieval Fachwerkhäuser; the famous half-timbered houses that give a place a real, 'German' appearance.
The city is also surrounded with the rolling green, forested hills that are typical of the region of Hessen. Warm and inviting in the Summer, but with a little sinister eerieness into the Fall and Winter, especially when the fog rolls in. From atop the castle that overlooks the city (Landgrafenschloss Marburg), one can see the river Lahn that flows gently through the city as well as the sea of trees that make up the forest. Wondering what lies deep in those forests can make your imagination go a little wild...
City of Fairytales
Marburg is closely tied with the legacy of one the most prolific fairytale writers in world history: The Brothers Grimm. Our modern understanding of many of the most famous tales - The Frog King, Little Red Riding Hood, Snowwhite - were reimagined during the time that the brothers spent in Middle- and Northern Hesse.
Marburg is the city where the brothers went to study law at the turn of the 19th century and, by many accounts, where the brothers were first introduced to the world of German folklore. These traditional stories and poetry would ignite a love and fascination within the brothers which would go on to prove invaluable to them when they started writing their versions of many of the classic tales, just a few years later in the nearby Kassel.
Today, Marburg honours their legacy with the Grimm-Dich-Pfad. This is a 2-hour long hiking tour through the charming old city of Marburg, which brings you to 15 different, historical locations and unique installations, honoring the most well-known of the Brothers' works. There's Cinderella's missing shoe, set amongst the stunning backdrop of the Landgrafenschloss; Little Red Riding hood's famous picnic basket; the witch's gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel; and the brothers' historic home during their stay in the city, just to name a few. At just an hour away, the Grimm-Dich-Pfad makes the perfect day trip from cities like Frankfurt, Mainz or Wiesbaden and is perfect on both warm, bright Summer days as well as gloomy ones - the mood of the city changes with the weather, granting the explorer a completely different experience with the changing seasons!
Modern Marburg: A student town
Of course, Marburg is more than just the legacy of its most famous inhabitants. Just as when the brothers came to study law, Marburg today remains a place dominated by its large, young student population, which continues to influence the city's culture today.
Spared from allied bombing during world war II, Marburg's old town is dotted with cute bookstores and many traditional German Kneipen (bars), cafes and restaurants, which are fueling the next generation of thinkers, and housed in buildings dating back to the middle ages. The university itself, Philipps University Marburg, is amongst the oldest in Germany, founded in 1527.
In the surrounding countryside is filled with interesting spots, too. In the warmer months, there are multiple hiking trails that criss-cross the forested hills, or one can take a trip in a Kayak down the Lahn, passing many more beautiful towns and castles along the way. When the cold set in, Marburg also hosts several traditional Christmas markets throughout the old town, the biggest and most popular being set up in the shadow of the historic Rathaus (town hall).
So for your next day trip in the Frankfurt area of Germany, give Marburg a shot: it's a city as timeless and beautiful as the tales inspired by its most famous residents
Getting to Marburg (Deutschland Ticket)
Marburg (Lahn) train station is accessible with regional trains from Frankfurt (Main) Hbf. As of January 2025, these are the RE30, RE98/99, and RB41. They run approximately every 20-30 minutes throughout the day, and hourly early in the morning or later in the evenings.