When the heather blooms...
Cycling vacation in Lüneburg Heath
When you hear Lüneburg Heath, what comes to mind first? Of course, the beautiful, blooming heather and the moorland sheep. Between birch trees, beehives and junipers, the little sheep graze near the shepherd, hikers explore your paths and you cycle right through the middle of this pink-red-purple blooming landscape splendor. The bike route runs mostly on farm roads as well as small roads and bike paths. On the way, you will occasionally come across slightly hilly, unpaved forest paths, and occasionally sandy paths. This trip has even more to offer than Heide: amusement parks with a variety of attractions, cities worth seeing such as Bremen, Schneverdingen, Lüneburg, Celle and Soltau, as well as century-old water art at the Uelzen train station.
Cycling in a riot of colors
You will cycle through the slightly undulating landscape on specially designed cycle paths, but also on field, forest and meadow paths. In the heart of the nature reserve, there is a short stretch of sandy path. The well-signposted routes in the flat to slightly hilly Lüneburg Heath let cyclists enjoy the pink-purple rush of colors.
Half-timbered houses and the sea
Time and again, you'll come across romantic half-timbered towns in the Heath: the residential town of Celle flaunts a whole 480 restored half-timbered houses and Celle Castle, which was built in the style of the Weser Renaissance. The old town of the Hanseatic city of Lüneburg offers half-timbered romance, the baroque town hall, but also North German brick Gothic. The lively university town is also home to the 108-meter-high leaning tower of St. John's Church. Idyllic heath villages like Wilsede with its heath museum, where you can learn more about the heath, and Unseloh make you take your foot off the pedal. Many of the half-timbered houses there are thatched with reeds or straw. After so much sightseeing, tired cyclists' calves will find relaxation in Soltau, located in the middle of the heath. In the brine bath there, you almost feel like you're in the sea. The landmark of the Lüneburg Heath is the Wilseder Berg, from which you can see as far as Hamburg.
Art and culture
Art lovers can visit the Uelzen environmental and cultural railway station, which was redesigned by Friedensreich Hundertwasser for Expo 2000. The playful shapes and colours and the trees and shrubs imaginatively integrated into the architecture are impressive. Around the Springhornhof in Neuenkirchen and Schneverdingen you will find outdoor installations inspired by the historic cultural landscape of the heath. Visit the Bossard art centre, discover small studios along the way or the Buchholz art association. The enchanted Lüneburg Heath has always inspired artists to create masterpieces.
Salty and sweet
Lüneburg has the second-highest density of pubs in Europe after Madrid. It feels almost Mediterranean when you sit in a quaint pub or a chic restaurant, bar or café on the Illmenau. And what can you try there? Roast Heidschnucken is one of the specialities or wild boar goulash in the Lüneburger Schweinetopf, a 400-year-old, four-foot cooking pot in the shape of a pig that was once dug up. Sweets are also made here: The Pralüne, for example, a Lüneburg salt praline that pays homage to the white gold, and the Sülfmeister praline with a salted caramel centre. Heather potato, heather honey, heather asparagus, heather spirit made from herbs - there are no limits to the regional specialities.
Colorful sea of blossoms
In August and September, the largest continuous area of heath in Europe is a veritable sea of blossoms, a riot of colors in pink, violet, red and purple. Over the seemingly endless, color-intensive heath you can look far and wide to juniper bushes and dwarf shrubs, deciduous and coniferous forests, mysterious moors and pastures. Heidschnucken graze peacefully in the gently rolling landscape. The Lüneburger Heide nature reserve in the middle of the nature park is known for biological diversity and is the habitat of many endangered animal species such as the sand lizard and smooth snake, amphibians such as the brook lamprey and bullhead, and dragonflies such as the green damselfly. Woodlark, black grouse, Great Grey Shrike and otter also live here. - "On the Lüneburg Heath in the beautiful country I went up and down all kinds of things along the way I found," wrote Hermann Löns. Let yourself be enchanted.
