A tour to the green heart of Germany
Bicycle vacation in thuringia
Thuringia is situated right in the middle of Germany and is also called the 'green heart of Germany' because of its extensive forests. The Thuringian landscape is very diversified offering ideal conditions for bike tours. The Harz Mountains, one of the oldest cultural landscapes in Germany, the Thuringian Basin and the Thuringian Forest offer many beautiful bike routes and idyllic corners. Visit Weimar and the Wartburg Castle, the historic City of Erfurt, and Jena, the Thuringian centre for education and research. And enjoy gastronomic regional specialties: tasty dumplings, spicy 'Rostbratwurst' and various game specialties is just what eager bikers need.
Wonderful cycling in Thuringia
The well-developed network of cycling routes in Thuringia covers an impressive 3,700 kilometers. Whether along interesting cities that are strung together like pearls on a necklace (Eisenach, Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar, Jena), or through fantastic landscapes such as the Ilm Valley, the Thuringian Basin or the Thuringian Forest, there is something for everyone in the Free State.
Trio of castles and inhabited bridge
The 120-meter-long Krämerbrücke in medieval Erfurt houses, as the name suggests, stores and merchants and, with 32 houses, is today the only bridge north of the Alps built with houses and inhabited. The trio of castles Wachsenburg, Mühlburg and Gleich Castle are guaranteed to get you off your bike just as much as the many historic towns along the way: the classical city of Weimar, Jena with Schiller's birthplace and the Zeiss Planetarium, Eisenach with the famous Wartburg Castle, Erfurt with its cathedral and Severi Church.
Poets and thinkers
From a cultural point of view, you can cycle through the country in the footsteps of poet princes and thinkers: In Weimar, there is plenty to discover about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in Jena Schiller's birthplace, a museum on the life and work of Bach in Eisenach, information on Martin Luther at Wartburg Castle. But that's not all, theater and concert fans also get their money's worth: the famous National Theater in Weimar is just as worth a visit as the Ekhof Theater in Gotha, the theater in Erfurt or the Thuringia Philharmonic Orchestra Gotha-Eisenach.
Rostbratwurst, mustard and watercress
The "Thuringian Roster", as the Rostbratwurst is called, is on charcoal grills everywhere. It smells, hisses and steams - and a sausage, at least 15 centimeters long, weighing 100 to 150 grams and grilled to a crispy brown, is already wandering across the counter in a bun. Geographically protected since 2014, the Thuringian Rostbratwurst is made according to the Purity Law of 1432. It deserves a decent blob of mustard. In the Thuringian basin, the yellow mustard seed could and can be grown well. Another speciality is watercress, which has been grown for ages in Erfurt's three-well water, which has a temperature of eleven degrees. You follow it into the cool water to harvest the vitamin bomb partly kneeling or lying with your hands on planks and narrow wooden walkways. Thuringian dumplings are made of cooked and raw potatoes and are usually served with roasts.
The Green Heart
Thuringia is not called the Green Heart of Germany for nothing: Extensive forest areas such as the Thuringian Forest live up to its name. In addition, there are green river valleys around the Ilm, Saale or Elster and geographic features such as the Thuringian Basin. Not to forget: The worth seeing area of the Federal Horticultural Show 2007 on the territory of the former uranium ore open pit mining area. Today it is a blooming landscape.
