Kassel

Kassel (population 201,000 in 2020) is the most important city in North Hesse. It is known around the world for the documenta exhibitions of contemporary art every five years. Furthermore, the "Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe" with its water displays received the title "UNESCO-World Heritage Site" in 2013.

History
Kassel traces its history to a first mention in 913 CE, but archaeological finds indicate human habitation at this site predating the 10th century. And the city would soon become a centre and later residence of the Landgraviate of Hesse.

During the Thirty Years War Kassels Landgraf Philipp declared for the Protestants. This had an effect as later numerous Huguenots emigrated from France and brought with them their trade and skills. The impact of the Huguenots can still be witnessed in the centre of Kassel where streets are named after Huguenots.

Kassel became a considerable industrial and scientific city as can still be seen in the Orangerie museum where loads of scientific kit from the enlightenment period is on show. Noticeably the first steam pot producing a fountain was constructed in Kassel by Papin and rumours have it that he left Kassel in his steam boat a few years before James Watt got his prototype into shape.

Kassel was already a heavy industries site by World War II, where trains, tanks and planes were constructed. In the later years of the war Kassel was thoroughly bombed as a military target by English and American planes.

Kassel was home to the famous Brothers Grimm who wrote a lot of the fairy tales Disney uses today. A less well known but perhaps more important piece of their work was an attempt at a "complete" dictionary of the German language, that was only completed after their death. The house that they lived in was made into a museum with a lot of interesting artefacts.

The Centre of Kassel itself was thoroughly destroyed during the Second World War and therefore rebuilt in the incredibly bland 1950s style (which in fairness was partially due to budget constraints and admitted to be ugly even back then). Hence, the inner city is mainly dominated by bank and mall buildings of the modern sort.

By car
Motorways (Hannover-Würzburg),  (Kassel-Dortmund) and  (Kassel-Marburg) leads to Kassel.

By train
Kassel is an important hub in the ICE network and is one of the cities on the first purpose-built German high speed rail line connecting Würzburg and Hanover. Most ICE and some local trains serve, about 4 km west of downtown. The private operator Flixtrain also serves Kassel Wilhelmshöhe. Flixtrain does not accept DB tickets and vice versa.

Kassel's historic, that was refurbished following the opening of the Wilhelmshöhe station has been branded "Kulturbahnhof" (culture station) and is much closer to downtown. Only regional trains operating to/from here. You can take a train from one station to the other and its advisable to start your exploration from Hauptbahnhof as it is much closer to most sights.

By bus
The (intercity bus station), also known as the ZOB, adjoins the Kassel-Wilhemshöhe Bahnhof. There is another intercity bus station at, a few meters behind the city boundary of Kassel at the motorway. The tramlines 4 and 8 are running from the Papierfabrik in the city centre.

By plane


The next major airports are in Hanover and of course Frankfurt airport. As they are excellently connected to the German railway network (Frankfurt airport has an high speed ICE stop) and Kassel is a major hub, you can get from the airport to town in no more than two hours. You can also buy combined tickets for flight and train.

Get around
From the station, trams leave towards the town centre and one can easily walk to the Bergpark which is visible from where the trams leave. If you are staying a few days in Kassel buy a public transport Wochenkarte. Ride as much as you like on the streetcars and buses for a full week from date of issue for €23.50 (January 2019). Another very attractive offer for tourists is the Kasselcard for 2 adults (24 hr for €9, 72 hr for €12) which includes all public transport and offers reduced entrance fee in many museums. The Kasselcard is only available at the Tourist Information offices, at the youth hostel and at some hotels.

Tram and bus stops are identified by this sign:.


 * Local public transport is the KVG (only in German), see also the website of the transport association NVV (only in German) for north Hesse.

Sport

 * KSV Hessen Kassel is the most popular football club of Kassel and plays in the German Fourth Division (Regionalliga Südwest). The home stadium of the football club is the which is able to hold 18,000 people.
 * Kassel Huskies is a professional ice hockey and plays in the 2nd Eishockey-Bundesliga, but they played the majority of their seasons in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, called DEL (1994–2006). The team plays in the (6100 people).
 * MT Melsungen is a handball club from Melsungen, but has it home in the since 2007 which is able to hold 4300 people. The team plays in the German Handball-Bundesliga.
 * The Kassel-Marathon is one of the biggest and fastest marathons in Germany. In the programme are a children run, called Mini-Marathon, with a length of 4.2 km, a half-marathon, a marathon and a marathon ekiden. Start and end is in the Auestadion in the south of Kassel.

Go next
Getting a little bit out of the city can be a good thing. Around Kassel there are beautiful forests and ponds that have really good trails like the Habichtswald in the west or the Reinhardswald in the north. You can travel with buses direct into them (Bus 22 or 190).

Buy
Shopping can be somewhat difficult in Kassel compared to the United States, but most of the good shopping is located close to the Königsplatz so if you get off the Straßenbahn (Tram) around there you can do most of your shopping with the usual big retail chains and many smaller shops.

A lot of local shops you can find in the old market hall:



Eat
There are great bakeries on every corner and throughout the city. Another great place to eat is any of the little stands located in the City Point or Kürfürsten Galerie (city centre).

Beer gardens
These beer gardens also serve main dishes:



Stay safe
Kassel is usually very safe. Tourists normally do not get into the little problem areas from Kassel you can find in the northern and southern districts (Nord-Holland, Schillerviertel, Brückenhof, Mattenberg).

Important telephone numbers

 * Police: 110
 * Emergency (fire, acute illness): 112
 * Municipality: 115

Go next

 * Deutsche Märchenstraße (German Fairytale Road)

Habichtswald
The Habichtswald and the Naturpark Habichtswald are located in the west of Kassel. You can find in the nature park châteaus as, old castle ruins as the or worth seeing mountains as the  with Helfensteine, where also the Naturparkzentrum is located (bus line 117 from Zierenberg train station, lines R4/RT4). Medieval towns in the Naturpark Habichtswald are Zierenberg, Wolfhagen and Naumburg (Hesse).

Reinhardswald
The Reinhardswald is an area associated with fairy tales and the stories of the Brothers Grimm, for example "Sleeping Beauty", who should lived on the, an old castle in the middle of the forest. There are nice medieval and baroque towns around the Reinhardswald, like Hann. Münden in Lower Saxony or Bad Karlshafen in the north of Hesse. Visit also the, the oldest animal park of Europe and the , the first Naturschutzgebiet of Hesse. Bus line 190 runs through the Reinhardswald from Hofgeismar train station, train lines RE17/RT1, or Hann. Münden train station, train lines RE2/RE9/R8.

Edersee
The Edersee is a reservoir and together with the Nationalpark Kellerwald-Edersee a multifaceted touristic area in the southwest of Kassel. Most famous are the and, but there are also smaller sights and not to forget the objects, which you can just see when there is only very little water in the reservoir, like the Aseler Brücke (bridge). Around the Edersee and in the Kellerwald you can find a lot of hiking trails or cycle paths.

Upland
The Upland is the northeastern part of the Hochsauerland and Rothaar Mountains and a ski and hiking area. The most famous mountain is the Ettelsberg (837,7 m ü. NHN), because of the heath and the, a 59 metre high observation tower, with a platform on 831 metres high. A cable car runs between Willingen and the mountain. Next to the Ettelsberg you can find the, the largest ski jumping hill in the world with World Cup events every year.

Next cities

 * Göttingen (50 km) - famous university town in Lower Saxony (Georg-August-Universität)
 * Eisenach (85 km) - with Wartburg, where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German; native town of Johann Sebastian Bach
 * Marburg (90 km) - famous university town in Hesse (Philipps-Universität, one of Germany's oldest universities)