Frankenau: Heathland, Hiking Trails and Culture

Frankenau combines a cultural landscape shaped by nutrient-poor grasslands and heathland with hiking trails and places that focus on natural and cultural history. Frankenau is an ideal starting point for exploring Kellerwald-Edersee National Park. Whether you want to explore habitats, hike in the footsteps of history or learn about the history of the forest, the different themes give your trip a clear focus.

Heathland, nutrient-poor grasslands and distinctive rock formations

The coexistence of different types of nutrient-poor grassland and heathland characterizes Frankenau’s cultural landscape. Along the Heathland Discovery Trail, you can discover the flora and fauna of these habitats. This makes the trail appealing to anyone who wants to take in not only the route itself while hiking, but also the landscape and its different habitats.

The Wichtelsteine in Frankenau are a special natural monument. Small caves in the rock faces formed over thousands of years. Nearby, west of Frankenau near Ellershausen, the Lengelbach Valley also stretches for more than five kilometers, from Ellershausen to its confluence with the Eder below Hessenstein Castle. This woodland and meadow landscape is free of public roads and provides a distinctive contrast to the heathland and nutrient-poor grasslands.

Hiking trails with different focuses

The Historical Hiking Trail No. 3 covers a total of ten kilometers and leads to sites of historical interest in the Frankenau area. On the Kellerwald Trail, by contrast, there are several marked alternative routes to choose from: they lead from Frankenau to Asel, Herzhausen and Hüddingen and can be divided into northern, southern and western routes. These alternative routes are marked in green and white. The Heathland Discovery Trail, in turn, focuses on the flora and fauna of different nutrient-poor grassland and heathland habitats.

This means there are different hiking themes to choose from locally: historical sites, the Kellerwald Trail’s division into several routes, and the habitats of the cultural landscape. You can choose which of these will shape your days as a focus when planning your trip.

Culture and forest history in Frankenau

The exhibition at the KellerwaldUhr, at the national park’s southern entrance, covers the forest’s history and the region’s cultural development from the Ice Age to the present day. The KellerwaldUhr is located right at the national park entrance of the same name in Frankenau. The “Kultur-Arche” information center offers a different perspective: it is located at Wolfskaute, opposite the Kellerwaldhalle. There, visitors can see traditional domestic animal breeds and embark on a journey of cultural and historical discovery.

Frankenau Church also makes a distinctive architectural statement: it was built entirely in the Neo-Gothic style. Goethe-Anlage, considered the smallest park in Hesse, lies at the edge of town on the road towards Löhlbach. Together with the exhibitions and hiking trails, these places offer different ways to combine nature experiences with culture and local history.

A wider view of Waldeck-Frankenberg

Beyond Frankenau, the wider destination of Waldeck-Frankenberg offers further nature and culture themes. The ancient beech forests of Kellerwald-Edersee National Park have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 2011. For longer hikes, the 66-kilometer Urwaldsteig Edersee is a regional option: it can be hiked in eight stages or as part of a three-day ranger-led hike, with around 22 kilometers per stage. This puts the ten kilometers of Frankenau’s Historical Hiking Trail No. 3 and the multi-day options on the Urwaldsteig into perspective as different scales for planning a tour.

The GeoFoyer Kalkturm Korbach offers another highlight. Its exhibition presents the landscape and wildlife around Korbach 250 million years ago, as well as the extraction and processing of limestone and its industrial use in the quarry for more than 100 years. These regional examples add to the picture of Frankenau without conflating the distinct themes of each place.

Find accommodation to suit your travel plans

If you are looking for accommodation in Frankenau, it helps to decide first what you want to focus on during your stay: would you mainly like to discover the trails and habitats of Frankenau’s cultural landscape, learn about forest and cultural history, or also plan longer hikes in Waldeck-Frankenberg? With this in mind, you can tailor your accommodation search more closely to the kind of trip you have in mind.

The destination of Frankenau also includes the destination of Altenlotheim.

Discover more destinations: Frankenberg, Allendorf, Lichtenfels, Basdorf, Burgwald, Bad Wildungen, Rosenthal.

Back to the regional travel overview: Waldeck-Frankenberg.