Holzhausen: Eder Cycle Route, Cliffs and Village History

Holzhausen is located right beside a broad bend in the Eder in the narrow Upper Eder Valley. The village can be explored from different perspectives: along the Eder Cycle Route on a former railway line, from the rocky outcrop north of the village, and through a church with a distinctive pairing of images. The tradition of baking in the communal bakehouse is also part of the village’s local character.

The cycle route and tours with their own character

Within the municipality of Hatzfeld, the Eder Cycle Route follows the former railway line. In the district of Holzhausen, it crosses two railway bridges; between Hatzfeld and Dodenau, the route has only slight changes in elevation. This provides both a specific local point of reference and an indication of the character of this section for planning a tour.

The Dragon Flight Tour, described in August 2023, offers a different perspective. It runs from the hiking portal in Reddighausen via Struthkopf and Spinnerhöhe to the district of Holzhausen. Along the way, there are repeated views of Reddighausen and the surrounding area. While the Eder Cycle Route is described in terms of the former railway line, bridges and changes in elevation, this tour is guided by its intermediate points and views of Reddighausen and the surrounding area.

Another section of the Eder is precisely defined by its endpoints: the 500 m stretch runs from the railway bridge above Holzhausen to the crest of the weir at the Obermühle in Holzhausen.

Bend in the Eder, cliffs and landscape

The Holzhausen Cliffs are a rocky outcrop north of Holzhausen, with views of the Eder Valley and the Lützel Mountains. Another landscape feature is the Hirschbachseite sub-area of the FFH site 5017-304, “Hirschbachseite and Eifaer Berg.” It lies above a bend in the Eder north of Holzhausen, within the municipality of Hatzfeld. A 2006 survey mapped natural or semi-natural silicate rocks with associated crevice vegetation across a total of 0.168 ha in both sub-areas.

Church and bakehouse tradition

The Holzhausen church dates back to the 13th century. It is also distinguished by the combination of an image of Luther and an image of a swan. This pairing occurs only 21 times in Hessian churches—a striking detail in the local church history.

Every two years, the bakehouse hosts a two-day festival featuring bread and cakes baked in the oven. The bakehouse is also used outside the festival to bake bread, cakes, tarte flambée, pizza and Fleischwurst. If you would like to plan your visit around the festival, its two-year cycle and two-day duration are useful details.

More to explore in the wider destination of Hatzfeld (Eder)

The wider destination of Hatzfeld (Eder) offers more cultural and landscape highlights. The ruins of medieval Hatzfeld Castle stand high above the Eder Valley. Built in the 13th century, the spur castle was the ancestral seat of the Lords of Hatzfeld, who were first mentioned in 1138. The Counts of Hatzfeld built St. John’s Town Church as a Gothic half-timbered church halfway up the castle hill. The Emmaus Chapel now serves as a cemetery chapel; several concerts are held there each year.

The historic use of the landscape is also part of this broader view of Hatzfeld (Eder): the panoramic trail passes through the Schneitelwald, an ancient cultural landscape. In the 19th century, the hornbeams on both sides of the path were regularly coppiced. In Hatzfeld-Lindenhof, the half-timbered church is considered the smallest place of worship in Hesse.

At the lower end of the former castle moat, on the slope above Hatzfeld, is the Burggraben Hatzfeld Information Centre. It includes a hillside garden with terraced beds, an exposed old dry-stone wall, an uncovered entrance to an old tunnel, and a resting place for hikers and walkers.

The Atelier for Calligraphy and Heraldry displays writing instruments, writing materials and texts from various centuries, illustrating more than 2,000 years of writing history. It offers a tour of about one hour on the history of writing, as well as a tour of about an hour and a half with a focus chosen individually from a range of centuries and topics. The second option is longer and allows you to choose a specific focus; please confirm that the tours are currently available before your visit.

When looking for accommodation, you can start by deciding what you would like to focus on: should Holzhausen, with its cycle route, Eder landscape and village history, be the main focus, or would you also like to include cultural and landscape highlights in the wider destination of Hatzfeld (Eder)? This choice gives your search a clear direction.

For the overview of the wider destination: Hatzfeld.