Weimar Attractions – One Day In The City

A few weeks ago, we went on a road trip to Saxony. On our way home to Nuremberg, we wanted to explore just one more city. We chose to stop over in Weimar since the Thuringian city was located halfway through our way home. And let me tell you, Weimar is worth a visit. That’s why I want to give you an overview of the Weimar Attractions you could visit on a short one-day layover in the city.

some basic information

As always, let me give you some general information of the city before we dive into the attractions:

Weimar is located in central Germany in the federal state of Thuringia. The city, with its population of 65,000, is very well known for its large cultural heritage. It acts as an important part of German history. It’s been home to leading figures of the Classicism literary genre like Goethe and Schiller and a music center due to noted composers such as Liszt. Later, the Bauhaus movement was started in Weimar due to architects like Henry van de Velde. In the 20th century, many places were declared as UNESCO World Heritage sites, making tourism one of the leading economic sectors.

1 | Duchess Anna Amalia Library

The Duchess’ Library is incredibly famous. It houses a major collection of German literature with over 1,000,000 books. After a fire destroyed huge parts of the main wing in 2004, funds were raised, and salvaged volumes were restored until 2015. Among its special collections is a 16th century Bible connected to Martin Luther and a 10,000 volume Shakespeare collection. Today, tourists are allowed into the famous Rokokosaal:

Once entered, you’ll be asked to wear slippers over your shoes, and they’re guiding you into the “chamber of magic. ” We stayed quite some time, enjoyed the flair, and took some pictures. 

The Rokokosaal is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 2:30 pm. Groups are allowed in the afternoon. If it wouldn’t be the pandemic, you could easily get your ticket with entrance time online. Right now, you need to wait in line to get a ticket, and entrances are limited. We arrived there at around 10am and waited for 45min. 

If you’re asking me: it’s worth it! Especially now, the limited number of visitors allows you to see the library more peacefully. That’s definitely worth the 45min wait, in my opinion. 

Isn’t that picture perfect?! If you’re on the hunt for instagrammable locations in Germany, check out my favorite Instagram Spots in Dresden. 

2 | Goethe National Museum

The Goethe Nationalmuseum consists out of his residential building and the “Goethe-Museum. ” In the residential building, you can visit the rooms he and his wife lived in, the reception room, his library and “Studiensaal “(study-room), and the garden. In the museum, which was built next to the residential building in 1935, visitors can explore a large exhibit of Goethe’s collections in the domains of arts and natural science, his library, and about 2000 of his drawings. 

The Goethe Nationalmuseum tickets are available for 12,50€.

3 | Schiller Museum and Residence

The historic Schiller museum was built attached to the north side of his historic residence and houses various changing exhibitions. In Schiller’s townhouse, where he spent the last three years of his life, you can still see the original bed and desk!

Tickets for the house and the museum are available for 8€.

4 | Goethe’s Gardenhouse – Park an der Ilm

The “Gartenhaus” was Goethe’s main residence and workplace until he moved to Frauenplan. A large part of his literary works dated back to that period was written there, including the ballad of the Erlkönig and the poem To the Moon. Goethe’s Gardenhouse entrance ticket costs 6,50€. (Walking through the garden is free).

The tour includes the dining room and the kitchen on the ground floor, along with four more rooms on the upper floor used by Goethe as his living room, study, and bedroom. The furnishings inside are part of the original inventory. 

Park an der Ilm itself is beautifully located next to the city center and invites you to endless strolls in nature.

5 | Bauhaus museum

This museum focused on the early Bauhaus founded in Weimar in 1919 and stayed there until 1925. The new building has a very clear geometry and such a nice designed front plaza. On the inside, you can visit an exhibition that expands over 5 floors. Its permanent exhibition offers one of Germany’s most important Bauhaus collections and the oldest Bauhaus collections in the world. Besides that, you’ll find temporary exhibits with an accompanying program. 

6 | Stroll through the old town

Weimar’s old town has a beautiful cityscape that invites you for a nice stroll through it. (If you’re not willing to walk, you can even go on a carriage ride). In front of the National Theatre, you’ll find the famous Goethe-Schiller-Monument.

Going on with the flow, you will not only also reach a beautiful market square with Weimar’s townhouse but also many more beautiful alleys and houses. We loved walking around, and I wished we had more time to try some of the cool cafés and restaurants we found! 

And that’s it for now! These are some of the city’s most prominent sights and probably already fill up your sightseeing schedule quite well.

So here we go, you made it to the end. I hope this one could inspire you to add Weimar to your bucket list and plan your stay.

Which one of the Weimar attractions would interest you the most?

My favorite attraction in Weimar must be the Duchess Anna Amalia Library! Let me know in the comments if you’ve already been there and if it amazed you as much as me!

I hope to welcome you again soon on the blog and until then, let’s stay connected on Instagram. Click here to get to my feed, where I share travel content from all over the world.

See you soon,