Book the Rococo Hall of the Anna Amalia Library and a Bauhaus-Museum slot ahead, then walk the old town: Schiller's House, the Cranach altarpiece in the Herderkirche and the Fürstengruft, where Goethe lies beside Schiller's coffin. Give an afternoon to the Park an der Ilm and Haus Am Horn, and a half day to Buchenwald. Goethe's own house on Frauenplan is closed for restoration from November 2026.
Updated · Wimup Editorial
A town of 66,000 with two UNESCO listings: Classical Weimar, from the years of Goethe and Schiller, and the Bauhaus, founded here in 1919. The parks follow the Ilm, the Buchenwald memorial stands on the hill to the north, and nearly everything else is a short walk apart.
The Rococo Hall is three tiers of white and gold shelving under an oval gallery, and the room most visitors come to Weimar to see. Entry runs on timed tickets with a small daily cap, so book online weeks ahead in summer.
Opened in 2019 for the school's centenary, a concrete block holding the oldest Bauhaus collection: furniture, lamps, ceramics and student work from the Weimar years before the move to Dessau. Reserve a time slot online; the reservation itself is free.
A landscape park laid out along the river in Goethe's time, free and open all year. His Garden House, his first home in Weimar, sits on the meadow on the east bank, and the Römisches Haus faces it from the slope opposite.
The Nazi concentration camp on the Ettersberg, the wooded hill north of the town Goethe made famous. Plan at least three hours for the grounds and exhibitions, and check before you go which exhibitions are open and which need a reserved slot.
The first Bauhaus building, a white cube designed by Georg Muche for the school's 1923 exhibition and built in four months. It is part of the UNESCO Bauhaus listing, and visitor numbers inside are limited, so book ahead.
Schiller bought the house in 1802 and died here three years later. The attic study is the room to see, where he wrote many of his best-known works, and the pedestrian street outside runs straight to the Markt.
The town church of St. Peter und Paul, named for Johann Gottfried Herder, who preached here. Its three-winged altarpiece of 1555, begun by Lucas Cranach the Elder and finished by his son, is the reason to step inside.
The ducal crypt, built from 1823 to 1828, where Goethe has lain beside Schiller's coffin since 1832. Tests in 2008 showed the remains in that coffin were not Schiller's, so it now stands empty. The cemetery around it is free to walk.
A ducal summer palace on the hill south of town, with an orangery and a landscape park around it. The palace rooms are ticketed and the orangery is free, which makes the park an easy half day.
Built from 1864 to 1869 by Josef Zítek as the grand duke's museum, it now covers the decades before the Bauhaus: Henry van de Velde, Nietzsche and the modern movement around 1900. It faces the Bauhaus-Museum across the square.
The rooms Liszt used on his long stays in Weimar from 1869, at the edge of the Ilm park.
The villa where Nietzsche spent his last years, its interior redesigned by Henry van de Velde.
The town's own history, in the house of the publisher Friedrich Justin Bertuch.
Anna Amalia's summer house and literary salon, in a park on a loop of the Ilm.
Duke Carl August's classical garden house above the Ilm, built under Goethe's supervision.
A brewpub serving its own beer beside the kettles, with a beer garden in fine weather.
Goethe married Christiane Vulpius here in 1806; Lucas Cranach the Elder lies in its churchyard.
Built in the Historic Cemetery for Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, beside the Fürstengruft.
The village church Lyonel Feininger painted again and again, beside the A4 south of town.
Late 19th-century streets west of the centre, around the Nietzsche-Archiv and the Felsenkeller.
Thuringia's capital, for the cathedral steps and the Krämerbrücke, about 15 minutes by train.
The castle where Luther translated the New Testament, about an hour west by train.
Bach festival across Thuringia, where he was born and worked, with concerts in Weimar's churches.
Castle days across Thuringia, with tours and events at Belvedere and Tiefurt.
A month of workshops and concerts for Yiddish music and culture, running since 1999.
The town marks the poet's birthday each year with readings and events.
Weimar's arts festival: music, theatre, dance and film over several weeks.
Three nights of audiovisual projection on the town's historic facades.
The onion market, held since 1653: braided onions, onion tart and the old town packed.
The Christmas market across the old town, among the most atmospheric in Thuringia.
The ICE high-speed line bypasses Weimar, so most long-distance trips change at Erfurt, about 15 minutes west. Berlin is about two hours with one change; the old town is a 15-minute walk south.
Leipzig/Halle and Frankfurt carry most flights, both linked to Weimar by rail. Frankfurt is about three and a half hours by train with one change.
City buses run from Goetheplatz and the Hauptbahnhof. Line 6 reaches the Buchenwald memorial in about 20 minutes, and the WeimarCard bundles museum entry.
The old town, the Ilm park and the Bauhaus sites are all within a half-hour walk. Use a bus only for Belvedere, Tiefurt and Buchenwald.
Potato dumplings of raw and cooked potato, with toasted bread cubes inside.
The protected Thuringian sausage, grilled over charcoal and served in a roll with mustard.
Weimar's onion tart, sold everywhere during the October onion market.
A slice of marinated pork neck, grilled and piled with onions.
Pork chunks seasoned with marjoram and roasted over birchwood, from east Thuringia.
Slow-marinated pot roast in a dark, sweet-sour gravy, with dumplings and red cabbage.
Sheet cake from the tray: poppy seed, crumble or quark, cut in squares.
Dark Thuringian lager, Köstritzer the best known, brewed in the state for centuries.
Subscribe to the Wimup newsletter for new guides, travel news and more.
Germany
