Street in Weimar
Weimar is a small city that punches above its weight in cultural history: Goethe, Schiller, Bach, Liszt, Cranach, Nietzsche, the Bauhaus school, and the Weimar Republic all have roots here. The old town is UNESCO-listed and free to walk. The Goethe House and Schiller House (both paid, modest) are the main attractions. The market square, the Herzogin Anna Amalia Library (exterior free), and the Ilm Park are all within walking distance. Budget travelers take the cheap train from Leipzig or Erfurt and see one of the most culturally dense small cities in Europe.
Practical
Nearby
Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
Opened in 2019, this museum traces the Bauhaus movement from its 1919 founding in Weimar through original furniture, typography, and design objects. Entry costs a moderate fee, but the collection is the oldest Bauhaus archive in existence and rewards design-minded visitors.
The Buchenwald Memorial is the former concentration camp on the Ettersberg hill above Weimar, where over 56,000 people were murdered between 1937 and 1945. Free.
Goethe lived and worked in this Baroque townhouse for nearly 50 years. Entry costs a modest fee, but seeing the original study where Faust was written and the preserved living quarters makes it one of the most rewarding cultural visits in Germany.
The Park an der Ilm is a UNESCO-listed English landscape garden along the Ilm River, designed partly by Goethe himself. Free.
Working out what Weimar costs?
The whole of Weimar