A trip with my dog to the Wartburg and the Burschenschaftsdenkmal near Eisenach (Germany)

This March, I took a trip with my dog to Eisenach to visit the Wartburg. While we were there, we also visited the nearby Burschenschaftsdenkmal.

Both of these sights are near each other, in fact there seems to be a hiking route of roughly 3km connecting the two. Unfortunately we did not have much time, so we went by car from place to place.

If you are looking to spend more time in the Eisenach region, I can certainly recommend the holiday home that I stayed at. If you’re interested you can find my review here.

THE BURSCHENSCHAFTSDENKMAL

If you’re coming by car, you can park right in front of the Burschenschaftsdenkmal and then walk up. If the parking lot directly at the top is filled, there are some additional parking spots a bit further down the hill.

To be quite honest, I was a little disappointed with this memorial – when I looked at pictures online it appeared very big and impressive, but when we got there it was a lot smaller than I thought. Unfortunately we arrived a bit late in the evening, so we were not able to go inside.

Still, I thought it was worth going there as you have a great view of the Wartburg from the Burschenschaftsdenkmal. Can you spot it in the distance?

THE WARTBURG

There is a dedicated parking lot for the Wartburg. Usually, parking is charged at 3 EUR for one car. However, we came quite late in the evening when the Wartburg was already closed, so we ended up being able to park for free. So nice!

From the parking lot, you walk up to the castle. There are two options – one involving stairs, and one without, which I thought was really nice. It took us around 15 minutes to get to the top. Since we arrived quite late, we could not go inside. In general, dogs are allowed to enter the Wartburg grounds, but not the indoor parts of the castle. For us, we were happy to just see it from the outside and enjoy the views.

The building is quite impressive, as it is a UNESCO world heritage site and comes with lots of history. Did you know that Martin Luther sought refuge here and translated the new testament of bible into German during 1521-1522? Definitely a historic site.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Wartburg is a nice place to visit with your dog. I would recommend timing your visit such that you can go into the grounds as well. The Burschenschaftsdenkmal I would consider optional – if you don’t have time, don’t sweat it. Next time I’m in the area, I will check out some of the hiking routes around Eisenach as well – stay tuned!