Framework, Hanseatic League, World Cultural Heritage, fairy tales – untouched nature, gentle hills, geest and marsh – the Weser cycle path is hardly to be surpassed in terms of cultural and scenic diversity. On the Weser cycle path you have the opportunity to “experience” a river from the “source” to the mouth.
The Weser Cycle Path: Enchantingly beautiful!
What do the seaport in Bremerhaven, the beach resorts in Cuxhaven, the rat catcher town of Hameln with its many romantic half-timbered houses and Minden with its testimonies of the Weser Renaissance have in common? They are all places on the Weser cycle path, which leads cyclists from the confluence of Fulda and Werra near Hann. Münden along the Weser to Bremerhaven and then on to Cuxhaven. And they all make it clear what cyclists can expect on the Weser cycle path: fairytale, romantic and, last but not least, the wide sea.
Here you can learn interesting facts about the Weser Cycle Trail
You cycle and we take care of everything else – from hotel bookings to luggage transport.
Here are a few facts: The Weser Cycle Path
Length: approx. 520 km
- Altimeter: ↑ 1164 m ↓ 1287 m
- The Weser Cycle Path has hardly any inclines and runs mostly directly on the water.
- Signposting: The Weser cycle path has its own signposting – a yellow-blue-green sign accompanies you throughout. You can cycle on both sides of the Weser cycle path. These alternative routes are advertised.
- Quality: One of the most popular bike paths in Germany, mostly leads along bike and waterfront paths, quiet country roads and trade routes.
- Extras of Rückenwind: You get insider tips for your travel documents. Here you will find more information about places of interest, which side of the river is when and where more interesting and which restaurants are on your way. Of course, these are always personal recommendations and serve only as a further orientation.
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Markus Hüneke
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Width is one of the themes that you encounter again and again on the Weser cycle path, at the latest as soon as you change from the beautiful Weserbergland to the equally beautiful but completely different northern regions such as the Mittelweser and the Wesermarsch. Here the view reaches far into the relatively flat landscape, because only a few stands in its way. The regions are characterised by marshes, geest and bogs.
It’s as if the land is slowly getting used to the sea, the closer it gets to the coast. It takes on the promise of freedom, of limitlessness that the sea has given to man for thousands of years. And so a trip on the Weser cycle path is also a good option to shake off everyday life and trade everyday constraints for freedom. You should treat yourself to something like that from time to time.
Weser bike path: some facts and figures
The Weser Cycle Path stretches for about 500 kilometres through Germany: from the Weser mountains to the North Sea coast. In addition to the low mountains, the Weser, Bremen, Wesermarsch, Bremerhaven and Cuxland belong to the regions through which the Weser Cycle Path runs. The largest city on the Weser cycle path is Bremen with more than 500,000 inhabitants. The Cycle Trip Analysis 2019 and 2020 places the Weser Cycle Path at number 1 of the most heavily travelled German cycle routes.
Route characteristics Weser Cycle Path
From its origin in Hann. Münden, where the Weser flows from Werra and Fulda, to its mouth in the North Sea near Bremerhaven, the Weser Cycle Path leads to Cuxhaven. The length of the Weser cycle path is about 515 kilometers. The cycle route along the Weser runs mostly on well-developed cycle paths, quiet business paths and partly country roads. Unpaved sections are only available from time to time and never for longer stages. You will be spared any inclines – except for detours through the Weserbergland.
Signs
The Weser cycle path is equipped with its own signposting throughout. These are constantly revised or reviewed and, if necessary, renewed.
Weser bike path for families
The Weser cycle path is also very suitable for families, because the tour runs, with a few exceptions, always on quiet country roads or on well-developed bike paths. Furthermore, we are very well represented in Hann. Münden with our station manager and luggage driver as well as in Bremen – if there are any difficulties, we are happy to help our young guests. You can also cross the routes by train or boat. But especially for families, the Weser bike path is very beautiful. It also offers the younger guests a lot of excursion possibilities and is partly very fairy-tale. The lie baron of Münchhausen or the rat catcher of Hameln are waiting for you.
Hannoversch Münden
The shore stone in Hann. Münden is the starting point of the Weser. Here the Weser is formed from the confluence of the Werra and Fulda rivers. “ Where Werra kiss and Fulda, you have to atone for their names. And here the Weser River is created by this kiss. ” Hann. Münden, July 31, 1899. Who would recommend the trip to the Weserstein already on the day of arrival, since your starting hotel is usually located directly on the Weser cycle path a little further down. The three-river town of Hann. Münden impresses with its magnificent streets and imposing half-timbered buildings. The old town invites you to linger and stroll. Founded between 1155 and 1183 the city quickly became prosperous and prosperous. The special richness of timber-framed shapes and styles will take you back to that time. Stroll through the streets and discover the half-timbered buildings with their orches, inscriptions, historic doors and portals.
The most beautiful cities of the North
Brick Gothic, Weser renaissance, half-timbered structures and thatched roofs: these are just some of the architectural features you will encounter when you cycle through some of the northern cities in Germany on the Weser cycle path. In addition to architecture, technical masterpieces, art and other testimonies of culture in the cities along the Weser Cycle Path are also inspiring. We would like to present four of these cities in more detail:
Minden
The city of Minden belongs to the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe. Its old town around the more than 1,000-year-old cathedral of St. Gorgonius is particularly charming. In many old town streets it is not particularly difficult to put oneself back in time. In the city you can find buildings from historical periods such as Romanesque, Gothic, Weser Renaissance, Classicism and Historism. An architecturally defining element is the half-timbered structure of many houses, which is why some call Minden a half-timbered town. The half-timbered houses contribute to the fact that Minden is sometimes very romantic and fairy tale-like.
The cathedral is a landmark of Minden, but by no means the only sacred building worth seeing in the city. Also worth a visit are the Church of St. Simeoniskirche and the Church of the Monastery of St. Mauritius. Charming secular buildings are the Alte Münze and the Haus am Windloch, which is considered one of the smallest buildings in the city. A technical masterpiece is the waterway cross, where the Mittelland Canal crosses the Weser River.
Bremen
The Bremen Stadtmusikanten and the Roland are probably the most famous sights in Bremen. The Roland is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the Bremen Town Hall, which is considered one of the most important Gothic buildings in Europe. Town Hall and Roland stand on Bremen’s market square, which many call one of the most beautiful in Europe. Maybe you get an idea for yourself on the spot as to whether that might be true? Around the market square there are impressive buildings such as the St. Petri Cathedral, the “Schütting” as the house of the Chamber of Commerce and many merchant houses in the style of the Weser Renaissance.
Places such as the Böttchergasse and the Schnoor are further reasons to stay in Bremen. The Böttcherstraße with its attractive brick architecture and the Schnoor presents itself as a medieval walkway district in Bremen “ s old town. The Bremen Battle on the Weser is a good place to go out, because you will find many restaurants and bars here.
Although Bremerhaven now has the more important port, Bremen is also a city characterized by maritime economy. Port facilities and museums such as the Hafenmuseum Speicher XI, the school ship Germany and the museum port Vegesack make it clear that seafaring has played and still plays a major role for Bremen. Another important museum in Bremen is the Überseemuseum, an ethnological museum of European standing.
Bremerhaven
What is already noticeable in Bremen is omnipresent in Bremerhaven: the importance of the sea for the economy. The port facilities such as the 7. 8 million m2 overseas ports of the Seestadt are among the most important attractions. There are also museum ships such as the bark “Seute Deern” and the steam icebreaker “Wal. ”
Also dedicated to the lake are the Havenwelten Bremerhaven with facilities such as the Klimahaus® Bremerhaven 8o Ost, the Deutsches Auswandererhaus® Bremerhaven, the Zoo am Meer and the Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum. Towers such as the Brinkamahof lighthouse and the Pingelturm are other buildings that are due to Bremerhaven’s location on the sea.
Bremerhaven is of course also suitable for boat trips, such as harbour tours or day trips, which bring tourists to Heligoland, for example. By the way, a beach holiday is also possible in Bremerhaven: at the Weser beach bathing area.
Cuxhaven
Cuxhaven is waiting for you at the end of a ride on the Weser cycle path heading north. During a bike tour during the bathing season, there are of course a few bathing days. You can swim at the sandy beaches of Duhnen, Döse and Sahlenburg as well as at the green beaches of Grimmershörn and Altenbruch.
The sea near Cuxhaven is not only suitable for swimming, but also for delightful marsh walks in the Wadden Sea, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And of course, the ports of Cuxhaven are also worth a visit, for example the old fishing port, where you can get shrimps from the cutter and fresh fish.
The symbol of the city is the so-called ball beacon, which used to serve as a guide for shipowners. Together with the ALTEN LIEBE, a two-storey observation deck by the sea, the Kugelbake is part of the city’s Maritime Mile. The museum landscape of Cuxhaven includes the Fishery Museum and the Wreck Museum.
Hardly any more sea? That’s right But even in Cuxhaven not every sight is closely connected to the sea. This is the case for Schloss Ritzebüttel, one of the oldest profane buildings in the style of North German brick Gothic.
- the three-river town of Hann. Münden with the confluence of Fulda and Werra as well as a fairytale-like cityscape characterised by a lot of timberwork,
- Fürstenberg with the porcelain factory founded in 1747,
- Höxter with the Corvey Monastery, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site as “The Carolingian Westworks and the Civitas Corvey”,
- Bodenwerder, the former home of the “baron of lies” Karl Friedrich Hieronymus of Münchhausen,
- Hameln, the city of the rat catcher, with an almost closed historical cityscape of many half-timbered and stone houses,
- the riding town of Verden with the cathedral of Verden and the German Horse Museum.
Green valleys, marsh, moor and the Wadden
Of course, it is not just the small and larger cities that make a trip on the Weser Cycle Path attractive. The landscapes around the Weser cycle path also provide good reasons for a cycling holiday on the river. The trail leads through the middle mountains of the Weserbergland with its green valleys and river meadows over the marsh, geest and moorlands of the Mittelweser to the Wesermarsch, where the country is protected from the sea by dikes. The Wesermarsch is also characterized by marshes and bogs and provides a habitat for the white stork, which has become rare in Germany. If you travel further north on the Weser cycle path, you will finally get to know the Wadden Sea near Cuxhaven, which offers animals and plants a unique and fascinating habitat.
A trip on the Weser cycle path also convinces in terms of culinary delights
The Weser Cycle Trail also offers the chance for a culinary journey, which gives them ample opportunity to get to know the specialities of North German cuisine. Maybe you will try flambed rat tails in Hameln, which (no fear) are not real rat tails, but delicious pork fillet stripes. Mispeln are of great importance to Viersen. They are also immortalized in the city’s coat of arms and are used as an ingredient in the kitchen. Mispel-Streuselkuchen is an example of the delicacies that come with this ingredient. Nienburg an der Weser is a stronghold of asparagus cultivation in Germany. So this is the right place to try asparagus dishes. “Nienburger Bärentatzen”, a biscuit cake, is also a speciality of the city.
In Bremen, for example, brown cabbage and pinkel (green sausage) could be on the plate. In the surroundings of Bremen, it is called green cabbage and pee. Other Bremen specialities are pears, beans and bacon, wedding soup, Bremen Labskaus and fried stint. Stink are fish that are not only about 30 centimetres long, but also smoked or pickled. Friends of fish dishes can of course also look forward to the further journey on the Weser bike path towards the sea. In Cuxhaven you have plenty of opportunity to sample crabs and fish, such as dishes with cod, plaice or haddock.
Travelling with Rückenwind bike holidays
Rückenwind is a German bicycle tour operator, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2020 and develops bicycle tours with great attention to detail, which makes for particularly beautiful bicycle trips. As a result, Rückenwind Reisen has now been able to attract numerous customers who have already booked a bike trip with the provider more than once. Rückenwind Reisen offers several attractive tours on the Weser Cycle Path, which will take you to the beautiful cities and landscapes along the Weser. Take a look at the online catalogue and get inspired.
