Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [482]
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Information
ATMs There are several at Königsplatz.
Call International (Untere Königsstrasse 72, 1st fl; per hr €1; 9am-midnight) Internet access just northwest of the city centre’s pedestrian zone.
Kassel Card (1 or 2 people for 24hr/72hr €13/16, 4 people €18/24) Gets you discounts on attractions and free use of public transport. Sold only at the tourist office. An excellent deal.
Kassel Tourist Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe train station ( 340 54; www.kassel-tourist.de; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm Sat); Rathaus ( 707 707; Obere Königsstrasse 8; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-2pm Sat) Tourist information office.
Post office (Untere Königsstrasse 95)
Wasch-Treff (Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse 81; 5am-midnight except Sun & holidays) Laundrette 1km west of the centre. Served by trams 4 and 8 (Querallee stop).
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Sights
CITY-CENTRE MUSEUMS
Between the documenta exhibitions, Museum Fridericianum ( 707 2720; www.fridericianum-kassel.de; Friedrichsplatz 18) and, southeast across Friedrichs-platz, the striking documenta Halle ( 707 270; www.documentahalle.de, in German; Du-Ry-Strasse 1) host changing exhibitions of contemporary art.
Two long blocks southwest, the Neue Galerie ( 3168 0400; www.museum-kassel.de; Schöne Aussicht 1) showcases paintings and sculptures by German artists from 1750 to the present, as well as exhibits from past documenta exhibitions. Closed for repairs until late 2011.
Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm began compiling folk stories while living in Kassel. Their lives and stories, now available in almost 200 languages, are featured at the Brüder Grimm-Museum (Museum of the Brothers Grimm; 103 235; www.grimms.de; Schöne Aussicht 2; adult/student €1.50/1; 10am-5pm, to 8pm Wed), across the street from the Neue Galerie.
Billed as ‘a meditative space for funerary art’, the Museum für Sepulkralkultur (Museum of Sepulchral Culture; 918 930; www.sepulkralmuseum.de, in German; Weinbergstrasse 25-27; adult/child €5/3.50; 10am-5pm Tue & Thu-Sun, 10am-8pm Wed) is intended to bury the taboo on discussing death. The permanent collection includes headstones, hearses, dancing skeleton bookends and sculptures depicting death. Situated 300m west of the Neue Galerie, near trams 1 and 3 (Weigelstrasse stop).
WILHELMSHÖHE
Seven kilometres west of the centre, in the enchanting Habichtswald (Hawk Forest nature park), is the baroque, early-18th-century Schlosspark Wilhelmshöhe ( 316 800; www.museum-kassel.de, in German), a highlight of any visit to Kassel. You can spend an entire day here walking through the forest, enjoying a romantic picnic and exploring the castles, fountains, grottoes, a spectacular cascade and the city’s symbol, a massive statue of Herkules atop a towering stone pyramid atop an octagonal amphitheatre atop an imposing hill. Until reunification, the hills here formed the border with the GDR.
Show a same-day entry ticket from one Wilhelmshöhe site at any other and you’ll get a 25% discount.
Herkules
The 8.25m-high copper Hercules statue ( 312 456; adult/under 18yr/student €3/free/2; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun mid-Mar–mid-Nov), 600m above sea level, was erected between 1707 and 1717 as a symbol of regional power. From the top of the pyramid (which was set to reopen in late 2009), there’s an unbelievable view in all directions, though fine views towards Kassel can also be had from the balconies on the west side of the statue’s base. At the bottom you can see Schloss Wilhelmshöhe and, to its southwest, Löwenburg.
To get up here, take tram 3 to the Druseltal terminus and then bus 22 (runs once or twice an hour from 8am to 7pm or 8pm) to the Herkules stop.
Schloss Wilhelmshöhe
Home to Elector Wilhelm and later Kaiser Wilhelm II, this palace (1786–98) at the foot of the Wilhelmshöhe houses the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Gallery; 316 800; adult/under 18yr/student €6/free/2; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun). It has one of Germany’s best collections