Baroque architecture, the tradition of mouth-blown flat glass, and trails with a wide range of focuses define Waldsassen. When planning a trip, the question is less about choosing a single itinerary and more about your own interests: should your stay focus mainly on the basilica and its musical events, a stroll through the town, the monastery garden, or longer trails in the surrounding area?
Baroque architecture and special events
Waldsassen Abbey Basilica was built between 1685 and 1704 and is a Baroque building. It has an organ with 104 stops and 7,784 pipes. Two major pilgrimages take place at the basilica: the Feast of the Holy Bodies on the first Sunday in August and the pilgrimage to the Desecrated Saviour on the Sunday after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on 14 September. These events give the church year in Waldsassen a clear sense of timing.
Music is also part of the basilica’s program: a concert series featuring sacred music has been held there annually from March to October for more than 50 years. If you would like to plan your stay around a concert or pilgrimage, check the specific dates before your trip. This lets you plan a cultural focus without losing sight of the town’s other attractions.
A stroll through town and trails with their own character
The walking tour of Waldsassen has eleven stops and is about 1.5 kilometres long. Along the way, browsing the shop windows reveals the history of individual buildings and streets in the town centre. The tour offers a way to learn about local history as you walk, rather than focusing on a single destination.
Another route leads out to the pilgrimage church of Kappl: the Rosary Stations Trail and Hiking Route No. 5 starts in Waldsassen and features 15 Baroque roadside stations with Rosary motifs. The Church of the Holy Trinity at Kappl was built between 1685 and 1689 by Georg Dientzenhofer on the 628-metre-high Glasberg near Münchenreuth. It is three kilometres from Waldsassen. The Stations Trail and the church’s distinctive architectural history offer two perspectives on this excursion.
For another hike, there is the Wondreb water adventure trail. It is just under five kilometres long, has 13 stations, some with interactive features, and is signposted as Route 4 and, from Station 11 onwards, as Route 4a. There are two steps at a bridge, so the trail is not fully accessible. The number of stations and the different route lengths help distinguish this longer route from the walking tour through the town centre.
Monastery garden and glassmaking tradition
The monastery garden of the Cistercian Abbey of Waldsassen includes a medicinal herb garden with herbs associated with Hildegard of Bingen, Kneipp and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The garden also has the Bee Wonder adventure trail, which features a bee sauna. On the third Sunday of each month, there is a guided tour for families; check the latest dates before your trip. The medicinal herbs and the Bee Wonder trail offer different experiences within the garden.
Another facet of the town is the Lamberts glassworks. It is one of only two manufacturers of mouth-blown flat glass in the world. Its historic furnace hall was built in 1906/07 and is a protected industrial monument. Together, the glassmaking tradition and the history of the hall provide two concrete points of interest for exploring glass in Waldsassen.
A dedicated focus for mountain bikers
Several facilities are also available for mountain bikers: Waldsassen has five downhill trails, a flow trail and an MTB dirt park with a pump track and dirt lines. The NORA Trail is rated S2 (blue) and is suitable for beginners. Check the current operating status of the trails before travelling. This helps distinguish this activity from the walking and hiking options, rather than treating all trails as a single offering.
When looking for a hotel in Waldsassen, you can use the focus of your stay as a guide: the basilica and concert series, local history, glass, the monastery garden or the trails. That way, you can choose your destination based on the things you actually want to experience.
Discover more destinations: Tirschenreuth, Friedenfels, Wiesau, Konnersreuth, Kemnath, Kulmain, Falkenberg, Reuth bei Erbendorf.
Go to the main travel overview: Tirschenreuth.
