Bad Köstritz combines a rich park history with cultural sites and a variety of routes through the town and its surroundings. Köstritz Park is an English-style landscape park covering more than 30 hectares. There is also a four-kilometre town walk and a signposted network of 27 kilometres of hiking trails. When planning your visit, it is worth distinguishing the compact route past the sights from the hiking options around Bad Köstritz.

Landscape Park and the History of the Rosarium

Köstritz Park has the characteristics of an English-style landscape park; its area of more than 30 hectares gives this theme particular prominence. The rosarium offers another historical perspective. Ernst Rudolf Zersch had it laid out in 1936 at the instigation of the Köstritz horticultural association Flora. The grounds were intended to beautify the townscape and serve as a public recreational space. The park and rosarium thus represent two different aspects of the town’s design: the creation of a large landscape park and the deliberate establishment of a rosarium to enhance the townscape and provide recreation.

Geology adds another distinctive feature. At the Dreistöckiger Steinbruch (Three-Storey Quarry), horizontal Zechstein limestone beds lie atop vertically standing Culm shale layers. The contrast between the horizontal limestone beds and the upturned shale is a particularly clear description of the rock formations there.

Town Walk or Hiking Trails

The four-kilometre town walk passes the sights of Bad Köstritz. The circular routes start and finish in the town centre, at the Palais or the Heinrich Schütz House. These two landmarks provide a clear framework for the town walk: you can take in the sights as part of a single stroll and choose between the stated starting and finishing points.

Those looking beyond the town walk will find a signposted network of 27 kilometres of hiking trails around Bad Köstritz, as well as an Archaeological Hiking Trail. The routes are suitable for hiking and Nordic walking. This offers two distinct ways to plan your stay: visiting the sights along the town walk or exploring the hiking trails around the town. Check local conditions before setting out.

The Palais and Literary Heritage

A monument in the town centre commemorates Julius Sturm, the Köstritz pastor and poet. He entered literary history as a devout poet of secular verse. The monument connects the town with its literary history, while the Palais illustrates its architectural history: following the great fire of 1779, the new Baroque Palais was built on the site of the fire. It served as a prestigious residence for members of the count’s family. The great fire, the new building and its Baroque style are part of this historical context; this does not imply anything about its present-day use or accessibility.

The town walk and the hiking trail network offer different ways to plan your stay, without combining the town walk and hiking options into a single route.

Cultural Sites in the Wider Destination of Greiz

The wider destination of Greiz is home to its own cultural sites. The permanent exhibition “From the Land of the Vogts to the Principality of Reuss Elder Line” has been on display at the Upper Castle in Greiz since 2010. It covers the history of the Vogts, lords, Imperial Counts and Imperial Princes of Reuss, as well as the associated culture of the small-state residences. The museum offers a multimedia experience of history, including a computer-animated account of the building’s history and an interactive journey through time.

The Lower Castle in Greiz houses a museum and a textile demonstration workshop. Established in 1998, the workshop presents the production and history of Greiz’s textile industry; children and adults can take part in the manual production process. The Summer Palace in Greiz was built as a summer residence for the Princes of Reuss Elder Line and is one of the earliest Neoclassical buildings in Central Germany. These cultural sites are part of the wider destination of Greiz and complement the options for planning a cultural history trip without being conflated with the sites in Bad Köstritz.

Discover more destinations: Moschwitz, Zadelsdorf, Hain, Auma-Weidatal, Langenwetzendorf, Greiz, Endschütz, Münchenbernsdorf

Go to the wider travel overview: Greiz.