Walsrode

Walsrode has become well-known due to Alsrode Bird Park. And yet the town of Walsrode has even more to offer, not to mention its hotels and holiday apartments of all types. Walsrode Convent is the oldest of all the Heath’s monasteries and, in the region around Walsrode, there is also much to discover in the countryside. 

Walsrode lies in the southern part of Luneburg Heath, close to Hannover, and has good transport links to the A7 and A27 motorways. Walsrode also has a railway station on the

Heidebahn (Heath Train) line and can be reached via the German national rail network (the DB) by changing at Hannover.

Walsrode Convent was founded in 986 by Count Walo and today is the oldest of the renowned Heath monasteries. On 22.07.1383 Walsrode was granted a town charter by the Dukes of Brunswick and Lüneburg. During the Napleonic wars, Walsrode became part of the Hanseatic Département from 1811 and was a border town between the Kingdom of Westphalia and the French empire.

Today Walsrode with around 26,000 inhabitants is the largest municipality in the Heath Administration District; with its 22 incorporated villages, it extends over an area of 271 km (almost double the size of the principality of Lichtenstein).

The town became well-known due to the world’s largest bird park in the nearby village of Bomlitz. Over 4000 birds of 650 different species and an impressive park with a unique sea of flowers make Walsrode Bird Park one of Germany’s top attractions.

Since 1935 the town of Walsrode has been known as the Hermann Löns Town as this famous poet lies buried here in Tietlinger Wacholderhain (Tietlingen Juniper Grove). In it and the nearby surroundings there are several memorials:

• The 1929 Löns memorial in Tietlingen juniper grove, a parkland-like heath landscape;

• The 1935 Löns grave under a boulder in Tietlingen juniper grove close to the Löns memorial;

• The Löns hunting hut close to the Walsrode district of Westenholz. Hermann Löns frequently stayed in the hut for lengthy periods between 1898-1914;

• The Löns room in Walsrode’s Heath Museum, with furniture from his estate and a collection of his works;

• A life-size bronze sculpture of Löns at the Heath Museum from 2006;

• Memorial stone in Heiliger Hain (sacred grove) at Wahrenholz, where Löns lived for a short while in 1912.

Walsrode Convent, with its ground plan unchanged since the 13 century, is today a protestant abbey. It is the oldest of the renowned Heath monasteries.

Rischmannshof Heather Museum in Echernworth town forest displays the history of farming in Lüneburg Heath. This museum, one of the oldest open air museums in Germany, also illustrates the history of the artisan trades of joiner, blacksmith, and beekeeper. 

The ginseng gardens of the FloraFarm in Bockhorn near Walsrode are the only location in Europe where Korean ginseng has been professionally cultivated for nearly 30 years and successfully marketed for medical and cosmetic use. You will be amazed at what there is to see here.

Well-known personalities from Walsrode are Martin Kind (President of Hannover 96), Ludwig Harms (revivalist preacher), Hermann Löns (poet), Drafi Deutscher (singer), and Lilo Wanders (impersonator).

Walsrode and its surroundings offer a wide choice of hotels and holiday apartments in every category. Walsrode is a favourite starting point for bicycle tours. The sights in the immediate vicinity provide an interesting short break and, as the southern gateway to Lüneburg Heath, Walsrode makes a worthwhile base for a holiday. Its ideal location in close proximity to the motorways to Hannover, Hamburg, and Bremen ensures it is popular with those travelling on business.