Hanau-Wilhelmsbad State Park

In the Brothers Grimm town of Hanau, there was once a famous spa where even Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Baron von Knigge were guests: in 1709, two herb women discovered a spring of water in a forest near the town. When it later became clear that the mineral-rich water had a healing effect, Hereditary Prince Wilhelm commissioned the architect Franz Ludwig Cancrin to build a magnificent neoclassical spa complex with an English landscape park here from 1777. Everything that was en vogue in the 18th century has adorned this park ever since: a castle ruin and rock corridors, a hermitage, a pyramid, a theater - and what is now the oldest carousel in the world. Money was no object; Wilhelm financed the Wilhelmsbad, named after him, by lending soldiers to the British king, his uncle. However, the healing spring dried up around 1815 and Elector Wilhelm I of Hesse-Kassel died a few years later. The baths and park fell into a deep sleep. Fortunately, so little has changed here since then that a visit to the Hanau-Wilhelmsbad state park is like a journey back in time to the 18th century.
You can take a leisurely stroll through the English-style landscaped park, and you will also find the Hessian Doll and Toy Museum in the Kurhaus, a miniature golf course next door and a nice café and regular performances and concerts in the Comoedienhaus. And on special occasions, you can even take a spin on the oldest carousel in the world.