Kassel; Friday, 12 December, 2025

I had a bit of a lie in and a late breakfast before checking out of the hotel and heading over to the Hauptbahnhof about 150m up the road. I could have had another 30 minutes or so in the hotel, but my recent experience of regional trains in German is that it’s wise to be on the platform as soon as they arrive in from their previous journey to ensure you can get a decent seat, and with a good 15 people already on the platform, 40 minutes before our scheduled departure time that was probably a good idea.

I did manage to get a nice seat on the upper deck, and over the following 40 minutes the train filled up steadily so that by the time we left it was well over half full – proving I probably hadn’t needed to be quite so early, but that it’s still wise to get to the station early. The journey up to Kassel was uneventful and a couple of hours later I was stepping off the train at the main station in the centre of the city.

As it was only just after half one, and my hotel didn’t check in until 3pm I decided to walk the mile and a half or so down to the hotel, going via the main Christmas Market in Königsplatz to have a quick stop for some lunch as well, finally arriving at the hotel just before 14:30, only to find out that they’re perfectly happy to do early check-ins, so I could have come here sooner.

After dropping off my stuff I headed out of the hotel and caught the tram from the nearby stop back into the centre of the city to then go for a long wander.

I started up close to the Town Hall and walked around the area called Schöne Aussicht or Beautiful View and it’s true to its name as high up above the Park Karlsaue and the Fulda River you get excellent views of the Orangery and the park. A short walk further on and past the New Gallery you reach the Frühstückspavillon or Breakfast Pavillion at the highest point of the road, an early 19th century folly from where you can look across the parkland as well as to the vineyard hills on the opposite side of the road, which is where I headed to next.

Sadly, pointing the wrong way, and way too cloudy anyway, to catch the actual sunset I spent a bit of time wandering around this area taking in the views as dusk fell on the city before making my way back in towards the centre of town.

I headed to the Königsstraße, the main shopping street of the city which during the Christmas Market season is closed even to the trams that normally run along it making it a pleasant space to wander along taking in the Christmas Lights as well as the two large Christmas Markets, one at the Friedrichsplatz and the other at the Königsplatz

I spent quite a long time in the markets both browsing the stalls and sampling the gluhwein and bratwurst on offer, fulfilling the need to grab any dinner. Eventually I headed back to the hotel for an early night (and to digest all the pork)