Willingen Sauerland
Willingen – an illustrated trip
Willingen/Upland (1800-2750feet; 550-838m) in the tourist region Sauerland is a sportive four seasons holiday place. With yearly approx. 1.2 million overnight stays, Willingen is the most visited holiday resort in the German highlands.
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The landmark of Willingen is the imposing viaduct with the Stryckpark.
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Willingen with its nice spa gardens is a health resort with very good air.
Willingen also serves a gateway between the Hochsauerland and Waldecker Land/Edersee, two tourist regions of extentional beauty. With eight peaks that reach over 2600ft (800m) Willingen's Upland is a very popular address for walkers as well as for winter sports.
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The highest peak of Sauerland is the mountain Langenberg with 2766ft (843m), which you find at the end of Willingen. You can only walk up Langenberg through a beautiful nature reserve.
Foto: Wikimedia
NATURE is a very important fact in the Upland. Willingen is part of the "nature reserve Diemelsee" with its vast woods, the biggest high moorlands of Europe, charming stream courses and valleys, numerous geologic places of interest (Geopark Waldeck-Frankenberg) as well as a huge number of experience hiking trails and trekking cycle tracks.
One of the most popular geolocical destinations in Sauerland are the Bruchhausen Stones, which are only 7 km away from Willingen. These are also easily accessible on a nice walking trail.
Foto: Wikimedia
Four top hiking trails touch Willingen (Uplandsteig, Rothaarsteig, Diemelsteig and Briloner Kammweg). The attraction of Uplandsteig is its panoramic view of the highest peaks of Sauerland. The scenery round Willingen has developed to the most popular walking park in Sauerland. Not by chance in 2009 Willingen was the venue of the Event „German hiking day“.
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You reach the 2750ft (838m) high mountain Ettelsberg – the heart of Willingen – by cable car. On top, walking trails start through the highest moorlands of Europe. The oberservation tower (2900ft/875m) offers the highest panoramic view of northwest Germany.
Tourists make a cult out of visiting the Ettelsberg Hut and its legendary keeper Siggi: „No mountain tavern in the alps can take it up with Siggis place!“ (Magazine Focus).
In summertime you can go for a swim in the numerous swimming areas in Lake Diemelsee, or go the near open-air swimming pool in the suburb Usseln.
All year round you can enjoy diverse water pleasure in the lagoon water park in Willingen.
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Willingen means „have it all"! This slogan fits to no other holiday resort better. Nowhere in Germany you can find such a variety of leisure offers:
Nature, spa gardens, and pleasure parks; fairytale forest; summer toboggan run; visitor's mines; climbing hall; tennis center; gulf course; indoor go-cart & bowling centre; high rope garden; milk-museum, horseback riding arena, paragliding; canoe; rink with ice skating disco and a lot more.
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Mountain bike park with 150 miles of marked MTB trails and freeride-, fourcross- and Ettelsberg worldcup downhill trail; in June the biggest German mountain bike event takes place yearly.
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Just 17 miles (26km) from Willingen, families will find the popular adventure land and western park „fort fun“ with many rapid attractions.
Especially for families Willingen with its leisure attractions and famous nature is an enjoyable holiday experience.
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A top destination in the region is Lake Edersee - the most famous reservoir in Germany – with Waldeck Castle, the national park Kellerwald-Edersee and visitors center.
Willingen in Wintertime
Quelle: Stefan Wrubel / Wikipedia
Nearly 90 days ski season from December to March on the most beautiful and longest panoramic slopes in Sauerland, some of them up to 6500ft (2000m) make Willingen one of the top wintersports addresses in the German highlands with a taste of real alpine atmosphere.
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Technically perfect and very modern is the snowsure alpine skiing arena (www.skigebiet-willingen.de) with its 70 high-performance snow maschines. 10 miles/16km of skiruns (2,5 miles/4km with floodlight) all around the mountain Ettelsberg with a height difference of 800ft (240m).
German Skiing Association's “Nordic Active Centre” with 30 miles (49km) of cross-country trails of all difficulty levels - of it 12 miles (20km) on elevation of 2460ft (750m) - allow good cross-country skiing terms. Jochen Behle, the German cross-country legend and coach of the national team is resident in Willingen.
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The absolute highlight is the yearly FIS ski-jumping world cup on the Mühlenkopf ski-jump – the largest ski-jump in the world! 35,000 fans make the event a big party.
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Willingen's après-ski is legendary! All year round the “Saturday-Night-Fever” in Willingen with 14(!) dance-bars for everybody's taste is unique in Germany's holiday resorts.
For your main holiday as well as your short vacation, for Family-holiday or weekend trips – Willingen with its year-round supply and leisure diversity is always worth a visit! Have nice vacation in Sauerland!
