Hesse, Germany: Towns to Explore on Foot

Hesse is a German state where busy urban centres meet wooded hills, river valleys and historic towns. The southwest is shaped by the Rhine-Main region and Frankfurt’s international role, while the middle and north offer a more rural landscape of forests, plains and waterways. Neywo has free audio guides for 3 cities in Hesse, covering 152 narrated places in total across 13 walking tours.

Things to do in Hesse

Explore Frankfurt, the state’s financial centre

Frankfurt is Germany’s principal financial centre and the largest urban focus in Hesse. The city is home to the European Central Bank, the German Bundesbank and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, but its attractions also include a wide range of historic and cultural places.

Neywo’s guide to Frankfurt includes 117 narrated places. Among its highlights are St. Paul’s Church, the Dom-Museum, the Frankfurt Archaeological Museum and St. Catherine’s Church. The city is also one of Germany’s most important transport hubs: Frankfurt Airport serves more than 57 million passengers a year, and Frankfurt Central Station is a major railway interchange.

Frankfurt’s setting helps explain its importance. It stands within the Rhine-Main region, a densely settled area that also includes Wiesbaden, Darmstadt and Offenbach. Finance, industry, aviation, research, information technology and engineering all contribute to the region’s urban character.

Discover Darmstadt’s court and research heritage

Darmstadt has a distinctive place in Hesse’s history. It was once the seat of the Landgraves and Grand Dukes of Hesse, leaving the city with a rich courtly heritage. It is also a centre for information technology and telecommunications, and hosts major research institutions.

The city illustrates one of Hesse’s defining contrasts: historic political and cultural importance alongside modern research and industry. Its position in the Rhine-Main region places it within the state’s most densely populated and economically active area.

Visit Wiesbaden and the Rhine-Main region

Wiesbaden is one of the principal cities of the Rhine-Main region, alongside Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Offenbach. Together, these urban centres form the busiest and most densely populated part of Hesse, set between major rivers and crossed by important routes.

The region’s landscape is not entirely urban. South of the Main, the Ried forms a broad, densely populated plain between the Main, Rhine and lower Neckar. North of the Main, the Wetterau continues this lowland landscape. The combination of river corridors, transport connections and developed plains has helped make the southwest of Hesse a major centre for business and movement.

Walk through historic Idstein

Idstein offers a smaller-scale view of Hesse’s heritage. The town has 13 narrated places in Neywo’s guide, including Killingerhaus, Idstein Castle, Burg Holdersberg and Ringwallanlage Nack.

These sites bring together historic architecture and the older defensive traces found in the surrounding landscape. Idstein is a useful stop for travellers looking beyond the major cities and wanting to experience one of Hesse’s historic towns at a more intimate pace.

See Rüdesheim am Rhein and the Rhine landscape

On the Rhine, Rüdesheim am Rhein has 22 narrated places in Neywo’s guide. Its highlights include Niederwalddenkmal, Brömserhof, Heilig Kreuz and Ehrenfels Castle.

The town belongs to a landscape where rivers, hills and historic sites come together. The Rhine is one of Hesse’s great southern waterways and is navigable by large vessels. The river corridor also connects the region to a broader cultural landscape beyond the present state boundary.

Visit Hesse’s UNESCO World Heritage sites

Hesse’s cultural landmarks cover very different periods and subjects. Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel is one of several UNESCO World Heritage sites in the state. The list also includes Lorsch Abbey and the Messel Fossil Pit, as well as Kellerwald-Edersee National Park in North Hesse.

Together, these places show the breadth of a Hesse travel guide. Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe represents a designed historic landscape, Lorsch Abbey preserves a religious and historical legacy, the Messel Fossil Pit reveals the region’s prehistoric past, and Kellerwald-Edersee protects an important natural environment.

Experience forests, rivers and open plains

Hesse is a landlocked state, but its geography is strongly shaped by water. The Rhine and Main are the major southern rivers, while the Eder and Fulda drain much of the north. The Lahn crosses the centre-west of the state.

The landscape changes quickly around these rivers. The Ried and Wetterau are low, densely settled plains. Beyond them, central and northern Hesse become hillier and more wooded. The Odenwald forms a ridge of low mountains, or very high hills, beside the southern plain. This variety makes Hesse more than an urban destination: it is also a region of forests, river valleys and open countryside.

Look beyond modern Hesse’s borders

The name Hesse has a long history. It ultimately continues the name of the ancient Chatti people and appeared in forms including Hessun and Hessia before the German Hessen became established. The modern territory is much newer: it was delineated in 1945 as Greater Hesse under American occupation.

The region’s historical influence has also travelled far beyond Germany. In American English, “Hessian” became associated with troops hired out by Landgrave Frederick the Second of Hesse-Kassel, who fought for Britain in the American Revolutionary War.

Hesse’s cultural identity remains varied today. Most of the state belongs to the West Middle German dialect zone, while the far north lies within the Low Saxon area, including Eastphalian and Westphalian varieties. Its public broadcaster, Hessischer Rundfunk, adds another statewide cultural institution through regional radio and television.

Explore Hesse with Neywo

Neywo offers free audio guides for 3 cities in Hesse, with 13 walking tours and 152 narrated places in total. The guide covers Frankfurt, Idstein and Rüdesheim am Rhein, with narration available in 11 languages.

The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Download Neywo and explore Hesse while its cities, historic sites and landscapes unfold around you.