Walsrode: Monastery, Bird Park and Heath Museum
Accommodation in Walsrode
Walsrode sparks curiosity with its very different impressions: at the monastery, public tours offer a glimpse into a history of more than 1,000 years; at the Weltvogelpark, birds from around the world take centre stage; and the Rischmannshof Heath Museum shows how rural life in the Lüneburg Heath has developed. There are also two circular routes of very different lengths. During your stay, you can choose between culture, the bird park and hiking.
Walsrode - Eingang Kloster Walsrode 01.jpg
Photo: Frank Schwichtenberg via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Monastery history on the Jacobusweg
Walsrode Monastery is located on the Jacobusweg Lüneburger Heide pilgrimage route. Public tours introduce visitors both to the monastery’s history of more than 1,000 years and to the present-day life of its Christian women’s community. From 1 April to 31 October, tours take place daily at 3 p.m., except Mondays. As the seasonal schedule may change, check the tour dates before your visit. The fixed start time makes the monastery an outing around which you can plan your day; the tour offers a perspective on both its long history and the community’s life today.
Birdlife and flight show
Weltvogelpark Walsrode covers 24 hectares and is home to 4,000 birds from 650 different species. A flight show described as Europe’s largest takes the audience on a journey around the world. Show times may vary, so check the current schedule before your visit. With its size and variety of species, the park offers a different focus from a tour of historic rooms.
A 4-kilometre circular route leads through the park landscape. It stays within the bird park, giving visitors a route to follow during their visit. Together with the flight show and birds from many species, the walk makes the park a destination where the landscape and birdwatching shape the day.
Local history at Rischmannshof
The Rischmannshof Heath Museum has been open since 1912 and is one of Germany’s oldest open-air museums. Its themes range from the development of rural life in the Lüneburg Heath to the history of the town of Walsrode: the attic houses a local history section and a Hermann Löns room. Individual historic buildings also provide tangible points of interest. A stair granary dating from 1669 was moved to the museum. The bakehouse from Südkampen, built in 1752, is the centrepiece of the annual baking days.
The museum brings together regional everyday life, local history and the stories of individual buildings. The bakehouse also makes baking a recurring part of the museum’s life. Anyone interested in the history of the Heath will find a different perspective here than on a monastery tour: at Rischmannshof, rural life and local history take centre stage.
Two circular routes, two distances
The circular route at Weltvogelpark is 4 kilometres long and leads through its park landscape. For a longer hike, take the “Löns” circular route (RWW 8): this 16-kilometre loop starts in Walsrode, passes the Löns grave, Tietlingen and Meinerdingen, and returns to Walsrode. Trail conditions may vary. The two routes differ both in length and in that one runs through the bird park, while the other connects several named stops.
When looking for a holiday apartment in Walsrode, you can use the kind of day you have in mind as a guide: do you want to plan your day around a tour at a set time, spend time at the bird park or take the 16-kilometre loop? These differences give your stay a clear framework without requiring you to choose the same activities or keep the same pace.
Discover more destinations
Discover more destinations: Rethem, Wolterdingen, Dorfmark, Gilten, Bomlitz, Schwarmstedt, Tewel, Behringen.
Return to the main travel overview: Heidekreis.
