Discover Clingen
Accommodation in Clingen
Clingen tells its story through specific places: five former mills, the Börnchen spring and preserved sections of the town wall. There is also an animal park and buildings with distinctive details. Visitors choosing the town for a stay can weigh up nature watching, local history and excursions to destinations elsewhere in the wider Kyffhäuser district.
Water and Mill History
At the Börnchen, a spring bubbles into a pond enclosed by tufa stones, with a bench nearby. The water flows into a landscaped biotope. The spring, pond and biotope give the place a clear connection to water, while the bench offers a spot to take a break.
Clingen’s mill history is another part of the town’s story: it once had five mills—the Pfaffenhof Mill, Neumühle, Ölmühle, Papiermühle and Pulvermühle. The Pulvermühle was later called the Neue Ölmühle. It was an oil and grist mill and, from 1922, supplied electricity for Clingen’s street lighting for many years. This example connects the history of the mills with the town’s power supply.
Traces in the Townscape
A preserved section of Clingen’s old town wall includes a small tower with two loopholes near the church. The loopholes and the course of the surviving wall provide tangible architectural points of reference for the town’s history, without requiring a lengthy description.
In the forecourt stands the monument to the “Loreley” men’s choral society: a replica of the Lorelei Rock. Another historic building is the Domänenhof, which is at least partly the main building of the castle. Inscriptions attest to the age of its lower section. Together, these places reveal different traces of the past: a rock-shaped monument to an association and a building whose history can be read in its inscriptions.
Animal Park and Aqueduct
At the Kleine Wartburg animal park in Clingen, visitors can feed the animals. If you plan to do this, check current opening arrangements before your visit.
The Gerinne is a damaged aqueduct and is accessible only from the sports field. Check the current situation before visiting. This access restriction sets the Gerinne clearly apart from the town’s other stops and should be taken into account when planning.
More to Explore in the Kyffhäuser District
The wider Kyffhäuser district offers other independent destinations with different points of interest. The Barbarossa Cave is an anhydrite cave between the villages of Rottleben and Steinthaleben in the municipality of Kyffhäuserland. Five miners discovered it in 1865 in connection with the resumption of copper shale mining. The cave was named after the legend of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, who is said to return.
The Sondershausen Adventure Mine offers guided tours at a depth of 670 metres throughout the year. These include an approximately two-hour truck tour through the underground labyrinth. The mine also has the world’s deepest concert hall, where concerts and cabaret performances are regularly held. Underground tours and events therefore provide distinct attractions alongside Clingen’s local history.
Other cultural destinations offer different experiences: Since 1923, the Sondershausen Palace Museum has been housed in the former residence of the Counts and Princes of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen; its exhibition spans three floors. In Westgreußen, the Funkenburg Archaeological Open-Air Museum features Germany’s only reconstruction of a Germanic settlement on a prominent hill spur above the Helbe valley. Its educational activity programmes include pottery, baking, wool processing, making fishing nets and archery.
The trails also differ in length. The Forest Adventure Trail runs for four kilometres between the Rothenburg ruins and the Kyffhäuser Monument and includes ten activity stations. The Kyffhäuser Trail, by contrast, is a 37-kilometre circular route starting and ending in Bad Frankenhausen. Its three stages lead from Bad Frankenhausen to the Barbarossa Cave, from there to the Kyffhäuser Monument, and back to Bad Frankenhausen. The trail is certified as a Quality Trail Wanderbares Deutschland, is well signposted and is regularly checked for defects.
When looking for a holiday apartment, your preferred focus for the trip is a useful first filter: should Clingen, with its mill history, the Börnchen spring and architectural traces, be at the centre of your stay, or would you like to include individual destinations elsewhere in the wider Kyffhäuser district? Decide which themes you want your trip to focus on, then use them to guide your choice of accommodation location.
Discover More Destinations
Gorsleben, Sondershausen, Westgreußen, Artern/Unstrut, Nausitz, Oldisleben, Ebeleben, Kyffhäuserland
For the overview of the wider region: Kyffhäuser district.
