Bermbach: Charcoal-Burning Tradition, Local Heritage Room and Outdoor Pool

Bermbach brings together a charcoal-burning tradition, local history and outdoor activities. The annual charcoal-burning festival keeps the tradition alive, while the local heritage room is housed in a building that once served an unusual purpose. A small outdoor pool lies on the edge of the village; nearby is the Knüllfeld ski and hiking area, which has a ski lift. This gives you different options to consider when choosing your destination—from local history and festival culture to swimming or a trip focused on skiing and hiking.

Charcoal Burning, Local Heritage and an Outdoor Pool in Bermbach

The charcoal-burning festival is held annually and keeps Bermbach’s charcoal-burning tradition alive. If you want to plan your trip around the festival, check the exact date in advance. The local heritage room offers a different insight into the village’s history: it is in a building that once housed the village school on the ground floor and the church upstairs. The building’s former uses were therefore split between two floors—school below, church above. Together with today’s local heritage room, this makes the building a particularly vivid illustration of local history.

The small outdoor pool is on the edge of the village, in the Bermbach district. It has a non-swimmer pool, a swimming pool and a sunbathing lawn. The facility therefore includes pools for different swimming abilities as well as a place to lie in the sun. Check current opening information before visiting. The Knüllfeld ski and hiking area, which has a ski lift, is also near Bermbach. These two options have different focuses: the outdoor pool is in the district, while Knüllfeld is a nearby area focused on skiing and hiking.

In the wider destination of Steinbach-Hallenberg

The wider destination of Steinbach-Hallenberg offers further attractions related to crafts, history and the landscape. At the Steinbach-Hallenberg Metalworking Museum, visitors can tour preserved workshops and see how people worked in the past. The museum has three historic workshops: a nail forge, a corkscrew workshop and a file-making workshop. The permanent exhibition “Ons Schdaaimicher,” which opened in January 2022, offers insights into the way of life, the development of the local dialect and club life in Steinbach-Hallenberg. Blacksmithing demonstrations take place on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. from April to October; check the dates before your trip.

Hallenburg Castle is another historical attraction in Steinbach-Hallenberg. It was built around 1212 on older remains of buildings. A walk up to the castle offers views of the town and the surrounding mountains. To access the tower, you may need to pick up the key from the Tourist Information Office. Steinbach-Hallenberg Tourist Information is centrally located in the town centre, directly opposite the Metalworking Museum. For longer stays, free parking is available on Bismarckstraße or on Hennebergstraße behind the town church.

At the Unterlautenberg wildlife enclosure in the Unterschönau district, you can see red deer, fallow deer, mouflon and goats. A circular trail about 3 km long runs alongside the enclosure. Knüllfeld is described as a hiking plateau in Steinbach-Hallenberg and adds to the area’s nature and landscape attractions.

During the summer holidays, horse-drawn carriage rides to Knüllfeld and back to the town centre are regularly offered in cooperation with Fuhrbetrieb Falk Nattermann. The ride offers views down into the valley and of the surrounding mountains. Dates are published in the events calendar; check in advance if you would like to plan a ride.

The festivals also follow different schedules: Bermbach’s charcoal-burning festival is held annually, while the Burgfest in honour of Hallenburg Castle is celebrated as a major town festival in Steinbach-Hallenberg every five years. If events are important to your trip, it is worth taking these different intervals into account when planning your dates.

Discover More Destinations

Discover more destinations: Rosa, Obermaßfeld-Grimmenthal, Benshausen, Rohr / Thuringia, Schwallungen, Wernshausen, Walldorf, Frankenheim/Rhön.

Back to the wider travel overview: Schmalkalden-Meiningen.