Pumpkin soup and gruesome spooks 🎃
The joys of autumn, German style
I begin with an apology for having vanished without a trace earlier this year, however Germany Travel Picks will now (hopefully) be returning to its regularly scheduled programming. If you have any recommendations for things to do or see in Germany at this time of year, I’d love you to share them with everyone in the comments at the end of the newsletter.
In this edition…
The world’s largest pumpkin exhibition • Halloween at Frankenstein Castle • a Bavarian hotel with an in-house brewery • a cosy off-grid cabin with a wood stove • Joan Jonas in Munich • and much more…
Please check individual sites and destinations for up-to-date COVID-19 regulations.
Destination picks: Autumnal outings
Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival
Ludwigsburg Palace is currently playing host to the world’s largest pumpkin festival, its beautifully-kept grounds home to hundreds of thousands of pumpkins arranged into elaborate sculptures and ornamental displays, this year on a jungle theme. (Keep your eyes peeled for Mowgli and Baloo.) There are pumpkin carving sessions to take part in and, from 19 October onwards, illuminated pumpkin displays to admire after sunset. Hungry pumpkin fans will be pleased to find culinary offerings that include pumpkin soup, pumpkin cheese Spätzle and freshly-baked pumpkin bread.
Until 4 December. Further information: travel.ludwigsburg.de
Halloween Events at Frankenstein Castle
If you’re searching for something a little spookier, make your way to the thousand-year-old Frankenstein Castle in the Odenwald Forest. Thought by some to have been the inspiration for Mary Shelley’s classic novel, at this time of year the ruins are home to one of Germany’s biggest Halloween parties. Wandering the castle’s crypts and battlements after dark isn’t for the faint-hearted: from Freddy Krueger to Michael Myers and all sorts of ghouls and gremlins in between, there’s a hundred or so very unpleasant characters lurking around the grounds.
Halloween events take place from 21 October-6 November. Further information: www.frankenstein-restaurant.de
Usedom Game Festival
Each October, the (German half of the) island of Usedom celebrates its forestry, nature conservation, hunting and game season with a three-week festival. Events and activities include culinary tours, island safaris, and a family-friendly day out involving a hunting dog show and the crowning of the Usedom Honey King. For the duration of the festival, restaurants all over the island are offering special menus showcasing local game such as venison and wild boar.
Until 6 November. Further information: wildwochen-auf-usedom.de. I’ll be visiting Usedom later this week as a guest of Usedom Tourismus GmbH to experience the festival for myself.
Accommodation Picks: Snug, sustainable stays
Bavarian hotel with an in-house brewery
Built in 1898, hotel and brewery Garmischer Hof is a quiet haven in the heart of Bavarian tourist hotspot Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Certified organic and sustainably built, its rooms are furnished with European cherry wood, beauty treatments at the in-house spa involve 100% natural cosmetics, and green electricity runs throughout. In addition to its eco credentials - and its gorgeous mountain views - the hotel’s restaurant serves beers tapped directly from its own organic brewery. Enjoy a glass or two alongside one of their vegan or vegetarian dishes, or a meaty Bavarian classic.
Save 10% with the Goldener Herbst offer, from 448€ per person including breakfast for stays of 7-14 nights in a Doppelzimmer Bio Komfort room. Offer valid for travel until 06.11.2022. Book direct on the Hotel & Bierbrauerei Garmischer Hof website or via booking.com
Off-grid cabin near Brandenburg
Halfway between Hamburg and Berlin, this two-person cabin sits proudly in the corner of a field otherwise occupied only by a horse and a couple of cows. Enjoy a bracing hike through the surrounding countryside - all picturesque pastures and heathlands, forests and lakes - before coming home to put your feet up in front of the wood stove. The stylish off-grid property is solar powered, insulated, has wifi and is connected to the local water supply.
157,50€ per night for a maximum of two people; stay 3 or more nights and save 10%. Book at raus.de.
Food and drink picks: Enjoy Rheinhessen
I was invited to eat at the restaurants below by RheinhessenWein e.V. under no obligation to write about them.
The Rheinhessen wine region tends to be overlooked as a tourist destination in favour of its famous northerly neighbour, the Rheingau. Yet Germany’s largest winemaking region has a great deal to offer visitors, from its excellent hiking and biking trails and impressive historic sights to its cosy wine taverns, cheerful hospitality, and a new generation of winemakers shaking things up in the vineyards. Select restaurants around the region are currently offering a specially-created seasonal dish as part of the annual Rheinhessen Genießen (“Enjoy Rheinhessen”) campaign, which makes for an excellent excuse to come and enjoy the spoils of autumn in this part of the country. The following three restaurants all offer delicious food, very good local wines and a warm, friendly welcome to boot.
Laurenz, Mainz
A firm favourite amongst local lovers of good food and wine, hip neighbourhood wine bar and restaurant Laurenz is offering saddle of venison with celery, porcini mushrooms, elderflower and parsnip. Enjoy with a glass of 2019 Spätburgunder from VDP winery Gutzler. www.laurenz-mainz.de
Weedenhof, Jugenheim
Think you can’t find creative, clever cooking in rural Germany? Weedenhof’s exceptionally pretty, bright yellow beetroot carpaccio with baked goat's cheese and pumpkin pesto is here to prove you (very) wrong. Pair with the 2021 Weißburgunder Kabinett from Schick - the winery’s just a couple of minutes’ walk down the road. www.weedenhof.de
mayers art, Flonheim
Located above the Klosterhof winery’s shop on Flonheim’s market square, mayers art serves refined versions of German classics. Their wild boar fillet tip stew is served with peppered mashed potatoes and pickled beetroot - try a glass of Klosterhof’s 2018 Lifeblood alongside. www.mayersart.de
Further details at www.rheinhessen.de. The special Rheinhessen Geniessen dishes are available at participating restaurants until 6 November.
Exhibitions and event picks
Queerness in Photography
Three complementary exhibitions together explore and examine the representation of identity, gender and sexuality in photography through both historical and contemporary images. C/O Berlin, until 23 January 2023
Ernst Wilhelm Nay Retrospective
Around 120 paintings, watercolours and drawings comprise the first comprehensive retrospective of the German classical modernist painter and graphic designer in 30 years. The Museum Wiesbaden, until 23 February 2023
Joan Jonas
Germany’s most comprehensive Joan Jonas exhibition to date brings together the American visual artist’s key works, showcasing the breadth of her performance, video and installation art. Haus der Kunst, Munich, until 26 February 2023.
You might also be interested in...
How to spend a weekend in Sylt • An interrailer’s guide to Düsseldorf • Fantasy island: a hidden idyll on Germany’s North Sea coast • The world’s weirdest border? • A local’s guide to Leipzig • What To Do, See & Visit In Germany This Autumn • Beautiful, decadent, damaged: a walk back in time through roaring 20s Berlin…
…and Wunderkammer, an excellent new German history, travel and culture newsletter from Australian writer and broadcaster Mike Stuchbery.
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So glad to see this again! After your very first newsletter I was absolutely hooked. Thanks for the latest!