The small town of Herbstein is an ideal holiday spot for exploring the Vogelsberg region. Young and old visitors, volcano researchers and friends of fairy tales, hikers and recreation seekers all come here with pleasure. Also for people who are not so good on their feet, there are plenty of things to do while sitting down, such as guided town tours.
In the VulkanTherme, a spa resort with natural calcium-sodium-sulphate curative waters, you can benefit from a large number of preventive and therapeutic cures that especially benefit the musculoskeletal system, the digestive organs, and the coronary arteries. From bathing and mineral water cures to massages and physiotherapy, a broad spectrum of measures for spa treatments is available.

Herbstein for friends of fairy tales
The 750-year-old small town in Vogelsberg is frequently described as "picturesque" and "storybook", enthroned high over the valley at the top of a volcano cone. However, the actual legendary character of Herbstein is revealed in the cultural traditions of the Herbstein Carnival celebration called “Foaselt”. Our “Foaselt” is one of the lustiest carnival customs in the German-speaking Europe. Its especially outstanding tradition is the so-called Springerzug (literally “jumping parade” where participants jump and hop continually throughout the parade), the Bajazz character and his six pairs. In addition there are traditional figures such as the pea straw bear, the seahorses, the stork and the monkey, who can be admired annually on Shrove Monday at the traditional procession – a wonderfully amusing excursion in which history is staged true to life– at venues in the hilltop town, in Vogelsberg, on the German Fairy Tale Route.
One feels like being in a fairy tale when one enjoys the quiet forests and the decorative half-timbered villages in the high Vogelsberg region. Europe’s largest and oldest volcano has formed a low mountain landscape in Hesse, where one would be hardly surprised to encounter Little Red Riding Hood.
Herbstein also developed spa and bathing locations in a storybook manner. Curative waters at a temperature of 32.6°C are pumped out from 1000.05 metres depth; and the 5 after the comma is important because at 1000 metres the trial boring in 1976 actually should already have been terminated. Only a mixture of stubborness and good will finally drove the drill the decisive centimetres further into the volcanic rock. In consequence, a thermal-kinotherapeutic bathing spa was built.

Herbstein for holiday tourists and excursions
Herbstein’s central location permits hikers, bicyclists, inline skaters and riders to enjoy ideal tours in the region. Like circled wagons, the houses surrounded the old town at late gothic town St. Jakobus parish church. The ring-shaped road design underscores the fortress character of the city, which can also be experienced on foot along the town wall with its different towers, as well as in the underground vaults, the last relic of the destroyed fortifications. Worth seeing are also the picturesque market place with its imposing half-timbered town hall, the protestant church, and various museums.
The expansive spa garden, in which the VulkanTherme is located, contains various works of art, a giant slide, and a miniature golf and Pit-Pat grounds. The Haus des Gastes (public event venue) with the life spiral is frequently the venue for cultural events of all kinds. Also the new Bible Park at the Kolping holiday village is a worthy excursion destination for the entire family.