Bad Frankenhausen is an excellent starting point to explore many attractions in the Kyffhäuserkreis (Kyffhäuser region).
I travelled on a very hot day and used an older Audi from my son without air condition. I was completely exhausted when I finally arrived in the early afternoon.
I was hoping that I would find accommodation in a "Pension" (B & B) of an Internet friend. Unfortunately, he was on a funeral and everything was booked. So I had to find another place.
After rejecting to wait for a few hours until 5:00 p.m. for a hotel to open I went to the tourist information where a nice friendly lady helped me to find a reasonable priced B & B in a quiet area with very friendly hosts.
Bad Frankenhausen is one of the many tourist places of Germany where each guest has to pay a daily "Kurtaxe". This is a special tax which is used by the respective community for its beautification and maintenance of tourism related investments. From my host I received a coupon for a discount in the famous spa "Kyffhäusertherme".
Naturally, I wanted to use this offer because after a busy day it is very relaxing to recover in one of these exclusive facilities. Can you imagine how frustrated I was when I realized that I only could face a vending machine for tickets and nobody was willing to help?
Obviously, some people in Bad Frankenhausen did not learn anything since the wall came down! They are still used that customers must be thankful to get service or goods. Naturally, I left. So far this was not one of my best days in Thuringia and I hope that people who do not know how to run a business will be released of this burden in the near future. Thuringia will lose its good reputation very fast if this happens too often.

Driving through Bad Frankenhausen was not a problem also parking was easy.
Many houses had been nicely renovated, others are still in need. However, with a very high unemployment rate people certainly have other priorities.

Interesting architecture

During my stay I learned that in medieval times vineyards were part of agricultural activities in this area. My bad feelings about my first experiences in Bad Frankenhausen were disappearing. Everybody was friendly and helpful. I am not getting paid by anybody and I also would never lie for money. Visitors should know what to expect and certainly nobody would believe anyhow that everywhere everything is perfect. If I see things which could easily be improved without costing lots of money I point those out. Unfortunately, nobody listens, not in Germany and not in Canada!

I believe most people have heard about the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy. But did you know that Bad Frankenhausen has also a leaning tower? It is the church tower of the so called "Oberkirche". This church was built in 1382 and is part of the original downtown area. Water is washing out salt and gypsum in the underground and since hundreds of years the tower is moving. Today it 3.89 m out of the vertical and it is still moving. The church can not be used any longer and services and concerts are performed outdoors. Rescue activities have been started by volunteers.

The leaning church tower in Bad Frankenhausen

Altenburg Region	Altenburg	Apolda	Arnstadt	Bad Berka	Bad Blankenburg
Bad Colberg	Bad Frankenhausen	Bad Langensalza	Bad Liebenstein	Bad Salzungen	Eisenach
Erfurt	Gera	Gotha Region	Gotha	Greiz Region	Greiz
Heldburg	Hildburghausen Region	Hildburghausen	Ilmenau	Ilmkreis	Jena
Kaltennordheim	Kranichfeld	Kyffhäuserkreis	Kyffhäuserkreis	Lauscha	Masserberg
Meiningen	Mühlhausen	Nordhausen Region	Nordhausen	Oberhof	Oberhof
Rudolstadt	Saalfeld-Rudolstadt Region	Saalfeld	Schleusingen	Schmalkalden-Meiningen Region	Schmalkalden
Schmiedefeld	Sömmerda Region	Sondershausen	Sonneberg Region	Sonneberg	Stadtilm
Suhl	Tabarz	Ummerstadt	Unstrut-Hainich Region	Wartburg Region	Weimar Region
			Weimar