Meiningen is located in the "Thuringian Forest" in the valley of the "Werra". It is well know as a theatre town with many attractions.
The first time I arrived on a cold winter morning. I did not have any problems to find a parking space. Obviously, most people stayed at home. This was completely different when we came back a year later in June.
The mighty Lutheran "Stadtkirche" caught immediately my attention and I knew that I was in the town center.
It was the first time that I saw a church which had a bridge between the towers. Visit the church (closed on Mondays) and find out more!

It was not market day when we visited Meiningen again. But that did not hinder Elizabeth, my wife, in window shopping. Normally, she is a very poor eater but the baked goods from Thuringia changed that habit. Her favorite became "Stachelbeerkuchen" which is a gooseberry pie. She tried all the different variants. Also other cakes prepared with fresh fruits and covered in real whip cream were consumed by her. I never experienced her eating so much and loosing two pounds during this period of two weeks.
I caught her at 3 am in the kitchen of my son trying to indulge secretly two pieces of pie.

Strolling through the pedestrian zones is relaxing and even for me much more fun than visiting a large shopping center. Elizabeth, my wife was very impressed by all the different stores and was surprised that certain things are much cheaper than in Canada - even when the shown prices include the value added tax.
Stop at the tourist information center to receive printed English information about the main attractions of this town. There are so many!
Because of my lost luggage with the rest of our photo equipment it was not possible that I and Elizabeth could split to visit certain attractions individually, what we did in Newfoundland-Labrador.
However, I came back a year later and was able to add certain things as you can see.
Unfortunately, time was again short and I missed a castle, called "Elisabethenburg". But we had a good time at nearby "Schloss Landsberg" which was built on the ruins of an old castle at the beginning of the 19 th century.
You will find some more information about "Schloss Landsberg" in our page about the Schmalkalden-Meiningen Region.
Certainly, you have read fairy tales or sagas without knowing that they have been written by Ludwig Bechstein who spent most of his life in Meiningen.
Please visit the "Pummpälzweg" a hiking trail where and you can learn more about this famous writer and also about Christian Ludwig Wucke. More information in our web site which we dedicated to this interesting hiking trail.
Another must for us is the visit of the "Theatre Museum" where the main attraction is a unique collection of stage decorations from the past.

Close to the theatre in downtown you will find a beautiful park, called the "English Garden". The best known "English Garden" of Germany is in Munich. However, we enjoyed it to relax their for a while, similar to the cute little kindergarten kids with their nannies.

The garden borders to the theatre section and metered parking is close.
Another attraction is the "Goetz-Höhle" a cave which is not a part of a closed mine. Don't miss a visit and enjoy the sights. Be prepared to climb steps.

My son who lives in Suhl loves Meiningen. He goes to concerts there, he enjoys the theatre and all the other amenities which this clean town with a population of about 22 000 offers.
I miss some of that in the part of Ontario where we live.

During our visit in 2006 we unfortunately did not spend too much time in Meiningen, but we explored the surroundings. I wanted to go to the theatre but naturally everything was only in German and Elizabeth would become bored as I would be in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, trying to understand a play in the English of Shakespeare. Whenever they have some musical when we are in Thuringia we would be happy to go.