Thuringia is still full of surprises for me. There is so much to discover and to see that I failed badly to complete the first issue of our Internet tourist guide after only two visits.
The "Unstrut-Hainich Region" is a typical example for this. I wanted to see and experience so much more. But available time and money restricted my actions.
The region became its name from the national park, called "Hainich" and a small river with the name "Unstrut".
Most Germans love their forests. When the "waldsterben" became visible, almost everybody was willing to do something to protect the environment and the present government took advantage of that by creating an "environment tax".
When I was a little child my parents went every sunny weekend to a forest on their bicycles and naturally I went with them and enjoyed it.
As you can see young children still enjoy to be in a forest, to breathe clean air and see all kind of different animals and plants or to play games.

Especially for the little ones a "Spielscheune" (play barn) was built in the little village of Weberstedt. Many activities are offered there. Singing, dancing, games, magic tricks, events with knights or "real" Indians and much more.

The National Park Hainich is very young. It was only created in 1997. Please keep this in mind when you compare it with others.
You will see many beech trees which are typical to Europe. If you come in fall try the beech tree nuts - they are delicatessen.
By eliminating or restricting the human influences on nature, a wide variety of wildlife and rare plants can be seen now. Get information with explicit details. Hopefully, some of them will be available in English when you visit the park.

My original plan was to stay at least one night in one of the places which offer horse back riding or tours in a horse drawn coach. I cancelled this because of money and time, but also because nobody responded to my e-mail. Does this sound familiar? I experience it in Canada also all the time. Business must do very well - only I could hardly see any tourists. When do the Thuringians become aware that it is better to learn from successful states, such as Bavaria instead of listening to the best liars who do not have any credentials for achieving anything positive?