What to See in Weinheim - Top Sights and Attractions

Garden and landscape architecture. The Schau- und Sichtungsgarten Hermannshof, also known as the Hermannshof Weinheim, is a botanical garden at Babostraße 5, Weinheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is open daily in the summer and weekdays in the winter, and admission is free.

Today's garden was first established as a private garden over 200 years ago. It was acquired by the Freudenberg industrialist family in 1888, and in the 1920s, it was redesigned by landscape architect Heinrich Friedrich Wiepking-Jürgenmann. In 1981 to 1983, it was again redesigned as a public garden by landscape architect Hans Luz of Stuttgart. It is now a scientific institution jointly owned by the Freudenberg Company and the town of Weinheim.

The garden cultivates about 2500 taxa arranged in naturalistic plantings, including two theme gardens: a peony collection (created 1998) and North American prairie garden (2001, 1500 m²) containing over 350 plants. It also contains a number of notable trees, including specimens of Platanus orientalis and Platanus × hispanica that are over 230 years old, as well as Cedrus atlantica, Ginkgo biloba, Magnolia denudata, Magnolia × soulangeana, Myrtus communis, and Sequoia dating from the late 19th century.^[1]

Water park in Weinheim, Germany. Miramar is a water park, salt-water spa and sauna complex opened in 1973 at the Waidsee Lake, Weinheim, Germany. As of 2014, approximately 50% of the 650,000 annual visitors pay extra for the Sauna area. The catchment area for visitors covers a 100 kilometres radius, including Frankfurt am Main to the north, and Pforzheim to the south.

The main bathing area contains a wave pool and several slides. As of 2018 there were nine water slides in the main indoor pool area with various levels of difficulty and speed, plus jacuzzis and outside areas. The thermal spa area has saltwater pools, and these pools are also used to offer physiotherapy.

The sauna area is designated as a nudist/Freikörperkultur (FKK) area, which is extended to the swimming and thermal spa areas on Tuesday evenings.^[2]

State park in Weinheim, Germany. The Exotenwald Weinheim is a forest arboretum located beside the Schlosspark in Weinheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is open daily without charge.

The arboretum was established in 1871 by Christian Friedrich Gustav Freiherr von Berckheim (1817–1889), former Minister of State and Großhofmeister at the court in Karlsruhe, on the grounds of a baroque estate founded in 1725. His initial plantings were extensive – between 1872–1883 he planted some 12,494 trees on 36 hectares – with specimens purchased predominantly from specialist nurseries in Orléans, Ghent, and Exeter. Approximately 1460 sequoia trees were planted in this interval within a 2 hectare site. Although the climate has not proved entirely hospitable, and the original catalog of 150 species has subsequently dwindled to about 50, many mature specimens still remain, including original plantings of Calocedrus decurrens, Sequoiadendron giganteum, Pinus jeffreyi, Pinus ponderosa, and Thuja plicata.

After Gustav's death, the arboretum was neglected for several decades until his grandson, Christian Philipp Graf von Berckheim, became owner. He planted a further 8.25 hectares of exotic trees, with plantings in the years before World War II focused primarily on East Asia and especially Japan, including specimens of Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Cryptomeria japonica, and Magnolia hypoleuca. In 1955 the arboretum was sold to the state of Baden-Württemberg. Since then, it has been augmented with South American and New Zealand plantings, with continued expansion of its European, Asian, North American, and North African collections, and an emphasis on trees from China and Korea. It now contains about 130 tree species.^[5]