Brotterode-Trusetal: Waterfall, Mining and Trails

When visiting Brotterode-Trusetal, you can plan your trip around specific destinations that bring together nature, mining history and marked trails. The Trusetal Waterfall is a natural highlight; the “Hühn” visitor mine offers a glimpse into mining history, while the Wallenburger Tower adds Romanesque architecture to the mix. There is also a local history museum and a cycle path. These themes can help guide your choice of hotel, depending on what you would like to explore during your stay.

Waterfall and marked trails

The Trusetal Waterfall plunges 60 meters over a granite formation in three cascades. Visitors can also climb a staircase with 228 steps beside the waterfall. In winter, the waterfall is switched off; bear this in mind when planning your trip if it is one of the main reasons for your visit.

You can use a range of destinations as landmarks along the marked trails. The marked Sightseeing Trail is 17.5 kilometers long and leads from Bad Vilbeler Platz to, among other places, the Wallenburger Tower, the “Hühn” visitor mine and the waterfall viewpoint. The marked Trusetal Adventure Trail passes, among other places, the Teufelskanzel and the waterfall viewpoint. This makes the waterfall viewpoint a shared waypoint on both trails. The Rennsteig-Leiter Trusetal leads from the waterfall via Fünf Gärten, Laudenbach and the Mining Educational Trail to the Rennsteig.

Mining history and architecture

At the “Hühn” visitor mine, you can experience a mining history believed to date back almost a thousand years. After the guided tour, visitors can prospect for mineral stones at “Klonike am Hühn.” If mining is a particular interest, these two aspects go hand in hand: the historical context and the subsequent search for mineral stones. Plan your mineral search as part of your visit to the mine.

The Wallenburger Tower on the outskirts of Trusetal is a monument to 13th-century Romanesque architecture. In contrast to the mining theme, it represents an architectural chapter in the town’s history. The local history museum in Trusetal was established and is run by the Trusetal Mining and Local History Association.

Trails and other regional themes

The Inselsberg cycle path starts at the bus station in Brotterode and is about 17 kilometers long. When choosing a route, you can compare this approximate distance with the 17.5-kilometer Sightseeing Trail; one is described as a cycle path, the other as a trail. A hut by the Nature Park Trail at Pfingstweide invites you to take a break.

The wider Schmalkalden-Meiningen travel destination offers other distinct themes, including in Schmalkalden. At the Viba Nougat World, visitors can experience the production of smooth, melt-in-the-mouth nougat in a glass-walled workshop. Hands-on confectionery courses include molding chocolate, decorating nougat and creating pralines. Course times and booking conditions may change, so check them in advance. Also in Schmalkalden is the “Neue Hütte” blast furnace museum, a blast furnace complex dating from 1835. Local iron ores were smelted there into pig iron using charcoal until 1924. So, within the wider Schmalkalden-Meiningen travel destination, visitors can choose from different experiences: nougat-making and historic iron smelting in Schmalkalden, as well as the waterfall and mining history in Brotterode-Trusetal.

Discover more destinations: Viernau, Walldorf, Oberhof, Kleinschmalkalden, Meiningen, Wallbach, Wernshausen, Steinbach-Hallenberg

Back to the travel overview: Schmalkalden-Meiningen.