North Hesse (dead link: January 2023), German: Nordhessen, is a region in the Hesse state of Germany. The destination is located in the uplands of Central Germany.
North Hesse is notably hillier and less densely populated than the Southern parts of the state. Apart from major population centers and transportation hubs like Kassel this area is mostly rural, at least by German standards. Its small towns and even its cities used to have a lot of half timbered houses. As they are prone to burning down, many of them were destroyed in wars but especially in the smaller towns many still remain. There are several small and medium-sized cities that have mostly preserved their romantic, pre-modern look, more than in most other regions of the country. Here you may find Germany as you know it from picture-books or fairy tales, and indeed the Brothers Grimm spent their youth and student days in this region where many of the tales collected by them have their origins.
Kassel is well connected to the major North-South Axis of Germany's high speed rail system, the Hannover-Würzbrug mainline with hourly ICEs between Munich and Hamburg along this line. Keep in mind that there are two stations in Kassel and that ICEs for the most part don't stop at Kassel Hauptbahnhof but instead at Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe.
Kassel is well connected to the German Autobahn network. Keep in mind that much of the holiday North-South traffic passes through these Autobahns in summer and be prepared for congested roads. As both (Northern) Italy and the German North Sea Coast are popular tourism destinations for Germans during the summertime, expect congestion in both directions, especially along bottlenecks and Autobahnkreuze (~Autobahn-junctions).
While there is a small airport in Kassel, you are more likely to fly into Frankfurt Airport (IATA: FRA) or in some cases Hannover (IATA: HAJ) in neighboring Niedersachsen.
The northern part of the region is covered by Norhessischer Verkehrsverbund, whose common ticket scheme covers local and regional bus lines, regional trains and the extensive tram network of Kassel. Their website unfortunately has no English version.
The hilly, forested terrain makes the region ideal for hiking, and the lakes are popular for water sports, especially sailing in smaller boats.
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