Martin Luther Reformation Sites in Germany with Kids: Wittenberg, Eisleben, and Eisenach
If you’ve ever wanted to follow in Martin Luther’s footsteps in Germany to visit some of the famous Protestant Reformation sites, this blog post is for you!
I’ve attended Lutheran school from preschool to college. In fact, my college was even named after Martin Luther! To say I’ve been steeped in Protestant history my entire life is an understatement.
We learned about the Reformation every year at the end of October, and love passing on that knowledge to our kids. So when we were trying to decide where to travel for our summer vacation this year, my husband suggested a trip to Luther’s homeland.
I fell in love with the idea of visiting Germany with kids, and decided to add Austria to our itinerary, too! Here’s our entire 2-week itinerary if you’re interested.
I didn’t want to make our entire trip about Luther sites, because I figured the kids would get bored after a few museums, but we incorporated a few key places that played a big part in the Reformation story.
Here are the Martin Luther sites we visited on our trip to Germany, and I’ll include details like where we stayed, what we did, and how we got around.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click on a link and make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
A Note About Martin Luther
As a lifelong Lutheran, I have tremendous respect for the work of Martin Luther. I also know that he was a flawed human being. We make sure our kids know that while his desire to focus on Scripture Alone and to fight corruption in the church was commendable, some of his other actions and beliefs may have been problematic.
He’s just a man, and we know that God worked through him to effect change in his church on earth. He’s not without flaws, so we make sure to compare his teachings to Scripture.
Having said that, his story is SO interesting, and has played a big part in our own lives, so it’s cool to walk in his footsteps and learn more about the man who became a legend.
Getting There
In Summary: Fly into Berlin or Munich
We booked our flights on points, so we actually ended up flying into London, then taking the train from London to Brussels, Belgium. From Brussels we took an overnight train to Berlin.
In Berlin we picked up a rental car from the train station to get around Germany.
I would highly recommend flying directly into Berlin to start your trip. You’ll make your way south toward the Bavarian Alps, so you can fly out of Munich, or make the drive back up to Berlin if your flights are round trip.
An alternative would be flying into Munich and making your way north toward Berlin.
Cities we Visited
We spent 3 days visiting Martin Luther sites. We started in Berlin, and traveled to the following cities:
Wittenberg
Eisleben
Eisenach
We stayed overnight in Wittenberg and Eisenach, and made Eisleben a stop on the way from Wittenberg to Eisenach.
Martin Luther Itinerary with Kids
Day 1: Berlin to Wittenberg
Where We Stayed: Hotel Luther Birke Wittenberg
Highlights:
Castle Church in Wittenberg
City Church in Wittenberg
Market Square
We arrived in Berlin early in the morning, and visited a few historic sites there, though these sites were not related to Martin Luther. Our train arrived at 6 a.m. so we had the Brandenburg Gate all to ourselves!
We also saw the Berlin Wall Memorial, the Holocaust Memorial, and Checkpoint Charlie.
When it was time to pick up our rental car, we left Berlin and made our way to Wittenberg.
Castle Church
Our first stop was the Castle Church in Wittenberg. I’ll never forget walking down a charming street and seeing one of the towers of the Castle Church coming into view. The inscription around the tower read: “Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott.” I know just enough German to recognize that this was a line from Luther’s famous hymn: “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”
Suddenly all those years of memory work and hymnology became a real life building towering before me. It wasn’t just a line from a song I was required to memorize. It was a real person’s life. A real person’s experience seeing something wrong and actually doing something to change it.
This neo-gothic cathedral is beautiful, and the spires are the first thing you’ll see from a distance. As you get closer, you’ll see the bronze doors commemorating the place where Luther nailed the 95 Theses.
The original doors were destroyed during a war, but the bronze doors were installed in 1858 as a memorial.
After taking a few minutes to take in the Theses Door, we walked around back to the entrance. You can go inside for a very small fee (a few Euros per person) to see the inside of the church, and to enjoy a very small museum about Luther and the 95 Theses.
Luther and his fellow reformer Philipp Melanchthon are both buried inside the church, so be sure to find the plaques for their tombs inside.
Market Square
We did not climb the Castle Church Tower, and I kind of wish we had! I’m sure the view would be beautiful. However, the kids could only take so much museum time, and they were getting hungry, so we made our way out to Market Square where we had a late lunch/early dinner at Wittenberger Kartoffelhaus where the entire menu was potato-based. I had a very tasty baked potato!
After enjoying our meal, we walked around Market Square to stretch our legs and enjoy the sunshine. There’s a larger-than-life Luther statue in the square honoring the town’s connection to the famous reformer.
There’s also a ping pong table open to the public, so we let the kids play a little ping pong in the square before heading to our next stop.
Luther House - The Largest Reformation Museum in the World
Wittenberg is home to the Largest Reformation Museum in the world - the Luther House. When Luther lived there is was the Augustinian Monastery called the “Black Monastery.” Nowadays it’s a museum, but unfortunately it was undergoing renovations during our visit, so we didn’t get a chance to go inside.
If you’re planning to visit, renovations look to be underway until spring of 2027, so be sure to factor that into your trip plans.
We were able to walk around the beautiful courtyard before our final stop in Wittenberg.
City Church - English Service
If you’re visiting Wittenberg during the months of May through October, you can attend an English church service at Stadtkirch, or City Church where Martin Luther preached and baptized all of his children. Each service ends by singing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”
We happened to be in Wittenberg on a Saturday, so we made time to attend the service, and it was such a cool experience to worship in the same church where Luther preached. Although I will admit that the kids were still pretty jetlagged, and a few of them may have fallen asleep.
Check Into Hotel Luther Birke Wittenberg
We stayed at Hotel Luther Birke Wittenberg which was a bit outside of town, but had incredibly spacious rooms.
Our room had 2 floors with the main bed on the ground floor and several twin beds for kids in the loft area. It was so nice to have 2 bathrooms, a tub for the kids, and plenty of space to dry the clothes after washing them in the sink with our travel laundry sheets.
We stayed for just one night since we were continuing our journey the next day, but this would have been a nice place to stay a little longer!
Day 2: Eisleben and Eisenach
Where We Stayed: Marktresidenz Eisenach - 3 Bedroom Apartment
Highlights:
Luther’s Birth House
Luther’s Death House
Luther House Eisenach
On our 2nd day we checked out of our hotel in Wittenberg and grabbed some McDonald’s breakfast on the way to Eisleben. It was about an hour and a half drive from Wittenberg to Eisleben.
Luther was born in Eisleben, and coincidentally also passed away there while he was in town settling a dispute.
You can visit both his birth house and death house in Eisleben. The town was very quiet, and we saw very few other people out and about. There’s truly not much to do in this area other than the 2 Luther museums, so we were happy with our decision to just stop here on the way to Eisenach.
Luther’s Birth House
A public museum commemorating Luther’s birthplace was opened in Eisenach in the late 1600s, making this the oldest memorial site dedicated to one person in all of Germany. That fact in and of itself makes Luther’s Birth House a worthy stop!
There are replicas of entire rooms showing what the Luther house would have looked like during this time period, as well as several other exhibits and signage to learn more about Luther’s early life.
The kids didn’t find most of the museum particularly interesting, but they did love the replicas of the Luther house, so that helped bring history to life for them.
Plan 1-2 hours for this museum. And a good thing to note is that they offer a Family Ticket for €10.00. No need to buy tickets ahead of time.
Luther’s Death House
After finishing up at the Birth House we walked across town to Luther’s Death House. This is another museum dedicated to sharing the final days of Luther’s life.
Like the Birth House, there are several staged rooms to show what the rooms where he lay sick and dying would have looked like.
But there are also several exhibits that talk about death in a more general sense, like how Luther viewed death and dealt with the concept.
I didn’t think this was too scary for younger kids, and I really enjoyed delving into what some might consider a dark topic in a thoughtful and hopeful way. I’m still thinking about some of the exhibits months later!
The Family Ticket here is also €10.00, and again I think 1-2 hours is plenty of time.
Lutherhaus in Eisenach
After we finished our time in Eisleben we made the 1 hour and 40 minute drive to arrive at the Lutherhaus in Eisenach about an hour before they closed. The reason we rushed to fit this in is because it was a Sunday, and we read online that the museum was closed on Monday, so this was our only chance to visit.
To be very honest, with this being our 3rd Luther museum of the day, we were a little “Luther-ed out,” so the fact that we only had an hour to explore before the museum closed was just fine with us.
Lutherhaus is inside a beautiful half-timbered building, and it’s where Luther lived during his schooling years with the Cotta and Schalbe families.
You can see where Luther’s room would have been, along with many other Luther exhibits.
It’s definitely worth a stop, but if you can avoid a Monday for your stay in Eisenach, I would recommend doing this on a different day from the Birth and Death House so you can really give it your full attention.
Bachhaus Eisenach
It might be worth noting that Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, so you may want to add the Bachhaus to your itinerary, too! We didn’t end up having time, but if you have any music or history lovers in your family, definitely give it a try!
B-A-C-H Restaurant
We ate dinner at the B-A-C-H restaurant across the street from Bachhaus, and I had some delicious chicken schnitzel. There was one server at the restaurant who spoke excellent English, and she took great care of us.
Marktresidenz Eisenach
We checked into our vacation rental after dinner, which was the Marktresidenz Eisenach - 3 Bedroom Apartment I found on Booking.
For most of this trip we tried to avoid staying in vacation rentals since we were only staying for one or 2 nights most places and didn’t want to have to deal with chores or getting in touch with the owner to get kids, but there wasn’t much available in Eisenach by the time I booked for a group our size. Plus this apartment was really spacious and affordable.
Just note that we did have to take our shoes off before entering the apartment, and they are very strict about recycling and trash and taking it out to the correct bins. Other than that, it was a fantastic stay, and we liked the location up on a hill.
The other stay I almost booked in Eisenach was Hotel Kaiserhof Eisenach which seemed a little more elegant if you want a true hotel stay instead of a vacation rental apartment.
Day 3: Wartburg Castle and Romantic Road
Where We Stayed: Hotel Markusturm Rothenburg
Highlights:
Cafe Onkel Karl
Wartburg Castle
Würzburg
Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber
Our third day was the last day of following the Luther trail, because after we finished up at Wartburg Castle we headed south to start exploring the Romantic Road, hitting both Würzburg and Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber.
It was a full day, but very enjoyable.
Cafe Onkel Karl
We grabbed breakfast at a charming cafe called Cafe Onkel Karl. I had a latte and one of the best pastries of my life called Schweinohren, or “pig’s ears” which is a puff pastry dipped in chocolate. More of a dessert than a breakfast, but you’ll never catch me complaining about that!
Wartburg Castle
Wartburg Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with lots of incredible Germany history, but it’s also where Luther lived for a brief period after he was excommunicated from the church in 1521 and his life was in danger. His friend Prince Frederick the Wise had Luther “kidnapped” and brought to safety at Wartburg Castle where he grew out his beard and disguised himself as Junker Jörg (Knight George).
This is the place where Luther began his work of translating the New Testament from the original Greek into German so the common people could have access to God’s Word. A museum worker we chatted with told us how monumental this was not just for Christians in Germany, but helped to standardize the Germany language and promote literacy among the common people. This had far-reaching effects beyond Germany thanks to the invention of the printing press.
To get to Wartburg Castle, we hiked uphill through a forest on the Luther Experience Trail which took us about 45 minutes. You can also drive to the parking lot at the base of the hill and take a shuttle or walk up to the Castle.
Wartburg is a stunning building, and I would highly recommend taking a tour. You must join a tour group if you want to see the inside of the castle, so we ended up joining a Germany language group since the English tour wasn’t until the afternoon. Thankfully they provide audio guides for those who don’t speak German.
You’ll see lots of historic and beautiful rooms inside Wartburg Castle, and you’ll finish the tour by seeing the chamber where Luther translated the New Testament.
This is a must visit site for any history lovers or anyone interested in Luther or the Reformation. We spent all morning here and learned so much.
On to the Romantic Road
After our tour of the Castle, we stopped at a grocery store to stock up on snacks, then made our way to the Romantic Road for the next leg of our trip.
I have an entire blog post on exploring the Romantic Road with kids, which you can read here.
You can also check out my entire 2-Week Germany and Austria Itinerary with Kids.
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Emily Krause is a Florida-based travel blogger who writes about exploring the world with kids. On A Mom Explores you’ll find best family travel destinations, Disney World tips, and how to make travel with babies and toddlers a little easier.
Emily believes that exploring starts in our own backyards, and adventure can happen anywhere with the right mindset.
