ruth901
From April 27th, the Wasserkuppe in the Rhön will be difficult to reach. Complete closures could severely impact tourism on the highest mountain in Hesse in the next few months.
Wasserkuppe – detour for tourists and locals: The 950 meter high Wasserkuppe is only accessible from one side. Extensive road construction work will begin on Monday (April 27th) and will last until October in two construction phases. Some operators on Hesse's highest mountain remain calm, others expect noticeably fewer guests.
The restrictions will even last until October 2026. First, the road from Poppenhausen-Abtsroda up the mountain will be rebuilt – with full closure. According to Hessen Mobil, this first construction phase will last until the end of July. Immediately afterwards, the other side will be closed in the second construction phase: namely the road coming from Gersfeld.
Full closure: Wasserkuppe tourist mountain closed on one side
There, too, the road from the intersection above Gersfeld-Obernhausen up to the mountain will be renewed and completely closed. “We'll be missing a lot this year,” says Jörg Sebald from the “Lotti's Futterkiste” snack bar on the Wasserkuppe. “People are already looking at finances at the moment anyway.”
“And if you have to drive a few kilometers further because of the diversion, that also costs more fuel. I can imagine that some people won't be able to get to the Wasserkuppe.” Sebald has been running the snack bar next to the Rhön Information Center for 42 years: “We always felt this during similar closures.”
Jens Salomon also fears that his company “Bike950” will suffer from the complete closure. “There will be fewer day-trippers and locals coming up here, so we are inevitably expecting fewer customers. Many will then go to the competition in Fulda,” explains the managing director of the business, which sells and rents out bicycles and e-bikes and offers accessories and tours.
“We are then almost cut off. That's a shame. A unilateral closure would have been better,” says Salomon. However, according to Hessen Mobil, this is not possible. A full closure is necessary for the safety of workers and road users. The speakers from the Papillon paragliding school and the Wasserkuppe ski and toboggan arena appear calm.
Papillon boss Andreas Schubert, who also runs the restaurant and hotel Peterchens Mondfahrt as well as the Wasserkuppe holiday village, explains: “The guests who spend a few days in the holiday village or want to eat in the restaurant will somehow come up. And the disruption will hardly be noticeable for our flight students either.”
Andreas Schubert says that if paragliding students land somewhere in the valley and need to be picked up, he hopes that in an emergency there will be a way to get through on weekends and public holidays when no construction work is taking place anyway. Florian Heitmann is equally relaxed. He has a great understanding of the construction work.
The operations manager of the Wasserkuppe ski and toboggan arena, which, among other things, operates the summer toboggan runs, says: “We are happy when investments are made and the roads are rebuilt. The road is very broken. There are holes in it. A lot of salt is spread up here in the winter, the roads are put under a lot of strain. At some point it has to be done, and that's only possible in the summer.”
Mountain rescue service was not informed about the construction work
Florian Heitmann is aware that “people have to take a little detour. But they manage it. We don't expect that fewer guests will come as a result. And those who come from Frankfurt, I think, go directly via Gersfeld. We also provide information on our website at ski-und-rodelarena-wasserkuppe.de about the lockdown.”
It was worse a few years ago when the Harley-Davidson meetings on the Wasserkuppe took place under complete closure and the only way to get to the mountain was by shuttle bus. “It was more difficult for us,” Florian Heitmann looks back. The Wasserkuppe mountain rescue service is not informed at all about the construction work and restrictions been.
“We are often forgotten,” regrets manager Sebastian Mihm. Eight of the ten volunteer emergency services who are on standby in the event of off-road accidents in the Wasserkuppe area live around Poppenhausen. Normally they get to the station on the mountain in a few minutes, but now it takes ten to 15 minutes longer because they have to take the detour via Gersfeld.
But this only applies to working days. The mountain rescuers are on site at weekends and on public holidays – then the guard station on the Wasserkuppe is manned. Meanwhile, the Wasserkuppe mountain rescue service had around 150 missions in 2025. The ratio between operations in summer and winter is approximately the same.
