The area around Kirn is great for hiking, and trails are abundant. (Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes)
Kirn is an old industrial town on the Nahe River, in the hills of the Hunsrück.
Once a rich and princely town, it is now a bit of a pauper.
Leather and brewing were big here. While Kirner Pils is still produced and leather is still important, plastic manufacturing is the big employer today.
Kirn is easily walked, with most of its sights in a circle around the central market square.
On the Marktplatz is a late 16th-century half-timbered house, considered one of the finest in the city. Note the two heads, called Neidköpfe, carved on the house. They are supposed to ward off evil spirits and protect the house and its occupants.
Although Kirn is on the Nahe, it is the Hahnenbach, a stream that joins the river here, that splits Kirn's old town. Side by side on the banks of the stream are Kirn's Rathaus (city hall) and Protestant church. The former is a baroque building that was once a cloister school; the latter was, until the Reformation, a Catholic church. It dates to the 15th century, but it has a tower that is older.
The old tanning district has all but disappeared. There is only one tanner's house left in the old quarter. Note the rows of wood shutters on the building. These could be opened and closed to regulate the airflow when drying hides.
The Amalienlust and the Kellerei were built in the 18th century and were residences of the house of Salm-Kyrburg. Today both house Italian restaurants.
If Kirn is not the prettiest of towns — it is best visited on a sunny day — it is centered in a beautiful area of streams, hills and castle ruins.
The Kyrburg fortress towers over the town. It is mostly ruins, razed by the French in 1734, but offers a view of Kirn (nothing fantastic), and the hills and dales of the Hunsrück (much better).
The one castle building that has been rebuilt features a whisky museum in its basement. It's not open to the general public, but offers whisky-tastings after dinner on the former restaurant's first floor.
In Kirn you will see signs for Schloss Dhaun. Follow them, and about three miles away is a small village surrounding a castle-topped hill.
Schloss Dhaun dates to the 12th century but was partially razed, again by the French, and sold.
Today it is used for conferences and seminars, but you can still walk around inside its walls. There's a view from here into the valley below.
The road to the castle and through the valley is popular with in-shape bikers (read: hilly).
Another road out of Kirn leads through the Hahnenbach Valley past a giant rock outcrop where there are scant ruins of more castles razed by the French.
This valley and the Trübenbach Valley, near the foot of the Kyrburg, are popular with hikers. Indeed there are nine marked trails between three- and five-miles long that lead over the hills and through the woods around Kirn.
DirectionsFrom Kaiserslautern, take highway B270 north until it meets B41. Turn right toward Bad Kreuznach and exit at Kirn. From Wiesbaden, take Autobahn 60 to A61 toward Bad Kreuznach, then B41 toward Kirn.
TimesThe castle ruins can be visited during daylight hours, and Kirn's Protestant church is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Choose a day with good weather to go hiking or biking in the countryside.
CostsExcept for food and drink, the only thing you will need euros for is metered parking in the town. It is relatively cheap, 5 euro cents for the first 20 minutes, then 20 cents for every half-hour thereafter.
FoodThere are quite a few restaurants in Kirn. There is a Balkan-German restaurant, the Ratskeller, next to city hall. There are a couple of fast food-type places along the market square. None is very expensive. The Gasthof zur Burg is across from the castle at Schloß Dhaun and offers local fare.
InformationKirn's Web site is www.kirn.de It has a very short page in English. The site for the Whisky Museum at the Kyrburg is www.whiskymuseum.de. The towns of the Kirn countryside have a Web presence at www.kirn-land.de
The area around Kirn is great for hiking, and trails are abundant. (Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes)
The ruins of the Kyrburg, a castle on a hill overlooking Kirn, Germany, offers a great view of Kirn and the countryside. The castle was razed by the French in 1734. The ruins' one rebuilt structure houses a whiskey museum. (Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes)
Schloss Dhaun is a couple of miles northeast of Kirn. It dates back to the 12th century. Today it is used for conferences and seminars, but you can still walk around inside its walls. (Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes)
The tombstone of Count Gerhard, who died in 1474, stands in the choir of the Protestant church in Kirn. A Catholic church before the Reformation, it dates to the 15th century, but it has a tower that is older. (Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes)
