Grillenburg

Right now in Grillenburg (as of November 2026)

• Building site on the Schlossinsel: On 9 September 2026 ground was broken for a science and conference centre of TU Dresden. From November 2026 to April 2027 the Pöppelmann bridge and a dam are being repaired, and from spring 2027 the palace. Preparatory work such as a construction road, demolition and earthworks has been under way since mid-September. Everything is due to be finished in early 2029.

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough, and you'll best spend it by the water. Grillenburg is a hamlet in the forest, not a place with a programme. You can only look at the hunting lodge from outside, and building work on it will go on until 2029. What remains is enough: ponds, forest and a pilgrim hostel by the lake. If you come from Grumbach, you arrive early after 12.2 kilometres. If you walk straight through from Dresden, you have 30.8 kilometres behind you and only want to lie down anyway.

Grillenburg in Ninja numbers

• 99.5 kilometres since Bautzen: here you almost crack the hundred. To Hof there are still 208.5 kilometres (according to Camino Ninja).
• 2.00 miles to Freiberg is what the post milestone on the road to Naundorf says. Camino Ninja counts in kilometres: 18.9.
• 3 ponds surround the Schlossinsel (palace island). So you sleep not only in the forest but also by the water.
• 2029 is when the hunting lodge is due to reopen as a conference centre with 160 beds. For scientists, not for pilgrims.

Arriving: out of the forest into the clearing

Beyond Grumbach the Saxon Way of St James leads via Pohrsdorf, Fördergersdorf and Kurort Hartha into the Tharandter Wald, which a hiking website calls "the most beautiful forest in Saxony". Grillenburg is a district of Tharandt and lies in a clearing between Dresden and Freiberg. What welcomes you here is water: the little palace island is surrounded by three ponds, and there is also a bathing lake.

In brief: a hunting court of the Wettins

The place is first mentioned as a hunting seat of Margrave Dietrich of Meissen, a Wettin, long before the electors. Between 1554 and 1558 the Saxon elector had a whole hunting complex built here: a princely house, a Schösserei, servants' quarters and stables. Wars and fires destroyed almost all of it, and only the Schösserei, the seat of the district administrator, remained. After a fire in 1654 it was rebuilt, converted into a royal hunting lodge in 1855, and given the Biedermeier façade you see today. In 1938/39 the Neues Jägerhaus was added in the Heimatstil (traditional regional style). After that the buildings stood empty for a long time, with changing owners and uses.

Where an elector chased away his Grillen

The place's finest story is a legend: a Saxon elector is said to have held great hunts in the Tharandter Wald from here to chase away his "Grillen", that is, his moods and gloomy thoughts. Hence the name. Whether it is true, nobody knows, but as instructions for use for pilgrims it works. You come here with your own Grillen, and the forest takes them off you, without any hunting at all.

The second reason to pause here lies beneath your feet. In the Middle Ages the Heiliger Weg (Holy Way) ran through the Tharandter Wald, on which pilgrims from Bohemia travelled to the tomb of Saint Benno in Meissen. It ran parallel to today's Way of St James, only in the opposite direction. Between Grillenburg and Spechtshausen, original sections are still preserved. So you are walking on a pilgrim way that is older than the waymarking you follow.

Island in the forest: what to see

Grillenburg is quickly explored. Everything worth seeing lies around the Schlossinsel; because of the building site you currently see it mostly from outside.

• Hunting lodge on the Schlossinsel: The former Schösserei from the sixteenth century, rebuilt after the fire of 1654 and given a Biedermeier façade in 1855. The ensemble also includes a guest house in neo-Renaissance style, the gardener's house, a bowling alley of 1937 and a castle gate from the twelfth century, the oldest remnant of the complex. The whole hunting lodge complex is a protected monument. You cannot visit the palace, but you can see it well from the road. For pilgrims the view is worth it, because it shows whom this forest served for centuries: the hunting of the rulers.
• Pöppelmann bridge: A sandstone arch bridge of 1730 leads onto the island; it is attributed to the Dresden Baroque master builder Pöppelmann. From November 2026 to April 2027 it is being repaired; whether you can walk onto it during that time, we don't know.
• Neues Jägerhaus: The country house of 1938/39 in the Heimatstil stands on the remains of a Romanesque cellar. In 2025 it was made safe as an emergency measure, from summer 2027 it is due to be renovated, and afterwards it will house a museum.
• Post milestone: At a hikers' car park on the S 194 road stands a replica of a royal Saxon milestone, made in 2013 from Grillenburg sandstone. It gives Tharandt as 0.85, Freiberg as 2.00 and Frauenstein as 2.94 miles. A signpost from the time when people travelled here on foot or by mail coach. The original location was about one and a half kilometres away.

Honestly

• The palace is nothing to go into. It was not open to visitors before, and until 2029 the island is a building site. Come for the forest, not for the palace.
• The pilgrim hostel is not cheap. €48 for a bed in a bunk bed (as of November 2026) is a lot for pilgrim accommodation. In return it is open all year and bookable.
• We could hardly confirm any supplies. At the bathing lake there is a snack bar; when it is open, we don't know. We found no shop. Buy in Dresden or on the way, and ask when booking whether dinner is available.
• A hamlet, not a village. Church, parish office, pilgrim stamp: we found none of these for Grillenburg. The next stamp is in Naundorf, 7.8 kilometres further on.

Where pilgrims sleep

The Pilgerherberge im Waldhof zu Grillenburg (pilgrim hostel in the Waldhof) at Hauptstraße 18 is the pilgrim accommodation of the place. It is open all year, a place in a bunk bed costs €48 (as of November 2026), and you can book: +49 17654 175653 or info@waldhof-zu-grillenburg.de. There is no donation-based or parish hostel in Grillenburg.

Ninja tips

• Book ahead. The Waldhof is the only pilgrim accommodation in the village.
• Plan the stage from Grumbach. The 12.2 kilometres from Grumbach are short enough for a long afternoon by the water. If you are already setting off in Dresden, you have 30.8 kilometres ahead of you.
• Between Grillenburg and Spechtshausen, watch the path itself. Preserved pieces of the medieval Heiliger Weg lie here, on which pilgrims travelled to Meissen.
• Stamp in Naundorf. The church in Naundorf has a small stamp point and an information board of the Geopark Sachsens Mitte for pilgrims. Make your first break of the day there.

Onward: via Naundorf to Freiberg

The Saxon Way of St James leaves the Tharandter Wald heading west. After 7.8 kilometres you come to Naundorf with its church, then via Falkenberg, Conradsdorf and Tuttendorf to Freiberg, 18.9 kilometres in all.

What awaits you tomorrow

Freiberg, the mining town. And a reunion: in Grumbach you stood under a painted ceiling whose painters, by either reading, came from Freiberg. Tomorrow you walk into their town.

Deep dive: Grillen and pilgrims in the Tharandter Wald

A short read, in case you want to learn more about Grillenburg. About 2 minutes' reading.

A hunting seat in the forest

Grillenburg was never a farming village. Since it first appears in the sources, it has been a place of the lords. It is first named as a hunting seat of Margrave Dietrich of Meissen, a Wettin. In the sixteenth century, between 1554 and 1558, the Elector of Saxony had a whole hunting complex built here, with a princely house, Schösserei, servants' quarters and stables. The forest all around was not a forest for everyone but a hunting preserve.

The elector's Grillen

Where the name comes from is told by a legend. The elector is said to have held great hunts here to chase away his Grillen, his moods and gloomy thoughts. Whether it was so cannot be proved. But the story has survived because it says something true about forests.

Another way through the same forest

Long before pilgrims of St James travelled here, another stream of pilgrims passed through the Tharandter Wald. After the canonisation of Bishop Benno of Meissen, the Heiliger Weg came into being, on which pilgrims from Bohemia walked to Meissen. It ran parallel to today's Saxon Way of St James, but in the opposite direction. Between Grillenburg and Spechtshausen original sections are still preserved. Anyone walking west today crosses, in thought, the tracks of those who walked east.

A palace on standby

Of the great hunting court, only the Schösserei remained. After a fire in 1654 it was rebuilt, and in 1855 it got its Biedermeier face. Then came a long vacancy. When this text was written, in autumn 2026, the conversion into a science and conference centre had just begun, and it is due to be finished in early 2029.

What Grillenburg gives you

There is no church here and no altar. There is water, trees and a legend of a prince who went into the forest in order to return more easily. Perhaps that is enough for one evening.