Four personal traditions that keep me excited for autumn

On some level the seasonal cycle in Germany can be summed up like this: Each year you get six months of paradise – marked by long-days of sunshine, outdoor sports and fair-weather festivals – followed by six months of a cold and dreary grey fugue.

Okay I’m exaggerating a bit. And also over-simplifying.

There are parts of winter living that I actually look forward to (skiing, festive markets), and there are also aspects to the summer season (heatwaves, bugs) that are certainly less than perfect.

But I think many will agree with the sentiment that life in Germany through the warmer half of the year is a blessing to be treasured, whereas the peak of the cold season is something to be endured.

Which makes the abrupt transition to the cold and dark part of the year hard to bear. Especially around the time the the clocks are set back, and we suddenly find ourselves ending our work days in darkness.

Personally I find the best tactic for beating Herbstblues is resisting the urge to surrender to the cold, and instead making a point of getting out, enjoying the little bit of daylight that remains and also the German traditions that come along with the seasonal shift.

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So, as I go into what will be my seventh winter in Germany, I realise that I’ve collected a number of personal traditions that help me look forward to the coming of the cold months.

Marking the beginning of ‘sauna season’

I’ve always been a fan of hot springs and saunas, so I needed no convincing to fully embrace Germany’s sauna culture.

And while I certainly go for an Aufguss at my local gym during the summer months, I think of fall and winter as the proper season for it. 

Personally, I like to mark sauna season with a day trip to a proper hot-spring spa, or Therme, where I can make a whole day of soaking in mineral water, sitting in the saunas and enjoying a bit of Kaffee und Kuchen, or maybe a Weissbier in between.

In Berlin, Vibali serves as the popular choice for many of the city’s young metropolitans. But for a more traditionally German kind of experience I might recommend Fontane Therme north of the city. It has a large sauna floating on the lake, so you can take an icy dip between sweats if you dare.

There’s no shortage of spas elsewhere around Germany. In my neck of the woods in Franconia, I like to get out to Obermain Therme in Bad Staffelstein, or to Franken Therme in Bad Windsheim for the floating salt pool.

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In recent years, I’ve even gone as far as taking a spa-centred weekend trip.

A one- or two-night stay in Baden-Baden is a classic choice, and I can also personally recommend a short stay in Bad Wildbad in Baden-Württemberg, or a trip just over the border to Karlovy Vary (or Carlsbad as the Germans call it) in the Czech Republic.

Taking a hike to see the leaves turn

The realisation that it’s officially autumn – because the trees have turned mostly yellow – tends to hit me out-of-the-blue and all at once.

It’ll usually happen unexpectedly; while I’m walking through the city between errands, for example, and I come upon a street lined entirely with Ginko trees, leaves yellow in the sun.

Autumn leaves fall from the trees next to a canal in Dortmund. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

I take this as a sign to plan a hike in the woods somewhere in the coming weeks, to really take the colours in.

There are abundant parks and forests around Germany that serve nicely for this purpose, so I make a point to try a new place each year. The trick is to make sure that the area has a lot of deciduous trees, as opposed to evergreens which won’t change colour. In Germany these include Beech, Maple, Oak and Larch trees, for example.

One of the more striking places I’ve seen was Sächsische Schweiz, where the hill sides along the Elbe river become a brilliant mix of yellow, orange and red. You can also catch amazing views in this region if you hop on a train from Berlin or Dresden to Prague at this time of year.

Enjoy an off-season camping trip

I might be a bit crazy for this one, but I enjoy camping in Germany even late into the autumn season.

As opposed to the fair-weather months, campsites are much quieter and less-crowded in the shoulder season – and often the price to pitch a tent is cheaper as well.

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Along with a few friends, I’ve adopted a now annual tradition of getting out for a one night bike-camping trip in mid-November each year. 

Since the weather is usually quite cold by then, we aim for campgrounds that have both sauna and camp fire facilities. They’re not always a given in Germany, so we’ve made a habit of calling ahead to make sure.

Biking through the cold and sometimes wet November weather can be tough. But having a hot sauna to look forward to, followed by a night of cooking over a fire and under the stars, always makes it well worth the effort.

Visiting the seasonal markets

In Germany then seasons can be mapped according to the various markets and festivals they bring.

Even as we approach the coldest parts of the year, fall and winter markets offer a good reason to spend a bit more time outside.

Of course, some of Germany’s most famous festivals come at the beginning of the autumn. But even after Oktoberfest is over, there are more regional markets and festivals to be found.

On the Germany in Focus podcast we recently mentioned the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival, for example, which is ongoing until the end of the month.

Then, as the harvest festivals fade out, Christmas and Winter markets begin. Believe it or not, in some places this transition has already begun. Bayreuth’s Winter Village kicked off on Thursday this week, well ahead of the actual start of winter, and even ahead of Halloween.

Which is to say, if you’re already in the mood for Glühwein, you can certainly find it.

As for me, I’ll stick to the Federweißer for now and strive to enjoy every last moment of the fall… before we head into the depths of winter.