The two essentials are the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe and its Wasserspiele, and the contemporary art legacy of the documenta — which between editions you experience as the Fridericianum, the 7000 Oaks, the Vertical Earth Kilometer, and the Man Walking to the Sky at the old Hauptbahnhof. The Wilhelmshöhe Palace picture gallery, the Neue Galerie, and the Hessian State Museum cover the more conventional art-and-history museum needs.
The Brothers Grimm are the city's other patron spirits — GRIMMWELT is the modern museum, and the city centre is the original setting for much of their fieldwork. For something stranger, the Museum of Sepulchral Culture and the Artists' Necropolis above the city are unforgettable. Walks along the Karlsaue and up the Bergpark are the open-air pleasures.