2 Best Sights in Calw, The Black Forest

The museum recounts the life of the Nobel Prize–winning writer Hermann Hesse, author of Steppenwolf and Siddharta, who rebelled against his middle-class German upbringing to become a pacifist and the darling of the Beat Generation. The museum tells the story of his life in personal belongings, photographs, manuscripts, and other documents. The museum is closed for renovations until 2026.

Three kilometers (2 miles) north of Calw, Hirsau has ruins of a 9th-century monastery, now the setting for a museum and the Klostersommer open-air concerts in July and August. Buy advance tickets for the concerts at the Calw tourist office.