Discover the time-honored craft of glass blowing and wood carving in the heart of the Black Forest at Dorotheenhütte. Nestled amidst the lush greenery of Wolfach, this stop offers a glimpse into centuries-old traditions of glass blowing and wood carving. Here, you can explore the intricate craftsmanship and time-honored techniques behind these cherished art forms, immersing yourself in the rich cultural heritage of Schwarzwald (the Black Forest). Whether you're a connoisseur of fine craftsmanship or simply seeking a unique cultural experience, a visit to Dorotheenhütte is well worth it! You can even blow your own glass ball ornament to take home!
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Hours, Amenities, & Parking
The Dorotheenhütte shop and glass museum are open daily from 10:00am to 4:00pm.
*This excludes Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Years Eve!
The latest possible entrance time for the glass museum is 3:30pm.
Museum Ticket Prices:
Adult - 6 EUR
Child - 6 to 18 - 4 EUR
Family - (2 adults w/ up to 4 children) - 15 EUR
Reduced - (student, senior, disabled, military) - 5 EUR
Parking is also available and free. The website specifies that there are over 180 spaces and there were indeed plenty of spots when we visited.
Amenities include a restaurant, playroom for children, picnic areas, toilets, and year-round air conditioning. Additionally, e-bike charging is available upon request.
Notably, all rooms and pathways in the shop and restaurant are wheelchair accessible. The museum is also mostly accessible, although there is a small display area with stairs.
Although not all the workers spoke English, one lady was fluent and
History
The Dorotheenhütte glassworks in Wolfach was established by Ummo Barthmann and Dr. Kurt Petersen in 1947, but the history of glassblowing in the Black Forest is much older than this. The raw materials present in the area made the trade very popular, resulting in numerous shops opening throughout the region.
Due to the remoteness of the location, however, production began to decline in the 19th century. Over the years, making and selling glass became less profitable. Today, Dorotheenhütte is the last active factory that hand blows and manually refines pieces in the Black Forest.
Attractions
Glass Shop
Dorotheenhütte is a functional glassworks that sells the goods made on site. There are so many different glass items available, from small figurines and ornaments to large vases and ornate goblets. Whatever your fancy, the selection available will not disappoint!
The space is very large and free to explore during opening hours. There are a couple different rooms with products displayed and very attentive attendants available to answer any questions.
Understandably, pricing varies significantly depending on product size, material, and complexity.
Glassblowing Experience
A highlight for many, Dorotheenhütte offers guests the opportunity to blow their own glass ball ornaments! This is a unique experience that results in a one-of-a-kind souvenir from the Black Forest!
Currently (as of February 2024), there are two options available:
Lucky Ball - 18 EUR
Painted Glass Ball - 22 EUR
The lucky ball is a small glass ornament with some colorful embellishments inserted after blowing. Visitors also choose how many colored dots are placed on the outside of the orb.
The painted glass ball ornament is similar, but lacks the embellishments and dots. Instead, visitors can use a painting station set up in the shop to decorate the ball as desired.
Glassworks Museum
The Dorotheenhütte Glass Museum is one of the greatest draws for tourists, offering over 2,000 years of glassmaking history. There are many different exhibits showcasing traditional glassblowing practices, as well as more modern applications. Visitors are free to peruse the various glassworks displays, tools, and items. There is also a film studio showing a documentary about the history of glassblowing in the Black Forest.
*Notably, the only portion of the film we saw playing was in German. I am unsure if an English version is available as well.
There are two additional functional areas connected to the museum. The first is a large space in which glass production still occurs. There is likely to be at least one craftsman or woman present working on larger pieces.
Shortly after entering the exhibit, there is another workroom for smaller blown glass items. There were two professionals here, seemingly both available to assist visitors interested in the glassblowing experience.
Tickets to the Dorotheenhütte Glass Museum and glassblowing experience can be purchased at the shop register. Simply inquire with one of the workers.
Café / Restaurant
Conveniently, there is a café/restaurant called Hüttenklause on site. This establishment offers a variety of items, from small snacks to more extensive seasonal meals. They also serve Black Forest cherry cake, which is a must-have when in the region!
Christmas Village
Although technically part of the main glassworks shop, Dorotheenhütte also boasts a fairly extensive Christmas Village. Not only is the area extensively decorated year-round, but it also houses about 50 different kinds of mouth-blown and hand-decorated glass Christmas tree decorations.
The space is amazingly designed, with numerous seasonal scenes throughout. It's easy to imagine a traditional German Christmas market taking place here. Everything is decorated, including the pre-built booths, display tables, and ceiling.
Play Area
Families with small children are likely to get great use out of the play area available at Dorotheenhütte. Located just inside of the museum gate, this space is available for little ones to use as older visitors enjoy learning about the history of glassblowing in the Black Forest.
Painting Station
As previously mentioned, it is possible to purchase one of two different glassblowing experiences. One of these options allows guests to paint their ornament afterward. This area is connected to the main shop, but provides some privacy to work creatively without distraction.
Wood Carvings
There are a wide variety of interesting and beautiful woodcarvings at Dorotheenhütte. A significant number of them can be viewed outside, but there are several located throughout the shop and museum as well.
My Experience
My husband and I traveled to the Black Forest from England. While it is possible (and highly enjoyable) to drive, we chose to fly due to time limitations. For us, it was easiest to depart from the London Stansted Airport.
If needed, you can book official parking in advance. This is much cheaper than paying upon arrival and the short stay lots are only a 5 - 7 minute walk to the terminals. Mid and long-term parking lots are further away and generally require use of the airport's free shuttle service.
We chose to fly with Ryanair, but there are many companies operating flights to the Black Forest. We commonly utilize Expedia and Kayak to compare bookings and prices.
On this particular trip, we flew into the Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden airport. The flight lasted less than 1.5 hours.
Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden is a super small and easily navigated airport. For non-German speakers, most of the signs are printed in English as well. The location is relatively remote, however, so we opted to rent a car for our stay. This also allowed us to travel around the Black Forest freely and on our own schedule.
All of the car rental companies are located on the same side of the building. Once in the main terminal, turn right before exiting the building. You should see signs for the various rentals at the end of the hall.
From the Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden airport, we headed straight to Dorotheenhütte in Wolfach. The drive took approximately an hour, much of which was spent on the autobahn.
Fun fact: The autobahn is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany, not a specific motorway. While the government recommends a maximum speed of 130 kph (approximately 80 mph), there is no speed limit on these roads. There are, however, restricted areas that require slower speeds. These are generally located around towns/cities, roadworks, and sharp bends. In these areas, posted speed limits must be adhered to.
Of all the places I've visited, Germany has the best roads! They are incredibly well maintained!
We reached Dorotheenhütte without difficulty. The GPS navigation system did all the work for us without any hiccups. Parking was also a breeze, as the lot is very large. Spaces are not marked, but there's plenty of room and other drivers were considerate.
Although we were eager to get inside, we did take a few minutes to walk around the exterior of the building. There were numerous wood carvings displayed, all of which exhibited superior craftmanship. Experiencing traditional Black Forest glassblowing may be the primary appeal of Dorotheenhütte, but their woodworking is also well worth a look!
After a quick picture session, we made our way indoors and were immediately surrounded by amazing glasswork of all shapes, sizes, and colors! Honestly, my eyes didn't know where to focus. The selection available is immense, with items sure to appeal to everyone.
I was also really pleased with the prices. While some products were completely and utterly outside of our budget, there were plenty of affordable trinkets as well.
I believe the cheapest tags I saw were between 5 EUR and 7 EUR - these were small glass ornaments, primarily egg-shaped to commemorate Easter. There were also a wide variety of options offered in the 10 to 20 EUR range. Most, but not all, were glass figurines shaped like animals. Adorable!
In addition to all the amazing glassware displayed in the main shop area, there's also a Christmas village. This space is full of holiday decorations and all of the glass products for sale are handmade and painted ornaments! It's designed to look and feel just like a Christmas market, complete with individual stalls and all.
After perusing for a while, we made our way to the register to inquire about the Dorotheenhütte Glass Museum. Although the first lady we spoke with knew only a limited amount of English, communication was still fairly easy. When we started asking more in-depth questions, however, she asked one of her collogues to come help.
My queries were all to do with the glass blowing experience. There were two options available and the sign didn't provide as much detail in English as I was hoping. The second lady was able to explain the process in much more detail, though, and I chose to make one of their lucky glass ball ornaments. We then paid for the tickets and glassblowing together before making our way to the museum as directed.
The Dorotheenhütte Glass Museum is quite interesting! Much of the information provided is in German, but there are sprinklings of English translations throughout. It was really a mixed bag. I'd go from lamenting the fact I couldn't understand one section to having entire paragraphs available to read, then no English again for a while before I'd catch a sentence or two. While this wasn't ideal, we did manage quite well with the Google Translate app. Even without this, much of what seemed to be most important was translated.
In addition to viewing the displays, we also spent some time watching a professional glassworker make vases and bowls.
My favorite section, however, was in another room attached to the museum. In there, two glassblowers were busy making ornaments using various unique tools and techniques. It was amazing getting to see the process up close!
This is also where I got to blow my own lucky glass ball ornament! Although the gentleman who helped me spoke very little English, he was kind and still managed to be as informative as possible. We struggled through some language barrier issues when I forgot how to say "13" in German (as this was the number of colored dots I wanted on my ball), but we finally got there. I'm fairly certain he is used to working with guests who speak other languages. 2
The process was pretty simple. He prepared the glass, heating it to the proper temperature, before instructing me to blow into the end.
Afterward, the glass piece I blew into to make my glass bulb was removed, leaving a small opening through which I was able to insert some baubles. I was offered my choice of colorful feathers and either a heart or star sequin (for health or fortune, I believe). Once these were placed inside my lucky ball, the glassblower closed reheated the glass and closed the opening to form a loop, through which I can put a string later. He then recited a short ceremonial phrase over the orb and sent me on my way.
Notably, the top of the ornament was still hot when I left the station. While the glass cools quite quickly, it's important not to turn the ball over for some time in order to prevent the feather from melting.
After making my ornament, we went back to the main room and spent a few minutes watching a video in the film studio. Unfortunately, it was in German and we could not understand much of the dialogue. The area was rather full, so we chose not to wait to see if it was also available in English. We did, however, take advantage of the nearby photo op stand!
At this point, we felt we'd seen everything the museum had to offer and exited back into the shop. We saw the restaurant as well, but opted not to eat because we had other activities planned for the day. Overall, we spent about 1.5 hours in the shop and museum. This was plenty of time, but more would definitely be necessary to visit the restaurant.
In addition to my lucky ball, we also chose to purchase one of the egg ornaments, a small mushroom figurine, and a Santa decoration.
Overall, it was a very neat experience and I recommend stopping at Dorotheenhütte when visiting the Black Forest. Obviously, those interested in glassblowing will enjoy it most, but there's a little something for everyone who visits.
Recommendations for Visiting Dorotheenhütte in the Black Forest
As always, my top recommendation is to wear comfortable trainers or tennis shoes. While visiting Dorotheenhütte in the Black Forest may not call for good footwear specifically, you're still sure to do a lot of walking/hiking throughout the area. Currently, my favorite travel shoes are these Karrimor Isla Ladies Weathertites. They're a good buy and have served me well on many of our trips.
Pay close attention to the weather forecast. My husband and I traveled in February, so it was still a bit cold and wet throughout the Black Forest. Even if you're flying to the area, I recommend bringing a raincoat. I take this Regatta Womens Daysha Jacket with me everywhere! Not only is it completely waterproof, but I can fold/roll it up to fit in most of my day bags. I find it way more convenient than carrying around an umbrella.
Check out other things to do in the area! The Black Forest is FULL of amazing sights and activities! My top suggestions include hiking, visiting local cuckoo clock shops, enjoying the beautiful German architecture, and eating traditional local cuisine (especially the Black Forest cake!). If you prefer more structured exploration, consider booking one of these tours:
Freshen up on your German! While we managed to muddle through communicating with the nice people at Dorotheenhütte, the experience would have been even better if we knew more of the local language. At the very least, I suggest becoming familiar with the words and phrases in the next section. My husband and I use them regularly when visiting Germany!
German Language Review
Hello | Hallo |
Guten Morgen | Good morning |
Guten Tag | Good afternoon |
Excuse me | Entschúldigung |
Do you speak English? | Sprechen Sie Englisch? |
Please | Bitte |
I'm sorry | Es tut mir Leid |
Menu | Speisekarte |
Bill, please | Rechnung, bitte |
With credit card | mit Karte |
ATM Machine | Geldautomat |
One, Two, Three, Four, Five | eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf |
Thank you very much | Danke schön |
You're very welcome | Bitte schön |
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