Crime Tour "Disappeared in the Crime City Hillesheim"

The city tour "Disappeared in the Crime City Hillesheim" is the flagship of the "Krimiland Hillesheim" tourism concept. From June 6 to December 12, 2026, the approximately 90-minute tour can be booked on regular dates and leads visitors to the literary settings of the Eifel crime novels in historic Hillesheim.

Hillesheim – Crime Capital of the Eifel

Hillesheim has established itself as a unique literary-tourism destination in Germany since the 1990s. The impetus came from the Eifel crime author Jacques Berndorf (Michael Preute, 1936-2022), who founded the "Eifel-Krimi" genre with over 30 novels centered around the reporter Siggi Baumeister. His publisher and fellow author Ralf Kramp (KBV Verlag) complemented the profile with further Eifel crime novels and initiated numerous crime-related tourism offerings.

Tour Stops

The city tour leads through historic Hillesheim and visits settings from various Eifel crime novels. Typical stops include:

• Hillesheim Market Square with the historic town hall and parish church.
• City Wall and Medieval Old Town: Hillesheim boasts a remarkably well-preserved medieval city wall.
• EIFELkrimihotel: Germany's only crime hotel, a central hub for crime tourism.
• Settings from individual novels: Houses, squares, and alleys featured in specific Eifel crime novels by Berndorf, Kramp, or other authors.

Format and Content

The tour lasts about 90 minutes and combines city tour elements (history, architecture, urban development) with literary narratives, anecdotes about the Eifel crime scene, and selected readings from the respective novels. The guided tour is an excellent introduction to the world of Eifel crime novels – for both seasoned crime readers and newcomers.

2026 Dates

The city tour takes place on regular dates from June 6 to December 12, 2026. Fixed days and times are common (often Saturday afternoons). The exact 2026 program with all individual dates will be continuously published by the organizer via the Hillesheim Tourist Info and on gerolsteiner-land.de.

Registration and Admission

Registration is through the Hillesheim Tourist Information. Admission: €9 adults. As the number of participants per date is limited, advance booking is recommended, especially on weekends and during the high season (June-September).

Set within the Hillesheim Crime Land

The city tour is part of an extensive offering in the Hillesheim Crime Land: the crime hike "Crime in the Countryside" (6 km), the "Gerolsteiner Krimisteig" trail, the interactive crime weekends at the EIFELkrimihotel, annual crime readings, and events like "Berndorf's Crime World" and the "Blood Trail Crime Day THEATERBLUT". Combining several crime offerings allows for a longer literary-tourism stay program.