History

According to stories, a grain mill stood here more than 300 years ago.

In 1885, Julius Grässel built the Gasthaus zur Grässelmühle on this site. Even then, a guesthouse was run alongside the inn. The Grässelmühle soon became well known far and wide, and guests from near and far flocked in to meet and celebrate.

Farmers would often stop here as well, after delivering their grain to the mill opposite to be ground. There is more than one story of oxen having to find their way home on their own because the farmer had had a little too much to drink.

In 1948, after the war, Paul Grässel reopened the establishment as a dance venue. Old traditions were revived, and guests from near and far soon returned to the Grässelmühle. Paul Grässel knew how to entertain people with dancing and conviviality.

In 1970, the Grässelmühle was taken over by Hermann Grässel.

In 1984, the Grässelmühle was extensively modernised and equipped with a high-quality sound and lighting system. From then on, stars of the Schlager scene came and went, and the Grässelmühle evolved from an insider tip into a major attraction well beyond the region.

In 2004, Tanja Schäfer (née Grässel) took over the running of the Grässelmühle together with her husband, Ralf. With her training as a restaurant professional and him as a chef, the two did an outstanding job of establishing the Grässelmühle as a top address among the region’s inns. At the same time, the dance venue was further developed into a meeting place for stars of the folk music and Schlager scene.

In 2018, the modernisation of the dance hall and the redesign of the bar were completed. The new interior design is the ideal combination of functionality and charm.

In 2020, the guest rooms were extensively modernised and now offer all the comfort holidaymakers and business travellers could wish for. In addition, a dedicated reception area was newly created as a central point of contact for our overnight guests.

In 2021, more efficient machines were installed in the kitchen technology area.

In 2023, a total of four EV charging stations were installed and are now supplied with electricity from our own photovoltaic system and 100% green electricity.

In 2025, the Grässelmühle celebrates its 140th anniversary with a rebrand as the feel-good hotel Zur Grässelmühle. The new build includes an extension with 10 additional guest rooms. Designed and delivered to 4-star standards, these rooms set the direction for future development into a premium resort for holidaymakers, business travellers and conference guests.

We don’t just want to promise sustainability—we want to make it measurable. That’s why we calculated the carbon footprint of our hotel operations for 2024 using the internationally applied Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) standard.

Our 2024 figures
• 2.63 kg CO₂e – per occupied room night
• 11.14 kg CO₂e – per m² per year for the event areas
• 7.47 t CO₂e – total HCMI footprint 2024
• 99.31% – renewable electricity

Note on the calculation: Basis for calculation: Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) v2.0, reporting year 2024. HCMI captures the hotel’s operational greenhouse gas emissions from Scope 1 and Scope 2 and—where relevant—emissions from outsourced laundry as part of Scope 3. It does not represent a full life-cycle assessment or a complete Scope 3 footprint for the entire stay.