Nördlingen, a hidden Medieval Gem in South Germany

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A panoramic View of the Nördlingen from top of the City church Tower (Daniel Tower). The city church tower is the tallest building in the historical old town centre.

Nördlingen (Noerdlingen), when I hear this name, the first thing that comes to my mind is a medieval town, a former free imperial city with completely intact medieval walls that surround this pristine old town on all sides, yes 360° completely going around the old city centre. Infact, Nördlingen boasts to be the only city in Germany, and not just in south of Germany but I mean it, entire Germany, that has a completely intact city wall that goes right around it, which were originally built during the Middle Ages. These can be accessed all round the year and are well maintained by the city council for the tourists flocking to this beautiful town. Most important of all it is free of cost to walk around the wall.

This is an aerial image of the pristine town of Nördlingen. This image shows the completely intact 360° walls going around the old historic city centre with the St George’s church in the middle of the town, which is also the highest building in the City Centre. Image from Wikipedia.

The second thing that comes to my mind when I hear Nördlingen is that it has the Bavarian National Railway Museum. It has a great collection of all the Oldtimer Locomotives from the Bavarian State Railways. It also hosts regular festivals with everything railways and model trains in and around the town.

A medieval gem of a town in the south of Germany, Nördlingen. This is one of the finest examples how a medieval town must have felt like during the evening time in the Middle Ages when the church bells rang and the sleepy town went alive.

The next thing that comes to my mind when I think about this beautiful town, is that it has around 72,000 tons of micro diamonds in in its walls, streets and the stones used to build the houses in this town. There is a whole documentary on this topic recently launched by BBC News.

Another interesting fact about Nördlingen is that it is located entirely inside of the Crater formed by a meteor, that hit the this part of the Earth around 15 million years ago.

The Wall has a total of five gates along the its length, with the Löpsinger Tor (Löpsinger gate) hosts the City Wall Museum, a must visit in oder to understand the History of the City wall. You can start at any of the gates, one just need to take the stairs up the gate and follow either clockwise or counter-clockwise to be able to finish a complete circle around the town. Personally I always preferred to Park my car near Löpsinger Tor at the free open air car park and simply begin my walk from the Löpsinger Gate clockwise till the Reimlinger Gate and then descent to the town levels, take a walk on the beautifully cobblestoned streets of Nördlingen.

This photo shows the view of Berger Gate (Berger Tor), from the inner side of the old historical city centre. On both sides along the small narrow cobblestone streets one can see the beautiful red tiled roof houses that have been maintained in their original structure with painstaking effort years after years from the Nördlingen city council.

I usually visit my favourite cafés and restaurants every time I am in this town. I personally recommend Samocca and Cafe Altreuter whenever you are in Town. They both serve amazing food and desserts. Cafe Samocca is a special chain of Cafe in this part of Germany where all the employees are people with special needs. I make it a point to visit this cafe not just in Nördlingen but in Aalen, Schwäbisch Hall and wherever I find one.

PLACES of interest in Nördlingen and nearby:

BAVARIAN RAILWAY MUSEUM is one very unique museum located at this town’s railway station. Although the first railway was started in the city of Nuremberg, Nördlingen was given the honour of hosting this beautiful collection of locomotives under the roof of this beautiful and historical. The museum is open all round the year and hosts unique events like the assembly of model train collectors and sometimes special exhibitions showing personal collections of people living in and around this town. It is always useful to look into the museum’s website before visiting this beautiful museum

An example of one of most beautiful and historical locomotives at the Bavarian National Raiway Museum, in Nördlingen. This picture is taken from the official website of the Museum.

RIES CRATER MUSEUM is another unique museum in this town, one of its kind in the entire country. It is regarded as a special geological collection, the contents of which deal with the natural catastrophe that took place in this region around 15 million years ago. The “Meteorite Crator Nördlingen Ries” that was formed by the impact of this astroid, is the result of this catastrophe. Along with this creator, the nearby “Steinheimer Basin” was also formed. These two geological features represent the only two confirmed impact structures in and around Germany. Hence I highly recommend visiting the Ries Crater Museum and if possible the Steinheimer Basin.

CITY WALL MUSEUM has one of the richest and most varied collections of this formal Imperial town. This museum not just gives one an insight into the formal Imperial history of this beautiful town, but also takes one through the settlement history of this region right from Stone Age to the Middle Ages. Another section of this museum hosts objects from the famous battle of Nördlingen, that took place just outside the city walls in the 17th century during as the 30 years war. It also hosts one of the most beautiful paintings by Friedrich Herlin, Hans Schaeufelin and Sebastian Taig. These paintings depict the religious faith of the people of this town as well as the prosperity and political significance of this imperial city at that time.

ST. GEORG’S CHURCH with DANIEL TOWER is a Protestant church located in the middle of the historical old town. It was built in the 1427 as a Roman catholic church which was then later on converted to a Protestant church during the Reformation years. Due to its strategic location and the beautiful vantage point that it offers to any tourists that dares to climb its Daniel tower, it is one of the most visited structure in Nördlingen. I highly recommend visiting this church not just to be mesmerised by its late Gothic architecture, but also to be stunned by the beautiful views that it offers when one climbs to the top of the Church’s tower famously know as Daniel Tower. The entrance to the tower is from the backside of the Church and not from within the Church like in Ulm. So one has to leave the Church and go behind it at the foot of the tower and then Enter. It has a nominal Fee of around 2 Euros.

View of the St.George’s church (Background) from south end of the wall. In the foreground one can see the beautifully tiled roof houses so typical of Bavaria, the state in which this beautiful town is situated.

WALKING THE CITY WALL is one of the most important thing that one can do as a tourist. One is free to start at any of the five gates that offer an entrance to the city walls. The town council has convieniently built Parking Lots near all the important historical Gates of the City Wall so as to facilitate quicker access to the tourists.

A picture of the City Wall. At some places the top of the wall (walkway) is covered. It gives a relief in hot summers for tourists, who can then take rest under these covered parts of the wall.
The View of the Reimlinger Tor (Reimlinger Gate) from the inside of the City Walls. This Gate is located at the south end of the historical city centre. There is a beautiful crockery store just at the foot of the gate on the inside of the wall.
A Google Maps image of Nördlingen’s Historical City Centre with its intact City Walls.
The historical old city centre is full of clapboard architecture buildings and here is a fine example of a multistorey building finely restored and maintained from its mediaeval origins.
This is a view of the old historical buildings that have been preserved in their original form right since the beginning of the 18th century due to a sudden economic standstill at that time due to local wars going on in the Region.
This is a bronze model of Nördlingen’s historical city centre surrounded by mediaeval city walls. This is a typical feature in many of the European ancient cities. I have often seen these whenever I went on the free walking tours, that are offered in almost all of the touristically important cities of Europe nowadays.
A view of Berger Gate (Berger Tor) from the west Side entrance to the old historical City Centre. One can see the walls on both sides of the gate going around the old city centre.
This board shows the historically important old town of Nördlingen with its beautiful intact city wall that goes around it, surrounding it 360°, along with the famous sightseeing spots and interesting walking trails and walkthroughs for young and old tourists alike.
This is a picture showing a watchtower built on top of a Bastion along the intact city walls of Nördlingen. One can take a walk around the City wall uninterrupted peacefully without any hindrance. The wall is open for all Toruists all round the year for everyone and its free of cost.
Another Bastion with a watchtower located along the south east wall of this pretty and pristine town. On the right side one can see the outer side of the wall and on the left side the inner side of the wall. The walls have Bastian is at regular intervals where the guards watched out at night for enemy soldiers or intruders. It is almost like being in a Game of Thrones series set.
A view from top of one of the Watchtower showing the St. George’s church at the distal end and the beautifully maintained red tiled slanting roofed homes neatly lined up along the cobblestone streets of Nördlingen.
This is one of the fine examples of South-german architecture particularly widespread in rural Bavaria. In the background one can see the St George’s church with it’s Daniel tower projecting about the medieval towns landscape.
At some places one can see the beautiful Turrets (background) suddenly emerging from the wall, which functioned as watchtowers in the mediaeval times, lined up along the towns wall. This section of the wall is a bit lower in comparison to the other parts of the wall, where one can see a moat on the right hand side and a cobblestoned street on the left hand side.
Here’s another section of the wall which is well covered by the red tiled slanting roof with a turret at the distant end of the wall. Below one can see the signs of modernisation in the 21st-century even in this time locked mediaeval town.
This picture depicts that Reimlinger gate (Reimlinger Tor) located at the south east part of the ancient town with a lot of small houses on the innerside of it.
We also visited a very beautiful bone china and tea shop located just at the foot of Remlinger gate. The shops name is “Tea and Korp am Remlinger Tor”. I highly recommend everyone visiting this beautiful town to take the time to visit this unique shop. I have rarely seen such masterpieces made exclusively in Germany. The variety of tea that they offer is out of this world.
This is another picture showing the breakfast baskets section of the same shop. The typical German Family will always have a breakfast basket which is taken on weekends to beaches and lakes on occasions of family picnics or outings.
Beautifully restored historical colourful buildings that dot the city centre. In the background one can see the Daniel tower of the Saint Georges Church, which is almost 90m tall and makes for a must visit spot.
This is one of the most beautiful buildings located in the historical city centre of Nördlingen. It is also called as “Rathaustreppe” literally meaning “town hall steps”. The steps were a later addition to the white town Hall building seen in the background. It makes for a must Photostop when taking a walking Sightseeingtour of this town..
A view of the Saint Georg’s Church from outside approaching it from the east side of the town. The Church was undergoing massive renovations during the later part of 2019 when I visited this pretty town with my sister.
This slupture of a pig near the Löpsinger Tor (Loepsinger Gate) commemerates a pig as the saviour of the city during a war with its neighbouring town called Oettingen in 1440 A.D caused due to financial problems at that time.
A view of the beautifully decorated historical buildings in this fairytale little town called Nördlingen. On the left side one can see the medical store which has been here for many decades and on the right side is the Town Hall café (RATHAUSCAFE) with its beautiful sit out laid out infront of it. On the Rathaus Cafe one can see the flag of the city being hosited proudly by its owner.
This picture shows the south east side of this beautiful town. In the far distant landscape one can see the Reimlinger Tor (Reimlinge’s gate) and on both sides of the gate the city wall extending round the town.
Another beautiful view of this fairytale town Nördlingen located in the south German state of Bavaria. This picture shows the access road to the historical town centre through Reimlinger Tor (Reimlinger Gate). This picture was taken from a lower level of the church through a window.
Another picture of Nördlingen from top of the Daniel tower of Saint Georges Church, which is also the tallest building in the historical town centre. This picture shows the Bavarian National Railway Museum located at the Nördlingen City Railway Station in the backround of the picture. A few industrial buildings can also be seen behind the railway station.
The view of the beautiful medieval town “Nördlingen” from atop the Saint George’s Church’s Daniel tower. The beautifully built red tiled roofed houses and the circular citywall can be clearly seen in the distance. The city’s main square “Brunnen mit Wasserspiel”, literally meaning “Fountain with Waterdisplay” can be clearly seen just below the Church on the left side. The city is Christmas market takes place around this square just before the Christmas time every year.
The church was built in the year 1427, the Daniel tower then later in 1490. The church was founded as a Catholic church and was later converted to Protestantism in the late 16th century. This is a view of the praying area inside the church.
The St. George’s Church is located inside of the historical city centre of Nördlingen and is a fine example of Medieval Protestant church which was founded as a catholic Church in the early 15th century and was later converted in late 16th century from Catholicism to Protestantism..
An organ inside of the Saint George’s Church in this beautiful fairytale town. In the foreground one can see a candle lighting and igniting the serene atmosphere of this beautiful and very peaceful church located right in the middle of the town.
Another beautiful organ situated inside the St George’s church in Nördlingen. It is a typical feature of majority of the German churches and are played on Sundays for the Sunday Mass and during religious Days like Easter and Christmas.

NÖRDLINGEN is a town in the Donau-Ries district, currently in Swabia, in the State of Bavaria in South-Germany and has a population of around 20,000. The city has been inhibited since the prehistoric times and there have been archaeological findings in the Large Ofnet caves near the town. It was a former imperial free city.

This picture was taken while having lunch in one of the most famous café and hotel of Nördlingen. Hotel-Cafe Altreuter is truly one of the best places to eat in town and it is located just at the foot of the church, near the Gentrance to the Daniel Tower. It makes for one of the best stops on your walking tour in this pretty little town. A small tip; don’t forget to eat the Black Forest cake as dessert!!!

HOW TO REACH?

By Air:- The closest airport to Ulm is the Memmingen – Allgäu Airport located 130 km (approximately 1hrs 20mins) south of the city and Nuremberg Airport 110 km (approximately 1hrs 25mins) located north of the city with continuous flight to other German cities and popular tourist destinations in and around Germany. It is also surrounded on all sides by cities with airports of their own. Stuttgart Airport (150km; approximately 1hrs 45mins), Frankfurt Airport (265km; approximately 3hrs) and Munich Airport (150km; approximately 1hrs 30mins)

By Train: Nördlingen is a major railway station for the German railways with trains coming in from three directions. The trains come in from North from Nuremberg, from west from Stuttgart or Aalen and from south from Munich or Augsburg. For connections please click here.

By Car: Nördlingen is extremely well connected by Roads and is locates on the crossroads of B25 and B466 (Bavarian State Highways) makes it very easy to reach. The German national highways A7, A8 and A8 (Autobahn) are not that far away from the city of Nördlingen. They can be reached by the surrounding Bavarian state highways B25 and B466.

WHERE TO STAY?

Nördlingen and the surrounding areas have a over 200-300 hotels and a few hostels. To name a few: 2nd Home Hotel, NH Klöstern Nördlingen, JUFA Hotel Nördlingen, Ecome Hotel, Donautaler Wohlfühloase, Alte Brauerei Mertingen and Landhotel Garni Engelhard are a few elite ones that offer good amenities. 

The Youth Hostel Association of Germany’s Hostel (Jugendherberge Dinkelsbuehl), Zur Dorfmühle and 1st Motel / Hostel & Monteurhotel are the few hostels available around the town. 

People of Nördlingen do offer some fantabulous Airbnb’s and if you are on a Night Budget you could also try your luck with Couchsurfing. Just download the apps and search away.

I personally visited the town quite a few time before i decided to Write this blog and it is not located that far away from where I am living (Aalen). I highly recommend each and everyone to visit the sleepy town to experience its beautiful culture and heritage and ofcourse to walk its wall with Friends and famiy. Best time to visit is during the Christmas Market in December and in Summers.

A rare picture of me taken by my sister “Mayuri”, when we visited this pretty town in the month of October, last year (2019). I generally like to be on the other side of the camera. This one was taken secretly, as I was appreciating the beauty of this charming fairytale town and was lost in my thoughts. I really liked it, so thought of sharing a rare picture of myself with my beloved readers.

PLACES OF INTEREST NEARBY:-

ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER

NUREMBERG

ULM

TÜBINGEN

And last but not the least I heartily thank each and every reader of this blog for spending your life’s most valuable time on my blog. I thank you for your trust.

I highly recommend everyone to visit this town at anytime of the year. Especially history lovers will find this town very interesting.

9 thoughts on “Nördlingen, a hidden Medieval Gem in South Germany”

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