Nordlingen

The basics

Nordlingen is much less crowded than other Romantic Road highlights such as Rothenburg ob der Tauber und Dinkelsbühl, and has plenty for history buffs, architecture fans, and nature lovers. Explore the main square (Marktplatz), St. George’s Church, and Geopark Ries, and don’t miss the Stadtmuseum with its impressive antique collection and the Rieskrater Museum, a place to learn about the meteorite impact. Be sure to walk around Nordlingen’s old medieval walls, as Nordlingen is one of only three towns in Germany with these walls still intact.

Things to know before you go

• Nordlingen’s old town is only partially accessible to wheelchair users (some of its older historical buildings have not yet been adapted for wheelchair users).

• The Rieskrater Museum is barrier-free, as well as the ground floor of the Stadtmuseum.

• There are disabled toilets near the tourist information point, next to the library. To use these toilets you need the international euro toilet key.

• The Old Town is mostly stroller accessible. It’s only the Daniel Tower and the town wall that can’t be accessed with strollers.

• Fans of the 1970s film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” may recognise Nordlingen, as it was featured as the view from the glass elevator.

How to get there

There’s a railway station to the east of Nordlingen, from which it’s possible to reach big cities such as Munich or Stuttgart, as well as other Romantic Road highlights. As the town is quite small, you can easily explore it on foot—it takes roughly 12 minutes to walk from the train station to the main market square.

When to get there

If you don’t mind crowds, then Nordlinger comes alive during the Nordlinger Mess—a lively annual festival that’s been taking place for over 800 years. The event typically takes place in June and you can expect rides, beer tents, market stalls, and live performances. To escape the masses, other great months to visit are May and September.

Space missions, diamonds, and moon rocks

The town’s famous crater—the Nordlinger Ries—has long been a subject of fascination for geologists, who discovered the town’s architecture contains 72,000 tons of tiny diamond fragments. US astronauts also visited the town to train for their moon landing missions and gain insights into extraterrestrial rocks. After the Apollo space missions, the town was gifted moon rocks, which you can see in the Rieskrater Museum.