Discover Ettlingen

Explore Ettlingen through a range of interests: its palace and museum, historic old town, cycling and hiking trails, and summer theater. These highlights give you different starting points when choosing where to stay, depending on whether you are primarily interested in culture, outdoor activities, or an excursion to the Alb Valley.

Palace, Museum and Asam Hall

Ettlingen Palace, with its Asam Hall, is the heart of the town on the Alb. The historic palace in the heart of the old town houses the Ettlingen City Museum. It focuses on the history and present of the town and region; across around 1,800 square meters, it presents collection displays and changing exhibitions.

In Asam Hall, the dome fresco draws attention to a clearly defined subject: its eight main scenes depict the life and suffering of Saint John of Nepomuk. This offers a specific focus if you are especially interested in pictorial representations. Asam Hall also provides a magnificent setting for numerous concerts.

At the Museum at Lauerturm, visitors can explore the tower via a stone spiral staircase; seasonal access may vary. Directly next to it is a former 18th-century barn. It houses an extensive collection of objects from the working and everyday life of the farming community around 1900. While the palace museum explores the history and present of the town and region, the barn collection focuses on rural working and living conditions around 1900.

Old Town, Cycling Routes and Landscape

To look beyond individual buildings, the Historic Walking Tour takes you through the old town, with 26 stops. The number of stops gives you a sense of the tour’s scope, while its route remains focused on the old town. Alongside individual cultural attractions, you also have a named route to help you find your way around the historic urban area.

Ettlingen offers leisure cyclists and mountain bikers a range of tours of varying lengths and difficulty levels. Length and difficulty are two specific criteria you can use to compare the tours. The Rhine Valley Cycle Route and the cross-border Pamina Cycle Route also pass through Ettlingen. The cross-border character is explicitly part of the Pamina Cycle Route’s description.

On foot, hiking trails lead along orchards and irrigated meadows in and around Ettlingen, offering far-reaching views. This provides a different focus from the Historic Walking Tour: that route centers on 26 stops in the historic urban area, while these trails follow meadows and offer views. Ettlingen is also a suitable starting point for excursions to the Alb Valley. When planning, you can therefore weigh whether to focus more on culture in the town, trails in the landscape, or excursions to the Alb Valley.

Summer Theater

Every summer, the Palace Festival transforms Ettlingen’s palace courtyard into a theater stage. Dates and productions vary. If the festival is a key factor in your trip, check the dates and program for the relevant summer. A theater visit in the palace courtyard thus adds a seasonal highlight alongside the museum’s collection displays and changing exhibitions and the concerts in Asam Hall.

Discover more destinations: Bad Schönborn, Linkenheim-Hochstetten, Bruchsal, Kraichtal, Kürnbach, Karlsdorf-Neuthard, Marxzell, Östringen

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