Göggingen: Discover tradition and culture

Göggingen offers an opportunity to discover a long-standing living tradition and the architecture of the castle chapel in Horn. This brings both a local festival and a historic religious building into focus as you plan your trip. The Ostalb district also offers a wider choice of regional cultural and hiking topics.

Tradition and architecture in Göggingen

The municipality of Göggingen has celebrated its Viehfeiertag for more than 300 years, continuing to the present day. If the festival is a key part of your trip, check the current event dates before planning your stay.

In Horn, the castle chapel, built in the Baroque style, was completed in 1758 outside the castle walls. Its furnishings include art treasures, stucco work and frescoes, as well as stone Rococo figures. There is an image of the Madonna at the altar. The chapel thus brings together Baroque architectural history and various forms of interior decoration. Anyone interested in religious architecture and historic design will find a specific local point of interest here.

For orientation, you can get town maps and the Grüner Pfad cycling map free of charge at the town hall; check availability in advance. The map shows a variety of routes in the Leintal valley and on the Frickenhofer Höhe, as well as local attractions. It offers a glimpse of the surrounding region, without indicating any one route through Göggingen as a specific itinerary.

Cycling and hiking trails in the Ostalb district

The wider Ostalb district travel area has three Grüner Pfad experience tours: “In the Ellwangen Lake District,” “Around the Leintal Valley and Frickenhofer Höhe,” and “Härtsfeld.” The tour around the Leintal valley and Frickenhofer Höhe is therefore one of three named options. If you want to focus on hiking, the Limes Circular Hiking Trail near Rainau offers a different kind of tour: it is about 11 kilometres long and takes around two and a half hours on foot. The signposted trail runs from the Limes wall and the Limes tower between Buch and Schwabsberg, through the Mahdholz forest, along the Limes to the southern edge of Schwabsberg. Check the route conditions locally.

Roman heritage and monastic history

The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005 and runs for about six kilometres through the municipality of Rainau, in the districts of Buch, Schwabsberg and Dalkingen. The most scenic sections and most important individual monuments of the Limes are preserved in a unique concentration in Limes Park Rainau. A reconstructed watchtower offers panoramic views across the Ostalb region. The Limes Gate at Dalkingen is a unique structure along the entire Limes route between the Rhine and the Danube. Together, these sites showcase different aspects of the Roman frontier: preserved sections, a structure, and views from the reconstructed tower.

Another historic destination in the Ostalb district is Lorch Abbey. It was founded in 1102 by the first Hohenstaufen ruler, Frederick I, and his wife Agnes of Waiblingen as a burial place. The abbey complex includes a medieval church, the cloister and utility buildings. The Marsiliusturm offers views of the complex, the herb garden, the sensory garden and the surrounding area. The permanent exhibition presents 900 years of monastic history, including through the richly decorated Lorch choir books. A visit thus brings together architecture, the story of the abbey’s foundation and exhibition topics in one place.

Discover the history of iron ore mining

On a visit to the Tiefer Stollen visitor mine, the mine train passes through mineral deposits and small stalactites into sandstone halls covering an area of 2,500 square metres, 100 metres underground. A multimedia presentation there introduces the history of iron ore mining in the Aalen area. A circular route through the maze of tunnels also leads to former underground mining areas with shafts, loading points and ore-mining chambers. The mine train ride and the path through the former work areas explore different aspects of mining.

Discover more destinations: Ellwangen, Hüttlingen, Heuchlingen, Gschwend, Ruppertshofen, Neuler, Waldhausen, Rosenberg.

Go to the wider travel overview: Ostalb district.