Bad Urach: Half-timbered Houses, Waterfall and Hiking

Bad Urach offers visitors a range of attractions: historic half-timbered houses, hiking trails and an interactive children’s center. When planning your trip, it’s worth considering the different character of each. The old town focuses on history and half-timbered architecture; the route to the Urach Waterfall has a clearly defined profile, while the Grafensteige comprise five premium hiking trails around Bad Urach. There is also the Discovery World for children aged 7 to 13 and the Urach Shepherds’ Run. This lets you take cultural, nature-related and family interests into account when planning your trip.

Old Town, Audio Tour and Shepherds’ Run

Bad Urach’s historic old town features magnificent half-timbered houses dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. If you’re interested in half-timbered architecture, it can be a particular focus of your stay; the houses also place it in the context of the town’s history. The audio tour leads to notable spots in the old town and tells stories from the time of the Counts of Württemberg-Urach. The app guides visitors from one stop to the next using GPS. You can plan the GPS-guided audio tour as a distinctive way to find your way around the historic sites.

Guided tours of Bad Urach can be booked year-round, Monday through Sunday, through the Bad Urach Tourist Office. Check the booking arrangements before your trip. This gives you two different ways to explore the old town: the audio tour, with GPS stops and stories from the era of the counts, or a guided tour booked through the Tourist Office.

Bad Urach has celebrated the Urach Shepherds’ Run every two years since 1723, in odd-numbered years. The run dates back to an order by Duke Eberhard Ludwig. If the festival matters to your travel plans, check the event dates for the year of your trip.

Urach Waterfall and Grafensteige Trails

The Urach Waterfall is one of the notable attractions of the UNESCO Global Geopark Swabian Alb and the UNESCO-recognized Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve. From hiking parking lot P23, the waterfall is accessible via a roughly 2-kilometer-long, flat path along the Brühlbach stream. The path is also suitable for an all-terrain stroller. Its length, flat route and specifically stated suitability for strollers give you concrete details to consider when planning this approach.

The Grafensteige are five premium hiking trails around Bad Urach. They pass through the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve and the UNESCO Global Geopark Swabian Alb. For planning a hike, you can distinguish between a specific route to the waterfall and a selection of five named hiking trails. Both are associated with the Swabian Alb; the Grafensteige are specifically identified as several trails around Bad Urach.

Discovery World and Trip Planning

Bad Urach Discovery World is an interactive children’s center for children aged 7 to 13. It includes an interactive exhibition and three themed outdoor trails through the town and forest. The exhibition and trails offer different experiences within the center: you can check whether the age range suits your travel group and consider both the exhibition and the outdoor trails.

To travel by train, take the Ermstalbahn to Bad Urach from Metzingen station, which is on the Stuttgart–Tübingen regional rail line. Check the timetable before you travel. Another useful landmark is the Bad Urach Wasserfall stop: from there, it’s about a ten-minute walk to the AlbThermen. Since local public transport and walking-route details can change, check these details before your trip as well.

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