Dinkelsbühl old city and fortress, Bavaria, Germany

Dinkelsbühl is one of the most completely preserved medieval towns in Germany, a compact tangle of gabled houses and cobbled lanes still enclosed by a town wall that has survived almost entirely intact. Set on the River Wörnitz in Middle Franconia, midway along the Romantic Road between Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Nördlingen, this former free imperial city escaped destruction in both the Thirty Years’ War and the Second World War. The result is a townscape that has changed remarkably little since the 15th and 16th centuries: some 2.5 kilometres of ramparts, four original gates and around fourteen surviving watchtowers still ring a centre of colourful merchant houses, all overlooked by the great late-Gothic Minster of St George.

What to See

The fortifications are the town’s defining feature and can be followed almost the whole way around, either along the wall itself or on the green ring outside it, where the towers stand reflected in the old moat ponds. All four medieval gates survive — the Wörnitz Gate, the Rothenburg Gate, the Segringen Gate and the Nördlingen Gate, completed by 1435 — while the round, half-timbered Bäuerlinsturm and the stout Executioner’s Tower (Henkersturm) are the most photographed of the towers. Inside the walls, the Minster of St George, built between 1448 and 1499, ranks among the finest late-Gothic hall churches in southern Germany; its older Romanesque tower can be climbed for a sweeping view across the red roofs. On the Weinmarkt stands the Deutsches Haus, a richly carved half-timbered mansion of the early 17th century and one of the most ornate in the country. The town’s story is told in the House of History (Haus der Geschichte) on the old town hall square, and every July the streets fill for the Kinderzeche, a costumed folk festival recalling how, by tradition, the town’s children persuaded Swedish troops to spare Dinkelsbühl during the Thirty Years’ War.

How to Get There and Practical Information

Dinkelsbühl has no railway station of its own, so most visitors arrive by car along the Romantic Road (the B25) or by bus — the seasonal Romantic Road coach calls here, and regional buses connect with the railway stations at Ansbach and Nördlingen. Cars are best left in the car parks just outside the walls, as the old town is small enough to cross on foot in about fifteen minutes. Walking the streets and the ring of ramparts is free and possible at any hour; modest charges apply to the church tower, the town museum and the popular evening round with the night watchman, who leads visitors through the lanes by lantern. Dinkelsbühl is noticeably quieter than nearby Rothenburg and rewards an overnight stay, when the day-trippers have left and the gates and towers are floodlit.