A stunning European town with very few tourists looks like it has been plucked from the past, retaining its distinct circular shape which contrains old buildings encrusted with diamonds. Nördlingen is located in the Donau-Ries district of Swabia in Bavaria, Germany, between the major cities of Munich and Stuttgart. Built in an impact crater that was formed after an asteroid struck the area millions of years ago, the town is a place like no other and somewhere that will give visitors a truly authentic Bavarian experience.
Nördlingen is a relatively small town with a population of just over 20,000 people. It is considered one of the most historic towns in all of Germany with its old city walls still completely intact. The town’s first mention in recorded history dates back to the year 898 but humans have lived around the area for much longer than that. One of the attractions in the area is the Ofnet Caves and excavations at the site have shown traces of human settlement here for thousands of years.
Centuries later, the crater where the town now lies was under Roman occupation. The region was then Christianised in the Middle Ages and in the Second World War, the area was subject to air raids.
Despite this, it has managed to preserve its old charm and architecture, somehwere that is a treasure when seen on the ground and from above.
The buildings here are quite special. In fact, they contain diamonds. Stone buildings in the town contain millions of tiny diamonds which were created during the meteor’s impact over 15 million years ago.
The crater, which measures around 25 kilometres in diameter, is also what gives the town its distinct circular shape, a far cry from the sprawling urban jungles that many other towns and cities in Germany have become in recent decades.
Despite remaining undiscovered by most tourists, Nördlingen has plenty of top-rated attractions for people to visit. One of them is the Historische Stadtmauer, which is what the locals call the old city walls. Visitors can ascend a small set of steps top get onto the wall and walk around it, giving them the best views of this historic place.
There is also the Kirchturm Daniel, an observation deck which gives you great views of the town and the meteor crater in which it was built. One Tripadvisor review said of the viewing deck: “It definitely deserves to go up there to see the country from above, from which you can perceive the perfectly circular shape.”
There are other notable things to see in Nördlingen such as the City Museum, the Town Hall, St Salvator Church and the Crater Museum. Tourists have also previously enjoyed visits to the likes of Spital, which is a former medieval hospital.
Nördlingen is also home to the Bavarian Railway Museum and the Augenblick museum which houses panoramas, magic lanterns, silent films, barrel organs, pianolas, music boxes and gramophones.
Nördlingen is located just 115 kilometres from Stuttgart and can be reached within an hour and a half by train. Given its proximity to both Munich and Stuttgart, it makes for a great day trip or one-night stay.
There are a number of hotels in Nördlingen including Hotel Klösterle Nördlingen, Cafe-Hotel Altreuter and JUFA Hotel. For those who are looking to visit Nördlingen when the weather is nice, the summer months are your best bet.
Temperatures in Nördlingen reach as high as 24C in July and August. While it is bitterly cold in winter with temperatures dropping to below zero, it does have a nice festive charm as well.