A stunning European town with very few tourists appears to have been pulled out of the past. Nördlingen is located in the Donauris district of Swavia in Bavaria, Germany, between the major cities of Munich and Stuttgart. Incorporated into the impact crater formed after an asteroid hit the area millions of years ago, the town is a unique place and is a place that truly offers visitors a genuine Bavarian experience.
Nördlingen is a relatively small town with a population of over 20,000 people. Considered to be one of the most historic towns in all of Germany, the old town walls still remain completely intact. The first mention of the town in recorded history dates back to 898, but humans have lived around the area much longer than that. One of the attractions in the area is that caves and excavations at the site have shown traces of human settlements here for thousands of years.
Centuries later, the crater where the town is now located was under Roman occupation. The area was later Christianized during the Middle Ages, and in World War II the area was affected by air raids.
Nevertheless, it was able to preserve its old charm and architecture.
The building here is very special. In fact, it contains diamonds. The town's stone buildings contain millions of small diamonds created during the impact of a meteor over 15 million years ago.
The crater, about 25km in diameter, also gives the town a distinct circular shape, far from the vast jungle of Germany's other towns and cities in recent decades.
Despite not being discovered by most tourists, Nördlingen has many top-rated attractions for people to visit. One of them is Historische Stadtmauer, what locals call the walls of the old town. Visitors can climb small top-top stairs, climb the walls and enjoy the best views of this historic place.
There is also Kirchturm Daniel. Daniel has stunning views of the town and the meteor craters in which it was built. A TripAdvisor review stated: “There's no doubt I'll go there to see the country from above.
There are other things to note about Nördlingen, including the City Museum, City Hall, St. Salvater Church and Crater Museum. Tourists also previously enjoyed visiting other places such as Spital, a former medieval hospital.
Nördlingen also features the Bavarian Railway Museum and the Organbrick Museum, which houses panoramas, magic lanterns, silent film, barrel organ, piano lath, music boxes and gramophones.
Nördlingen is located just 115 km from Stuttgart and can be reached by train within an hour and a half. Given the proximity to both Munich and Stuttgart, it would be a great day trip or one night stay.
Nördlingen has many hotels, including Hotel Klösterle Nördlingen, Cafe-Hotel Altreuter and Jufa Hotel. For those who want to visit Neldlingen when the weather is nice, summer months are your best bet.
Temperatures in Nördlingen reach 24C in July and August. It's cold in winter, and it gets cold until temperatures drop below zero, but it also has a celebratory charm.
