Ulm Travel Guide

Ulm Cathedral (German: Ulmer Münster, literally: minster) is a Lutheran church and the tallest church in the world, with a steeple measuring 161.53 m (530 ft) and containing 768 steps. The church is not a cathedral in the technical ecclesiastical sense, as it has never been the seat of a bishop. However, it is a famous example of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture and is typically and mistakenly described as a cathedral. After climbing to the top level at 143m there is a panoramic view of Ulm in Baden-Württemberg and Neu-Ulm in Bavaria and, in clear weather, a vista of the Alps from Säntis to the Zugspitze. The final stairwell to the top is a tall, spiraling staircase that has barely enough room for one person.

Hours: Open 9am - 5:45pm with later hours in the summer. Note that the entrance to the tower closes one hour earlier.

Admission: Adults 4 €, Students 2.50 €, Family Ticket 10 €

The old Fischerviertel (fishermen's quarter) on the River Blau features half-timbered houses, cobblestone streets, and picturesque footbridges. Interesting sights here include the Schiefes Haus (crooked house), a 16th-century house today used as a hotel, and the Alte Münz (Old Mint), a medieval building extended in the 16th and 17th centuries in Renaissance style.

Ulm´s town hall is situated not far from the Minster and is easily recognised by its opulently painted, early renaissance façade. The oldest part of the present building, the main South East building, was built in 1370 as a “new trading house”. It is first mentioned as a town hall in 1419.

During the course of the 15th century, windows encased in gothic architecture were installed on the South side (with 6 statues of electoral princes) and double-windows on the East side. The ornamental astronomical clock was installed around 1520. The lavish exterior murals were extended to the older part of the building and didactically illustrate virtues, commandments and vices. The paintings visible today originate from the year 1900 when the previous paintings, which had been largely destroyed by the weather, were restored or renewed in the sprit of the surviving remains.

In 1944, the interior of the town hall was extensively damaged by fire. However, the whole of the ground floor and the south wing of the 1st floor remained intact. On the staircase, you can marvel at a replica of the flying apparatus of Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger, the legendary “Tailor of Ulm”.

The botanical gardens of the University of Ulm were founded in 1981 and, covering an area of 28 ha, are among the largest in Germany. The garden contains a medicinal garden, daylily garden, arboretum, pond, rose garden, cottage garden, and meadow. Its herbarium contains some 80,000 documents with a focus on Europe, South America, and Central America, including a tropical collection of about 50,000 specimens, about 20,000 specimens of mosses and lichens, and some 10,000 phanerogams (plants that produce seeds).

Hours: 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. (daily from March - October), 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (daily from November - February). Admission is free.

The unique museum is dedicated to the 6,000-year history of bread as an indispensable basis of human culture and civilisation. It owes its creation and growth to the decades-long personal commitment of Willy Eiselen (1896-1981) and his son Hermann Eiselen (born 1926). Both dealt in the manufacture and sale of bakery ingredients and were among the leading suppliers to the bakery trade. The two entrepreneurs founded the museum as the German Bread Museum in 1955 as an association. The first permanent exhibition dates back to 1960. It was the first and for many years the only museum of its kind in the world. It was a strictly private institution funded by the founders. In 1991 the funding of the museum was taken over by the Eiselen Foundation, an independent charitable institution; at the same time the museum moved into the Salzstadel, a historic storehouse in the centre of Ulm. Here the museum flourished, and in 2004 welcomed its one millionth visitor. A new permanent exhibition was opened in 2005 when the museum celebrated its 50th anniversary.