Pforzheim: Jewelry Art, Museums and Nature

Jewelry art and city history, a vast Amazon panorama, and nature experiences with animals and climbing courses: Pforzheim offers a range of ideas for days of discovery together. If you’d like to alternate between culture and activity, you’ll also find a variety of themes for your stay—from exhibitions and archaeological finds to a surf wave in the middle of the city. Which holiday apartment is right for your trip therefore depends above all on which sides of Pforzheim you’d like to explore.

Jewelry Art, City History and Archaeology

At the Reuchlinhaus, the Pforzheim Jewelry Museum displays around 2,000 jewelry art exhibits, dating from antiquity to the present day. The collection explores jewelry across many different eras. The City Museum focuses on something else: it presents Pforzheim’s history from the Middle Ages to the postwar period. If you’re interested in the city’s development, you can explore it here through a historical lens; jewelry art and city history thus offer two different cultural themes to choose from.

The Johannes Reuchlin Museum is dedicated to Johannes Reuchlin, the Pforzheim humanist. Across four levels, it explores his origins, life, work and influence. The Pforzheim Gallery, meanwhile, regularly presents changing exhibitions from the city’s art collection in the former Kollmar & Jourdan jewelry factory. Its focus is on artists from the 19th to the 21st century with ties to Pforzheim and the Northern Black Forest region. A cultural stay can therefore take in a range of perspectives: one notable historical figure, art with regional connections, or the city’s history.

At Kappelhof, the Archaeological Museum displays numerous original finds from Pforzheim and the Enzkreis district. The site also includes the foundations of Roman residential buildings. The cultural offerings thus extend to archaeology, making finds and traces of historic buildings a distinct theme to explore.

Panoramas, Water and Unique Experiences

The Gasometer Pforzheim is home to AMAZONIA, a monumental 3,000 m² circular panorama painting. It depicts different types of vegetation in the Amazon Basin and its complex ecosystem. From a viewing tower, you can take in the panorama across several levels. The venue combines its current exhibition with a history of its own: the gasometer was built in 1912 and served as a pressure-balancing reservoir for Pforzheim’s gas supply for almost 100 years. Today, it is one of the last surviving bell-shaped gas holders in the state.

Another activity is blackforestwave in the Metzelgraben, a canal diverted from the Nagold River that runs through the center of Pforzheim. It is located between the city garden and the Kupderdächle. For certain events, non-members can reserve surf slots online for what are known as Open Surf Days. If you’re interested in this experience, check whether it is available as part of one of these events.

Forest Park and Trails for Active Days

Pforzheim Wildlife Park is set in a forest landscape and offers encounters with native and endangered animal species in a natural setting. The Forest Climbing Park is located right next to the wildlife park. It has ten courses at heights of up to 13 meters, and is open to children aged six and up as well as adults. This age requirement can help families decide whether the activity is right for their trip. The wildlife park and climbing park offer different nature experiences: discover animal species or tackle the high ropes courses.

Pforzheim is also the starting point for the long-distance hiking trails Westweg, Mittelweg and Ostweg. If you’d like to combine your stay with a long-distance hike, these three trail names are a good place to start. For other kinds of trips, the museums, the Gasometer, blackforestwave and the wildlife park each offer their own reason to spend time in the city.

Getting There and Nearby Places

Pforzheim is easy to reach by train, car and bus. The central station is in the city center. The tourist information office at Schloßberg 15–17 is also within walking distance of the station.

If you’d also like to explore other places listed here, you’ll find Mönsheim, Singen, Ölbronn-Dürrn, Illingen, Sternenfels, Knittlingen, Kieselbronn and Heimsheim.

For the overview of the wider region: Enzkreis.