Bad Urach: Waterfall, Grafensteige Trails and Half-Timbered Houses

The Urach Waterfall, five premium hiking trails and a historic half-timbered old town give Bad Urach a varied character. Families can combine nature experiences with a discovery tour or stories from the town’s history. When choosing a holiday apartment or holiday home, it helps to decide first whether hiking, culture or activities for children should be the focus of your trip.

Waterfall and Hiking Trails

The Urach Waterfall is one of the special attractions of the UNESCO Global Geopark Swabian Alb and the UNESCO-recognised Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve. From the P23 hiking car park, a level path of about 2 kilometres follows the Brühlbach stream to the waterfall. The path is also easy to manage with an all-terrain pushchair. Its length and level route provide specific points of reference when planning an outing with children.

If you would like to include more hikes in your trip, the Grafensteige offer five premium hiking trails around Bad Urach. They lead through the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve and the UNESCO Global Geopark Swabian Alb. This gives you a choice of different hiking options: a specific trail to the waterfall or the Grafensteige trails around the town.

Discoveries for Different Age Groups

The Bad Urach Discovery World is designed for children aged 7 to 13. The children’s experience centre includes an interactive exhibition and three themed outdoor tours through the town and forest. For families with children in this age group, it offers a specific reason to plan a discovery activity in the town or forest alongside a hike. The exhibition and outdoor tours are different formats, so you can choose between indoor and outdoor activities when planning your day.

The audio tour also offers a distinctive way to explore Bad Urach: the app uses GPS to guide visitors from one stop to the next and tells stories from the time of the Counts of Württemberg-Urach. Its stops are at notable places in the historic old town. Those interested in history can discover these stories while exploring the town. Guided town tours can be booked year-round, Monday to Sunday, through the Bad Urach Tourist Office if you prefer a guided way to explore the town.

Half-Timbered Houses and Living Traditions

Magnificent half-timbered houses from the 15th and 16th centuries define the historic old town. They give a visit to the town its own cultural focus and complement the nature experiences with architectural history. The Urach Shepherds’ Run also brings a long-standing tradition to the town: Bad Urach has celebrated it every two years since 1723, in odd-numbered years. The race dates back to an order by Duke Eberhard Ludwig. If your trip falls in a year when the Shepherds’ Run takes place, this traditional festival is an additional reason to explore the town’s history and traditions.

Getting Here and Choosing a Holiday Destination

You can travel by regional train from the Stuttgart–Tübingen route via Metzingen station to Bad Urach on the Ermstalbahn railway. There is also a convenient connection between a stop and an attraction to help you get around: Bad Urach Wasserfall stop is about a ten-minute walk from the AlbThermen thermal baths.

When looking for a holiday apartment, you can use your planned activities to help make your choice: should the trip focus mainly on hiking, the old town and its stories, or the Discovery World for children aged 7 to 13? Travelling by train may also factor into your plans. This helps you choose a holiday destination based on the experience that matters most to your family.

If you would like to explore other places: Sonnenbühl, Lichtenstein, Münsingen, Mehrstetten, Zwiefalten, Metzingen, Reutlingen and Hülben.

Go to the broader travel overview: Reutlingen.