Affing: Ash Avenue, Cycling Route and Pilgrimage Chapel

Getting around on foot and by bike

A field path runs east from the castle park alongside the approximately 500-metre-long double avenue of ash trees. The path can be used by pedestrians and cyclists. With its two rows of trees, the avenue is a distinctive landscape feature; its length of around 500 metres gives you an idea of its scale.

The “Wittelsbacher Spuren-Tour” offers a different way to explore the area: it runs from Aindling via Affing to Friedberg. This places Affing on a cycling route between two named stops. The field path alongside the avenue, meanwhile, is specifically associated with Affing through its location by the castle park and its eastward direction.

The Salzberg Chapel and its history

The pilgrimage chapel “Zu Unserer Lieben Frau von den Sieben Schmerzen” (Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows) stands on Salzberg. It was built in 1694. A tornado badly damaged the chapel in 2015, but the statue of the Virgin Mary standing right beside it was spared. The chapel was rebuilt around two years later.

The sequence of events—from the year it was built, through the severe damage, to its reconstruction—connects the chapel’s history with an event from more recent times. Anyone interested in the history of a place will find a specific point of interest here, distinct from the landscape around the ash avenue.

An Advent event

The Affing Christmas Market takes place every year on the second and third weekends of Advent. This gives you two recurring weekends to consider when planning your trip. Check the organiser’s current programme for your specific travel dates.

Culture and trails in the wider Aichach-Friedberg destination

The wider Aichach-Friedberg destination also offers hiking and cycling options. The Paartal hiking trail follows the middle stretch of the Paar River from Aichach to Gut Schenkenau in the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen and is 36.8 kilometres long in total. The brochure “aichach erwandern – Die schönsten Spaziergänge rund um Aichach” (“Explore Aichach on foot – the most beautiful walks around Aichach”) features 15 walks and hiking trails in and around Aichach. For cycling tours, the Aichach-Friedberg district cycling map lists 14 well-signposted themed cycling routes. Check the conditions for each route before setting out.

Aichach’s cultural history also offers different perspectives: its historic old town has changed very little over the centuries. The Wittelsbach Museum is housed in the Lower Gate, and the town museum tells the story of Aichach. The ancestral castle of the Wittelsbach dynasty was located in Oberwittelsbach, a district of Aichach. Sisi Castle in Unterwittelsbach served Duke Max in Bavaria as a hunting lodge.

The pilgrimage church of Herrgottsruh in Friedberg was built between 1731 and 1753 and is considered one of the finest examples of Bavarian Rococo. Friedberg’s Wittelsbach Castle originated as a High Medieval fortress, built around 1257 under Duke Ludwig II the Strict. In Inchenhofen, the pilgrimage museum in Haus St. Leonhard—a former Cistercian brewery building—displays iron and wax votive offerings, ploughshares, horseshoes, and neck and hand restraints. The museum documents the importance of St. Leonhard and St. Leonhard Church as a much-visited pilgrimage destination.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Schiltberg, Aichach, Aindling, Mering, Dasing, Pöttmes, Petersdorf, Kissing.

Go to the overview of the wider destination: Aichach-Friedberg.