Regensburg is one of Germany's best-preserved medieval cities and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2006) — a Bavarian city on the Danube River with an almost completely intact medieval Old Town (Altstadt) spanning 1,000 years of architectural history, including Germany's oldest stone bridge (Steinerne Brücke, 1146 AD, 310 m long, built in 11 years with no mortar joints wider than 2 mm using techniques still not fully understood) and the only medieval town in Germany with its own 12th-13th-century tower houses — Regensburg has 20+ medieval patrician tower houses (torre, built by competing merchant families in a medieval game of wealth display similar to San Gimignano in Tuscany), giving the city a skyline of medieval stone towers unique in Germany north of the Alps. Regensburg was the largest German city north of the Alps in the 12th century (population 80,000) when it was the first Roman colony north of the Alps (Castra Regina, 179 AD, built by Marcus Aurelius, the emperor-philosopher who wrote the Meditations here on the Danube frontier) and the capital of the East Frankish/Carolingian Empire; the Porta Praetoria (the north gate of the Roman fortress, 179 AD) is still standing in the city centre. The most important food site in Regensburg — and possibly in Bavaria — is the Historische Wurstkuchl (the Historic Sausage Kitchen, 1146 AD, built at the same time as the stone bridge to feed the bridge workers, making it the oldest public restaurant in the world still serving food in its original location, open since 1146 without interruption except wartime); the Regensburg Bratwurst (shorter, thinner and more highly spiced than the Nuremberg Bratwurst) served with sauerkraut and mustard.
The Steinerne Brücke (Stone Bridge, 1146 AD, 310 m long, 16 arches, built in 11 years during the reign of Henry the Black, Duke of Bavaria) was for 800 years the only bridge across the Danube in the region — an engineering marvel (no mortar wider than 2 mm between the basalt limestone blocks, slightly curved so that the arches interlock under load) built simultaneously with the Historische Wurstkuchl below; from the bridge, the view of the Regensburg cathedral towers and the medieval skyline is Germany's finest riverside panorama.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Historische Wurstkuchl (Historic Sausage Kitchen, beside the Stone Bridge, 1146 AD, open continuously since then except wartime) is the oldest public restaurant in the world still serving food in its original location — the tiny kitchen (9 m² cooking area) produces Regensburg Bratwürste (shorter, thinner, more heavily spiced than Nuremberg, grilled on charcoal) served in sets of 6, 8 or 10 with sauerkraut and sweet mustard; the queue at opening is long but worth it; the restaurant is smaller than most people's kitchens.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Dom St. Peter (Regensburg Cathedral, Gothic, 1275-1525, 105 m towers, the finest Gothic cathedral in Bavaria) has the famous Domspatzen (Cathedral Sparrows) boy choir — one of the oldest boys' choirs in the world (975 AD, over 1,000 years of continuous performance), which sings at Sunday mass; the cathedral's All Saints Chapel (Romanesque, 1170), the 13th-14th-century stained glass (among the finest medieval glass in Germany) and the tomb of the Wittelsbach family make it the most significant church in eastern Bavaria.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRegensburg's 20+ medieval tower houses (constructed 1100-1300 by competing merchant and patrician families — each family tried to build higher than their neighbours as a display of wealth and power, similar to San Gimignano in Tuscany but in Bavaria) are unique in Germany north of the Alps — the Goldene Turm (Golden Tower, 9 storeys, the tallest surviving medieval tower house in Germany), the Baumburger Turm (the tallest still fully intact), and the patrician towers of the Regensburg Jewish quarter (the oldest Jewish community north of the Alps, though their synagogue was destroyed in the 1519 pogrom).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRegensburg's beer garden tradition (Bavaria has the world's densest concentration of breweries and beer gardens per capita) — the Alte Linde am Steinerne Brücke (the beer garden directly beneath the Stone Bridge, with the Danube view and the medieval skyline) or the Spitalgarten (the former hospital garden, another riverside garden) serve Weißwurst (white veal sausage with sweet mustard and a pretzel, the Bavarian breakfast tradition) and Helles lager from Regensburg's city breweries.
The Porta Praetoria (the north gate of Castra Regina, the Roman fort established by Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 179 AD) is the finest surviving Roman architecture in Bavaria — the actual stones of the Roman fort gate (2 m walls, arched stonework) still visible in the medieval Altstadt; the Roman Museum (Historisches Museum, the former Minorite monastery) has the largest Roman inscription collection in Bavaria including the foundation stone of Castra Regina and the grave markers of Roman soldiers stationed here on the Danube frontier.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Kepler Gedächtnishaus (Kepler Memorial House, Keplerstraße 5) is the house where Johannes Kepler (the astronomer who discovered the three laws of planetary motion, the mathematical basis of the heliocentric solar system) died in 1630 while visiting Regensburg to collect salary owed by the Holy Roman Emperor; the museum (in the exact house where he died) has first editions of his Astronomia Nova (1609) and Harmonices Mundi (1619) and the original telescope that he improved; Kepler's grave is in the Protestant church of Regensburg.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Walhalla (10 km east of Regensburg by Danube boat or bus) is a neoclassical temple modelled exactly on the Athenian Parthenon, built 1830-1842 by Ludwig I of Bavaria on a limestone bluff above the Danube — the interior has 65 marble reliefs and 130 marble busts of distinguished Germans and German-speaking historical figures from Theodoric the Great to Einstein; the building is a faithful Parthenon replica (same proportions, same Doric columns) and the river approach by boat reveals it gradually above the trees.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Danube (Donau) river sunset view from the north bank (Stadtamhof, across the Stone Bridge from the Altstadt) gives the finest angle of the Regensburg medieval skyline — the cathedral Gothic towers, the merchant tower houses and the Stone Bridge in one framing; the Stadtamhof neighbourhood has the remaining medieval houses that survived wartime bombing (the Altstadt side was bombed by the US in 1945 but relatively lightly, which is why the medieval city survives) and the evening light on the sandstone buildings turns them gold.
Kloster Weltenburg (30 km west of Regensburg, accessible by boat through the Danube Gorge from Kelheim) is a Benedictine monastery founded in 620 AD with a brewery that has operated since 1050 AD — the world's oldest monastery brewery, producing the Weltenburg Dunkel (a dark lager, copper-coloured, malty, with a hint of chocolate) and the Barock Hell (a light lager); the monastery church (Cosmas Damian Asam, 1716-1721, one of the finest examples of Bavarian Baroque anywhere) has theatrical stucco and fresco work.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Befreiungshalle (Hall of Liberation, Kelheim, 1842-1863) is an enormous neoclassical rotunda on a limestone cliff above the Altmühl valley — built by Ludwig I (the same king who built Walhalla) to commemorate the Napoleonic Wars and the liberation of Germany; the interior (40 m diameter) has 34 winged victory statues and 18 granite statues symbolising the German tribes; the terrace view over the Danube and the confluence with the Altmühl is one of Bavaria's finest.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Regensburg Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Market, late November to December 23) takes place in the cathedral square and the Neupfarrplatz — one of the most authentically medieval Christmas markets in Germany (the setting in the shadow of the Gothic cathedral towers is extraordinary); the Dult (Regensburg's traditional trade fair and folk market, May/August/October in the Obere Wöhrd island) is the oldest trade fair in Bavaria; year-round, the Altstadt beer gardens and the cloister cafés are the social anchors.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Leerer Beutel (the Empty Bag — a 14th-century grain storage facility converted to a cultural centre with cinema, gallery, restaurant and jazz club) is the most interesting evening destination in Regensburg — the jazz programme (monthly), the Bavarian film programme and the restaurant (serving regional Bavarian cuisine in the medieval stone interior) make it the intellectual heart of the city; the Kneitinger Brewery restaurant adjacent is the most traditional Bavarian dining option with Kneitinger Bock beer.