Where to Stay in Offenburg, Baden-Württemberg

What is Offenburg known for?

The Salmen inn carries Offenburg's link to the 1848 German Revolution, which began there, and the Ritterhaus Museum holds the town's collections a short way off. Baroque fronts line the market. Ortenberg Castle sits outside the town among the vineyards, while the Dreifaltigkeitskirche and the Evangelische Stadtkirche mark the two confessions inside the walls.

What are the main landmarks in Offenburg?

Ortenberg Castle is the one seen from furthest off. Inside the town the Ritterhaus Museum, the Salmen inn, and the Mühlbachbrücke stand within a few hundred paces of one another, and the St.-Andreas-Hospital adds another name to the same walk. Churches divide the rest.

The Dreifaltigkeitskirche, the Evangelische Stadtkirche, the Weingartenkirche, and the Josefskirche each hold a quarter, while the Samian Ware Discovery Site and Heimatmuseum Waltersweier sit well outside the Baroque middle.

What is the history of Offenburg?

Roman pottery turned up here. The Samian Ware Discovery Site puts imported tableware in the ground long before 1148, which is the date the town itself carries. Ortenberg Castle watched the valley.

Its walls stand outside the town, among the vineyards rather than in the middle of it, and the distance says something about who held power before the burghers did. Medieval Offenburg held the junction of the Rhine Valley and the Kinzig Valley, a position that made it worth keeping and worth fighting over in turn. The St.-Andreas-Hospital served the sick.

Baroque rebuilding gave the town its face. The Dreifaltigkeitskirche and the Josefskirche belong to that period of confident building, and the Evangelische Stadtkirche answers them from the other side of the confessional divide. Weingartenkirche kept to the vines.

The Salmen inn put Offenburg into national memory, since the 1848 German Revolution began with demands drawn up there rather than in any capital. The Mühlbachbrücke carried the traffic. Offenburg became the administrative capital of the Ortenaukreis, the Ritterhaus Museum took charge of the record, and Heimatmuseum Waltersweier kept the village side of the story separate.

Where is Offenburg?

Two valleys frame the town. Offenburg sits at the junction of the Rhine Valley and the Kinzig Valley, with the Black Forest rising behind and Strasbourg within reach the other way. Ortenberg Castle marks the vineyard side.

Waltersweier lies out among the villages the Ortenaukreis administers from here, and the Mühlbachbrücke crosses the water that runs through the middle. All of it falls in the temperate band.

What is the climate of Offenburg?

Vineyards are the giveaway. Grapes ripen on the ground around Ortenberg Castle, which says more about the warmth of the Rhine Valley floor than any table of averages would, and Offenburg gets long useful summers out of it. The Black Forest sits behind.

Weather coming off those hills reaches the Kinzig Valley before the town, so a grey morning up the valley often clears by the time it arrives here.

How do you get to Offenburg?

Offenburg was built to be passed through. Traffic between Strasbourg and the Black Forest has used this junction of the Rhine Valley and the Kinzig Valley for centuries, and arriving here still means choosing which valley to leave by. The Mühlbachbrücke handles the local crossing.

Ortenberg Castle needs a ride out of town, while Heimatmuseum Waltersweier lies the other way among the villages. Everything else is walkable.