Germany · Baden-Württemberg
Where to Stay in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg
The Ulm Minster carries the tallest church steeple in the world above Ulm, a Danube city in Baden-Württemberg at the edge of Bavaria.
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Where to stay in Ulm
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Ulm keeps most of its lodging in and around the old town, within sight of the Ulm Minster. Staying near the Münsterplatz suits first-time visitors: the Minster, the Stadthaus Ulm and the museums all sit within a few minutes on foot, and the square hosts markets and the evening life of the centre. The core is walkable throughout.
Down by the water, the fishermen's and tanners' quarter offers a quieter, more atmospheric base among restored timber houses, the leaning Metzgerturm and the channels of the Blau near where it joins the Danube. Choose it for lanes over squares. Across the river lies Neu-Ulm in Bavaria, a plainer but well-connected alternative when rooms in the historic core are scarce, with trains and a short walk bringing you straight back to the Minster and the Museum der Brotkultur.
About Ulm
What is Ulm known for?
Ulm is known worldwide for the Ulm Minster, whose spire is the tallest of any church anywhere, taller even than Cologne Cathedral. The Gothic church dominates the skyline and the old town beneath it. Its steeple is unmissable.
Beyond the Minster, the city trades on its position at the edge of Bavaria in Baden-Württemberg, on its baking heritage kept alive at the Museum der Brotkultur, and on a compact medieval core threaded by the old Metzgerturm and the lanes of the fishermen's quarter.
What are the main landmarks in Ulm?
Ulm's landmarks gather around the Ulm Minster and its record-holding spire. The old town keeps the leaning Metzgerturm, the medieval Seelturm and the Renaissance grandeur of the Wengenkirche within a short walk. Museums cluster nearby.
The Museum Ulm and the Kunsthalle Weishaupt hold the city's art, the Museum der Brotkultur tells the story of bread, and the Donauschwäbisches Zentralmuseum records the Danube Swabians who set out downstream from here.
What is the history of Ulm?
Ulm grew into a town on the upper Danube and won its charter in the twelfth century, a date the city still counts from 1181. As a free imperial city it prospered on trade in cloth and grain that moved along the river, and the wealth of that age paid for the Ulm Minster, begun by the townspeople rather than a bishop. The spire that crowns it was finished only much later.
Later centuries brought Ulm into Baden-Württemberg and set its river boundary against Bavaria, where Neu-Ulm grew up on the far bank. War and dictatorship left their marks too. Memorials in the city, among them the deserters monument and the Donauschwäbisches Zentralmuseum, keep the harder history visible, recording the soldiers, the emigrants who floated down the Danube, and the victims of the twentieth century.
Where is Ulm?
Ulm stands on the upper Danube in Baden-Württemberg, right at the edge of Bavaria. The river marks the state line here, with Neu-Ulm facing it across the water on the Bavarian bank. Two smaller streams, the Blau and the Iller, join the Danube near the city.
The valley floor is flat. From it the land rises into the wooded Swabian country to the north and west, so the Ulm Minster spire can be seen for a long way across the open ground before a traveller ever reaches the town.
What is the climate of Ulm?
Ulm has a cool, continental climate shaped by its inland position on the upper Danube. Winters can turn cold and grey. Fog often settles over the river valley on still mornings, drifting past the foot of the Ulm Minster, and frost lingers longer here than in the milder Rhine cities to the west.
Summers are warm and green, with the Danube and the surrounding Swabian country drawing walkers and cyclists once the weather softens.
How do you get to Ulm?
Ulm sits on the main rail line between Stuttgart and Munich, which makes it easy to reach from either. Fast trains stop at the Hauptbahnhof a short walk from the Ulm Minster, and regional services fan out across Baden-Württemberg and into neighbouring Bavaria. The A8 autobahn runs close by.
Local trams and buses link the centre with Neu-Ulm across the Danube and with the outer districts, so most arrivals reach the old town without needing a car.
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Updated July 2026