Ulm

Ulm is a town at the edge of Bavaria in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is home to the highest church steeple in the world (161.53 m), even higher than the Cathedral (Dom in German) of Cologne.



Understand
With a population of 127,000 inhabitants (2017), Ulm forms an urban district and administrative centre of the region. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and traditions as a former Free Imperial City (German: freie Reichsstadt). Today, it is an economic centre due to its varied industries, and it is the seat of a university. Internationally, Ulm is primarily known for having the church with the tallest steeple in the world (161.53 m or 529.95 feet), the Gothic Ulm minster (German: Ulmer Münster) and as the birthplace of Albert Einstein.

Ulm lies at the Danube river and is surrounded by forests and hills which rise to altitudes of over 620 m, which are part of the Swabian Mountains. Because of the Danube Ulm sees a lot of dense fog especially in late autumn and early spring. Most parts of the city, including the old town, are on the north-west bank of the Danube. On the other side of the river lies the twin city of Neu-Ulm in the state of Bavaria.

Around the city, there are many statues of sparrows (Spatzen). Spatzen is a nickname for the residents of Ulm and a symbol of the city. Legend says that, while building the cathedral, the workers couldn't figure out how to get the long wooden beams into the church until they noticed a sparrow entering its nest while holding a piece of straw lengthwise, instead of sideways.

Talk
Standard German is understood by everyone, but the local dialect is Swabian (Schwäbisch).

By train
The is in the town centre, about a 10-minute walk from the cathedral (Ulmer M&uuml;nster). Ulm is about an hour from Stuttgart and 1½-2 hours from Munich.

There are special train tickets called Länder-Tickets for travel within a region, such as Baden-Württemberg or Bavaria (Bayern). With this ticket up to five people can use all regional trains for a whole day for only €22 (one person) – €38 (five persons). Prices may change, so check the Deutsche Bahn website for the latest prices.

By plane
From these airports you can take the ICE or IC train to get to Ulm.


 * Munich Airport 150 km from Ulm, about 2½ hours by train. The airport has an S-Bahn station, which connects to other Munich train stations.
 * Stuttgart Airport, 90 km from Ulm
 * Friedrichshafen Airport, also known as Bodensee-Airport, Friedrichshafen in Friedrichshafen close to Lake Constance
 * Memmingen Airport near Memmingen, which is roughly 60 km away. Served (and sometimes deceptively marketed as being closer to Munich than it really is) primarily by no frills airlines
 * Frankfurt airport is a farther away than all the other listed airports, but may serve as your entry point if none of the closer options aligns with your plans. Deutsche Bahn and most airlines have entered rail air alliances to offer combination tickets for the train ride and the flight in one package, which might work out to be the cheapest and/or most comfortable option.

By car
Ulm is near the intersection of the A7 and A8 autobahns.

Get around
The town centre is small enough to walk around, but there are lots of buses and even sightseeing boats on the Danube (Donau) River. There's a Straßenbahn with two intersecting lines. Route planner is available online.

Museums
The UlmCard is available from the Tourist Information office. It provides entry to the Weishaupt Gallery, Ulm Museum, Museum of Bread Culture, Danube Swabian Museum, Edwin Scharff Museum, Museum at Wiblingen Monastery and Rococo library, Natural History Education Centre, and Children's Museum Neu-Ulm along with many other advantages.



Do

 * Walk along the Donau (Danube) river and the city wall and through the Fischerviertel. Visit the many art galleries there. See the Schiefes Haus (Crooked House) and enjoy the nice and little houses with very little streets between and small rivers. Visit the birthplace of Albert Einstein. Today the site of the house where he was born is marked with a memorial.
 * Take a cruise on the Donau with the historic ship 'Ulmer Spatz'. Regularly tours during summer. Starting near the Metzgerturm.

Buy

 * The major shopping street starts at the train station and leads directly to the Ulmer Münster church.
 * Shopping mall 'Blautalcenter'

Eat
There are plenty of places to eat in the nice and quiet Fischerviertel, where you can get some genuine German food and beer.

Sleep


The Ulm tourist office, located in the Stadthaus in the Münsterplatz, is very good. There are many pensions in the old town whose owners do not speak English well and prefer the office to act for them. The old town on its own is worth the stop with some excellent stuben.

Connect
There are a lot of internet cafes all over the town. Just ask.

You can get free internet access at the new Stadtbibliothek (city library), next to the Rathaus (city hall). They have about 30 PC there. WLAN (Wi-Fi) is also available there.

Go next

 * Neu-Ulm (Bavaria)
 * Bad Schussenried
 * Augsburg
 * Stuttgart
 * Tübingen
 * Legoland Germany, about 30km NE of Ulm
 * Blautopf, the source of the Blau River, in Blaubeuren, 16km west of Ulm