Schwäbisch Hall

On our way to the south of Germany in April 2026 where we would visit the Eibsee and Berchtesgaden (about which later more) amongst other places, and move on to Innsbruck and finally Venice, we made a nice stop to visit Schwäbisch Hall. It was less than only half an hour extra drive from our hometown in the Netherlands. The beginning of our trip was like a false start when we entered Germany and heard a strange noise. We left the highway and since it was already late, we decided to just spent the night just across the border. The morning after we found a nearby garage in the Netherlands and went back there, but it couldn't be fixed on the spot. So we had to wait the full weekend for Monday when it was repaired in the afternoon. We had a week without the boys for the first time and would have loved to go slow and take the time for everything we planned to see. Now, we needed to crop the plan, but I really wanted to still go to Schwäbisch Hall. Somehow my timeline was filled with beautiful photos from Schwäbisch Hall the months before feeding my hunger to visit it. We couldn't make it in the rest of that day, and also decided to not expect too much from the just repaired van. On our way, Kim found a very nice place to stay for the night, at a castle where we could have breakfast, so that was really something to look forward to after the delay and bad luck that we had.

We entered the city center after parking our bikes here at the Badtorweg. The around twenty meters high and impressive Josenturm at the Gelbinger Gasse 37 dates back to the first half of the 14th century. The tower began as part of the St. Jodokus Chapel, Josenkapelle, even before the Gelbinger Vorstadt had its own city wall. Later, the tower was incorporated into the city's defenses and served as a watchtower. The timber framing at the top was installed in 1686 after a first timer framing was lost in a fire in 1680, and the walls of the tower at its base are a meter thick. The halftimbered house in front of the Josenturm at the badtorweg 1 is the former Remise und Stall der Wirtschaft "Grüner Baum", presumably built between 1784 and 1812. Ricarda Huch, an author described the house as "ein kleines gequetschtes Haus mit einem spitzen Hut, wie ein Zauberer ihn tragen möchte...", "a small, squashed house with a pointed hat, like one a wizard might wear..." From here we moved on in the upper side of the town to the market square.

View from up the stairs at St.Michaels Church to the City Town Hall am Markt with Kim waiting for me below. The stairs were a bit too much for her.

Kurt Hielscher made two photos in the center and two outside the center. With slightly over 40.000 inhabitants, Schwäbisch Hall is quite small, but also quite lively, I noticed, with a busy and prominent bus station. Schwäbisch Hall did not disappoint with great views from the riverside, but also from strolling up to the market square up to the stairs of St. Michael's Church and looking down. I added plenty of photos on the website. Hope you'll like it! The two photos outside the center, I did not make because we lost some time again due to the replacement of a headlight of the van. Instead we headed further south to end up the next day at the enchanting Eibsee.  

More impressions from the center of Schwäbisch Hall.

The Fischbrunnen am Markt.

First three photos are also from the market square and the fourth is shot from the pedestrian bridge at the the Unterlimpurger Straße with the impressive Neubausaal overlooking it all.

Narrow streets with Fachwerckhäuser.

Unterlimpurger Straße with the pedestrian bridge providing a nice view fom the edge of the city center down to the Unterwöhrdinsel. Then we went back down to the Kocher river and the Unterwöhrdinsel where we found the place of Kurt Hielscher's second photo.

View from Mauerstraße over the Kocher river to the east.

Around the Unterwöhrdinsel, maybe the most characteristic part of Schwäbisch Hall.

Leaving the Unterwöhrdinsel for the Mauerstraße.

Henkersbrücke on the left seen from the east towards the west, so away from the center.

Our trip to Venice started with a problem and it took a few days to fix it.

Fortunately, the van could still drive and we managed to find a nearby mini-camp in Valkenswaard and made the best of it during the rest of the weekend discovering the surroundings by bike.

We even visited the Saint-Benedictus Abbey just across the border with Belgium, famous for its barbed wire from WWI.

On Monday the problem was solved. Here the culprit.

So we finally could jump back into Germany again but we dared not to go too far but found a very nice place to stay for the night: Gästehaus im Schlosspark in Saffig. We we're recieved well, slept like babys and had a terrific breakfast.

Gästehaus im Schlosspark in Saffig. 

Inside the Gästehaus im Schlosspark in Saffig for breakfast.

Below: View from St.Michaels Church on the marketsquare with the city town hall.