The near-total destruction of 1637 marked a turning point in Ettenheim’s history: the town was rebuilt as a Baroque town afterward. Historic sites, museums and official walking trails reveal different sides of the destination. When planning your visit, you can decide whether to focus on the town’s history, cultural collections or trails that bring together nature, history and art.
Baroque town history and cultural sites
The historic Prince’s Garden was laid out in the Baroque style. It lies in front of the western town gate and is enclosed by a sandstone wall. The Kaiserberg Tour also starts here: its starting point is in Ettenheim’s old town at the Prince’s Garden. The garden and the tour therefore share a point of reference, but remain different ways to explore Ettenheim.
The Ettenheim Museum is located in the vaulted cellar of the Haus der Vereine. It displays exhibits, archaeological finds and documents about the town’s history. The Jäger family winery’s Wine Museum offers a different historical focus: its exhibits cover work in viticulture, and it includes a working home distillery with components more than 100 years old. The town’s history and viticulture are thus presented as two distinct topics.
Organ demonstrations on the Ferdinand Stieffell organ are also offered at St. Bartholomew’s Church. As arrangements may change, it is advisable to check the latest details before planning your visit.
Town tours in various formats
For a tour with set stops, the free Actionbound app guides you through Ettenheim with 15 stations. The starting point is in front of the town hall. Individually bookable group town tours are also available: they are offered in German, English and French and last around an hour and a half. Confirm the specific arrangements with the Tourist Information office. The options therefore differ both in format and planning: the app takes you through 15 stations, while a group tour can be booked individually and has an approximate duration.
Public town tours are offered on Fridays from May to October; the meeting point is the town hall or the Tourist Information office. Check the dates and times for the relevant year again in advance. This makes it possible to plan a public tour differently from an individually arranged group tour, without assuming that both formats have the same conditions.
Walking trails and the wider Ortenau district
The official walking trails in Ettenheim bring together nature, history and art. They lead, among other places, through the historic old town, to the Meierberg nature trail and to the Riegger fishponds. These destinations offer different points of reference when choosing a trail: town history, a nature trail or the fishponds. The trails complement the town tours and cultural sites with another way to discover Ettenheim.
The wider Ortenau district lies between the Rhine and the Black Forest. At district level, there are 23 nature reserves covering a total area of around 3,110 hectares; they extend from the Rhine plain to the higher elevations of the Black Forest. One of the Ortenau district’s independent cultural destinations is the Vogtsbauernhof Open-Air Museum. A walk around its historic farmhouses shows how people lived and worked in the Black Forest up to 600 years ago. Europa-Park and Rulantica are located in Rust. Rulantica offers year-round water fun for the whole family, with indoor and outdoor attractions as well as the Hyggedal relaxation and sauna area. These regional examples broaden the view beyond Ettenheim’s Baroque history, collections and walking trails.
Discover more destinations: Kappelrodeck, Ichenheim, Gutach, Hohberg, Offenburg, Sasbach, Mahlberg, Haslach im Kinzigtal.
Go to the main travel overview: Ortenau district.
