Bavaria · Self-guided walk
Regensburg in one walk 8 sights, 65 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Regensburg Old Town: 8 sights on one 4.3 km loop, about 65 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 4.3 km, a loop
- Time
- about 65 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Dom Sankt Peter
- Steps
- no streets with steps on the route
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Regensburg walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Regensburg, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Dom Sankt Peter
the start
You will keep meeting it. Half the streets on this level are aimed at it, and it appears at the end of them without warning, several sizes larger than the lane prepared you for. Come at it out of a narrow one rather than across the open. This is the one I do not save for later.
Next: Schloss St. Emmeram, 940 m, about 14 min, along Domplatz, Residenzstraße, Neupfarrplatz, Pfarrergasse, Obermünsterstraße, Obere Bachgasse, Emmeramsplatz, Schlosshof.
2. Schloss St. Emmeram
about 14 minutes of walking from the start
The south-west corner of the level belongs to one household, and you will work that out from the wall: it runs and runs along the Fürst-Anselm-Allee and hardly ever offers a door. Stay with it as far as the Emmeramsplatz and go in under the arch. A whole quarter, shut away, and the gate open.
Next: Dreieinigkeitskirche, 630 m, about 9 min, along Schlosshof, Emmeramsplatz, Marschallstraße, Am Ölberg.
3. Dreieinigkeitskirche
about 24 minutes of walking from the start
Push the door open. Inside is like nowhere else in this town: white walls, timber galleries on three sides, and every bench pointed at the pulpit instead of the altar. Built for listening. Then find the way up.
Next: Altes Rathaus, 370 m, about 6 min, along Glockengasse, Haidplatz, Neue-Waag-Gasse.
4. Altes Rathaus
about 29 minutes of walking from the start
Stand back on the square and count the windows along the front. They go in fours, all the way along, except the last group before the big portal, which has three. The portal came later and swallowed the fourth one whole. It is still in there, facing a wall.
Next: Steinerne Brücke, 420 m, about 6 min, along Fischmarkt, Goldene-Bären-Straße, Steinerne Brücke.
5. Steinerne Brücke
about 36 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 00:00–24:00
Walk out to the middle and stop. Turn round. The whole waterfront lines up in front of you at once, towers, roofs and all, and nowhere inside the town lets you stand far enough back to see it like that. Then keep going. Stone all the way over, and plenty of it. That is a bridge I can chew on.
Next: Historische Wurstkuchl, 240 m, about 4 min, along Steinerne Brücke, Weiße-Lamm-Gasse.
Lunch break
Spitalgarten, Sankt-Katharinen-Platz 1, about 170 m off the route, open Mon–Sat 11:00–23:00, Sun 11:00–22:00.
Over the water in Stadtamhof, under old chestnut trees, with the whole medieval skyline on the far bank while you eat. More on what to eat in Regensburg.
6. Historische Wurstkuchl
about 39 minutes of walking from the start
The smallest house on the waterfront: one low room, a chimney, and a doorway you have to stoop at. Most days there is a queue outside, and it moves. Join it. Standing about is something I am extremely good at.
Next: Porta praetoria, 150 m, about 2 min, along Weiße-Hahnen-Gasse, Unter den Schwibbögen.
7. Porta praetoria
about 41 minutes of walking from the start
Two arches set into a wall behind the Dom, with the pavement in front of them sunk to the level they were built at. Everybody else walks past above them without a glance. Go down and put a hand on the blocks.
Next: Ostentor, 710 m, about 11 min, along Unter den Schwibbögen, Ostengasse.
8. Ostentor
about 52 minutes of walking from the start
The far eastern end of the walk, and the last gate left standing on this side. Traffic squeezes under it one lane at a time. Turn round once you are out: from the far side it is a different building altogether.
Back to the start: Dom Sankt Peter, 840 m, about 13 min, along Ostengasse, Prinzenweg, Heiliggeistgasse, Bertoldstraße, Pfluggasse, Alter Kornmarkt, Domstraße, Domplatz.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Regensburg.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 196 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Regensburg Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.