Experience the best of Augsburg

Augsburg was founded around 15 BC as a Roman military camp, making it one of Germany's oldest cities. In 1521 the banker Jakob Fugger founded the Fuggerei, a walled quarter of small houses for needy citizens that is still lived in today at a symbolic rent. The Renaissance town hall, completed in 1624, has the Golden Hall, a banquet room with a gilded ceiling, and stands beside the Perlach Tower.

Maximilianstraße, a broad avenue of Renaissance mansions and fountains, runs south to the basilica of St Ulrich and St Afra, and the cathedral to the north has some of the oldest figurative stained glass anywhere. Mozart's father Leopold was born in Augsburg, as was the playwright Bertolt Brecht, and Rudolf Diesel developed his engine in the city. Its historic water system of canals, water towers and fountains joined UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2019.

Swabian cooking dominates: cheese noodles, Maultaschen and roast pork with dumplings, while Zwetschgendatschi, a plum cake, appears in late summer. Beer gardens fill on warm evenings. Augsburg lies on the Romantic Road, and Munich is a short train ride away.