Free Walking Tour Ravensburg: Towers, Gates and Games

From the white Mehlsack tower to the house where Ravensburger games began: 1.8 km of gates, a Gothic church and a patrician quarter.

11 Stops 1.8 km ~25 min walking
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Route map for the Ravensburg walking tour
Stop 1 of 11
110 m·1 min
Mehlsack
Head north toward Museum Ravensburger
Welcome to Ravensburg. I'm Alex, and the city's plump white landmark began as a lookout born of political suspicion.
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The Ravensburg Old Town Walk at a Glance

This route links 11 stops, from the Mehlsack on the hill down through the old town to the Museum Humpis-Quartier. It covers 1.8 km with 25 minutes of pure walking; plan about an hour with short looks, more if you go into a museum.

The gates, Marienplatz and the Liebfrauenkirche are free. The Mehlsack platform, the Museum Ravensburger and the Museum Humpis-Quartier charge entry. The GPS route in your browser is free; the AI Tour Guide is optional.

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View of Ravensburg

The Route

Ravensburg Walking Map: Mehlsack to Humpis Quarter

11 stops 1.8 km 25 min walking
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The 11 stops along this route

  1. Mehlsack in Ravensburg, stop 1 on the self-guided walking tour
    1Mehlsack
  2. Museum Ravensburger, stop 2 on the self-guided walking tour
    2Museum Ravensburger
  3. Rathaus in Ravensburg, stop 3 on the self-guided walking tour
    3Rathaus
  4. Lederhaus in Ravensburg, stop 4 on the self-guided walking tour
    4Lederhaus
  5. Untertor in Ravensburg, stop 5 on the self-guided walking tour
    5Untertor
  6. Marienplatz in Ravensburg, stop 6 on the self-guided walking tour
    6Marienplatz
  7. Blaserturm in Ravensburg, stop 7 on the self-guided walking tour
    7Blaserturm
  8. Frauentor in Ravensburg, stop 8 on the self-guided walking tour
    8Frauentor
  9. Liebfrauenkirche in Ravensburg, stop 9 on the self-guided walking tour
    9Liebfrauenkirche
  10. Obertor in Ravensburg, stop 10 on the self-guided walking tour
    10Obertor
  11. Museum Humpis-Quartier in Ravensburg, stop 11 on the self-guided walking tour
    11Museum Humpis-Quartier
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The Ravensburg Walking Tour, from White Tower to Patrician Courtyard

  1. 1

    Mehlsack

    Mehlsack in Ravensburg, stop 1 on the self-guided walking tour

    You start at the top. The Mehlsack stands at the southeastern edge of the old town, on its highest point, on the St. Christina slope above the rooftops. At 51 metres it is the tower you will have seen from almost anywhere in Ravensburg, and once you are close you understand the nickname: round, white plastered and plump, it really does look like a sack of flour.

    It was not always called that. Built around 1425, it began life as the White Tower by St. Michael, a defensive tower with a clear job. Look up the slope toward the Veitsburg and you are looking at the reason it exists. Until the 17th century the castle grounds belonged to the Landvögte, the imperial bailiffs, and they were the political opponents of the free imperial city below. From the platform the citizens could keep an eye on everything their rivals did up there.

    That is the real story of this tower: not a symbol of the town's power over outsiders, but a watchtower pointed at a neighbour the town did not trust. Keep it in mind as you walk, because the whole route is a tour of a proud, wealthy and slightly nervous merchant city.

    The platform is only open on selected days and needs a ticket booked online, so for most visitors this is an outside stop. If you do get up, it is worth it for anyone who likes to see a town laid out before walking it.

    From here the route drops into the old town. Two minutes and 110 metres downhill bring you onto Marktstraße and to the house where Ravensburger games began.

    Hours
    June–September: Sat–Mon 11:00–16:00 (online ticket required); closed the rest of the year
    Price
    4 EUR full, 2.50 EUR reduced
  2. 2

    Museum Ravensburger

    Museum Ravensburger, stop 2 on the self-guided walking tour

    Look at the facade at Marktstraße 26 before you think about games. The painted front dates from 1788, commissioned by mayor Franz Balthasar, but the shape of the house is far older. In 1416 the long-distance trading family Möttelin made it their family seat, added a third storey on top of the existing two and put on a new roof. That outline has survived to this day, which makes this one of the oldest patrician houses in the city.

    The list of owners reads like a who's who of old Ravensburg. In 1473 the Besserer family bought it; they were among the richest citizens and members of the great trading company. In 1500 their in-laws, the barons of Schellenberg zu Kisslegg, inherited it and then lost it at a forced auction. From 1660 patrician families lived here, among them the Vorarlberg lawyer Johann Michael Schatz and councillor Anton Gaist von Wildegg, each remodelling the rooms to suit themselves.

    In 1737 Franz Joseph von Gerer moved in and was elected mayor three years later. He had the grand rooms refitted, and his ceiling painting of the four cardinal virtues, justice, fortitude, temperance and prudence, is still on the first floor of the museum.

    Then the house changed character entirely. In 1896 it became the headquarters of the Otto Maier Verlag, later the Ravensburger publishing house, and until 1962 the company's entire business ran from this address. Games production and the games publisher moved out from 1962, the book publisher followed in 2005, and after a rebuild between September 2007 and May 2010 the house reopened as the Museum Ravensburger. Entry is charged; go in if the history of the games and books matters to you or you have children along.

    Two minutes and 210 metres take you on to the Rathaus. On the way you pass the Wirtschaftsmuseum and the Wochenmarkt.

    Hours
    Wed–Sun 10:00–17:00, Mon–Tue closed
    Price
    13.50 EUR full, 10.50 EUR reduced
  3. 3

    Rathaus

    Rathaus in Ravensburg, stop 3 on the self-guided walking tour

    The historic Rathaus is no museum piece. It is still the administration building of the city, which means people come here on ordinary errands while you stand outside admiring it.

    You can see the exterior at any time, and the public areas are free to enter during office hours. On a route built around towers raised against enemies, there is something quietly remarkable about a house that still does the job it was built for.

    Next is a one minute hop of 110 metres to the Lederhaus, past the Waaghaus.

    Hours
    Mon–Tue: 08:00–16:00 | Wed: 08:00–12:00 | Thu: 08:00–17:30 | Fri: 08:00–12:00 | Sat–Sun: Closed
    Price
    Free (historic town hall; public areas and exterior viewable at no charge)
  4. 4

    Lederhaus

    Lederhaus in Ravensburg, stop 4 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Lederhaus is the practical stop of the walk. The building houses the Tourist Information, the place to pick up local visitor information, and its facade is there to look at whenever you pass.

    If you want a paper map or a local opinion before deciding which museum to visit, step inside while it is open. Otherwise take a look and keep going.

    The route continues along Bachstraße: 320 metres and four minutes to the first of the three city gates.

    Hours
    Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00, Sat 09:30–13:00, Sun closed
    Price
    Free (houses the Tourist Information; building viewable from outside at no charge)
  5. 5

    Untertor

    Untertor in Ravensburg, stop 5 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Untertor, the lower gate, is the first piece of Ravensburg's fortifications that you can walk straight through. The passage is public at any hour, so this is a monument you do not visit so much as use.

    Pause here for a moment. The next leg, 360 metres and five minutes to Marienplatz, is the longest single stretch of the walk without a stop, and the square at the end of it is the reward.

    Hours
    Always open
    Price
    Free
  6. 6

    Marienplatz

    Marienplatz in Ravensburg, stop 6 on the self-guided walking tour

    Marienplatz is the central square of the old town, and on this route it sits exactly in the middle: five stops behind you, five ahead. After the longest leg of the walk, this is the natural place to take a break.

    It is also where the tour gets dense. The Blaserturm is only 40 metres away, and everything from here to the end, two gates, the parish church and the museum quarter, fits into about ten minutes of walking. Whatever you skip or linger over in the second half, distance will not be the reason.

    Cross over to the Blaserturm, one minute away.

    Hours
    Always open
    Price
    Free
  7. 7

    Blaserturm

    Blaserturm in Ravensburg, stop 7 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Blaserturm is currently closed, so this is a look from outside only. It stands just off Marienplatz and belongs to the cluster of towers and gates that gives the old town its skyline.

    Take in the tower from the square, then walk on 170 metres, about two minutes, to the Frauentor.

    Status
    Currently closed
  8. 8

    Frauentor

    Frauentor in Ravensburg, stop 8 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Frauentor is the second of the three gates on the walk, and its name simply means the Women's Gate. It is an outside stop, free and quick: no door, no ticket, just a good look at another piece of the town wall.

    From here follow Herrenstraße. The street takes its name from the clergy who once lived along it, and their church is only a minute and 100 metres ahead on your left.

    Price
    Free
  9. 9

    Liebfrauenkirche

    Liebfrauenkirche in Ravensburg, stop 9 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Liebfrauenkirche, the Church of Our Lady, was built between 1279 and 1360 and is the second oldest parish church in Ravensburg. It stands at the northern entrance to the old town. In the Middle Ages it was incorporated into the abbey of Weingarten, and in 1470 an extra side aisle was added. Entry is free; just avoid service times.

    Inside, head for the southern aisle and the Virgin of Mercy, the Madonna sheltering the faithful under her cloak. What you see is a copy. The original was carved from limewood in 1480 by the Ulm sculptor Michel Erhart, a celebrated work of the late Gothic Ulm school that is still deeply venerated, and today it is in the sculpture collection of the Bode-Museum in Berlin.

    Then walk up into the high choir. The carved late Gothic altar from 1519 came from Switzerland and was bought in the late 1950s, after the church's neo-Gothic furnishings and uniform neo-Gothic paintwork had been removed. Nearby stands an unusual sacrament house of Rorschach sandstone, and to its left, behind glass, a small late Gothic travelling altar in Limoges enamel. The three late Gothic windows in the apse are by the same master as those in Eriskirch and in the Besserer chapel of the Minster in Ulm.

    Notice how long the choir is for a parish church. The great Gothic choir stalls, partly completed in the 19th century, were where the clergy, supported by the citizens, gathered for daily prayer; these were the men whose houses gave Herrenstraße its name. A rood screen once divided the choir from the nave, and its foundations were uncovered in 2010. Worth going in for anyone with even a passing interest in late Gothic art.

    From the church it is 310 metres and four minutes to the Obertor.

    Hours
    Daily: 08:00–18:00 (outside of services)
    Price
    Free
  10. 10

    Obertor

    Obertor in Ravensburg, stop 10 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Obertor, the upper gate, completes the series of gates. It stands at the top of Marktstraße, the same street you first stepped onto just after the Mehlsack, so the road that carried you into town now delivers you to its last fortification.

    It is late medieval, free and seen from outside, and worth a proper look as the final piece of the wall on this walk.

    The finish is close: 40 metres and a minute, one turn into Humpisstraße, and the museum is on your right.

    Price
    Free (medieval city gate; viewable from outside at no charge)
  11. 11

    Museum Humpis-Quartier

    Museum Humpis-Quartier in Ravensburg, stop 11 on the self-guided walking tour

    You end in one of the best preserved late medieval residential quarters in southern Germany. The Humpis-Quartier lies in the upper town between Marktstraße, Humpisstraße and Rossbachstraße: seven buildings grouped around an inner courtyard, and at its centre the Museum Humpis-Quartier, the city's museum of cultural and local history.

    Start with the facade of Marktstraße 45, the heart of the quarter, still bearing the coat of arms of the Humpis family. This powerful patrician family shaped the buildings and gave the quarter its name, and lived here and in two houses behind it until the early 16th century. After them came their in-laws, the lords of Neidegg, then the Reichlin von Meldegg family and the lords of Burgau, residents from the 15th to the 17th century.

    The roots go much deeper. The multi-storey tower houses at Marktstraße 45 and Humpisstraße 1 date back to the 12th and 13th centuries, and many Gothic rooms survive from major rebuilding in the 15th century. Excavations in the courtyard in 2003 even turned up remains of a building from around 1050, part of a small settlement older than the town you have just walked through.

    In the 18th century craftsmen took over the patrician houses and turned them into workshops, among them a tannery and a hatter's workshop, and a tavern opened too. In the mid 19th century the Green Hall on the first floor of Marktstraße 47 was fitted out as an extravagant dining room and became the meeting place of several Ravensburg clubs. By 1866 one of the first city guides to Ravensburg was already recommending the Humpishaus to visitors.

    Entry is charged. If you want to see how Ravensburg's merchants actually lived, behind the facades you have been admiring all walk, this is the place to spend your time.

    Hours
    Tue–Sun 11:00–18:00, Mon closed
    Price
    7 EUR full, 5 EUR reduced
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Press start wherever you are, even hundreds of kilometres from Ravensburg, and the guide begins telling its stories right away. In the city, pick any of the 11 stops to start from: it leads you there, then talks with you the whole route, asking, listening, remembering, and shaping the tour around your answers.

11stops 1.8km 25 minwalking 13languages
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Shorter Ways Through Ravensburg

The route is compact enough to walk in one go, but it also splits neatly at Marienplatz into a games and town hall half and a gates and church half.

The free outside walk

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

For anyone who wants the whole old town without paying a cent: all eleven stops from outside, plus the interior of the Liebfrauenkirche, which is free. 25 minutes of walking, about an hour in total.

Mehlsack, games and town hall

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

For families and anyone drawn by the Ravensburger name: from the white tower past the publisher's old headquarters, the Rathaus and the Lederhaus to Marienplatz. 14 minutes of walking; the Museum Ravensburger and, when open, the Mehlsack platform charge entry.

Gates, church and Humpis quarter

Stops: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

For a short visit or a second round: from Marienplatz past the Blaserturm, both remaining gates and the Liebfrauenkirche to the patrician houses of the Humpis family. 9 minutes of walking; only the Museum Humpis-Quartier charges entry.

How Long Does the Ravensburg Old Town Walk Take?

The route itself takes 25 minutes of pure walking over 1.8 km, and no single leg is longer than five minutes. With time to look at each stop from outside and a visit to the Liebfrauenkirche, an hour is realistic. Each of the two paid museums deserves at least another hour on top, so with both you are looking at half a day.

The order runs from the high point of the old town downhill through the administrative heart, out to the gates and back up Marktstraße to where you began the descent. The first half to Marienplatz takes 14 minutes of walking, the second half 9 minutes, which makes either half a comfortable short walk on its own.

Before You Set Off from the Mehlsack

  • Start and finish: The recommended start is the Mehlsack, and the walk ends at the Museum Humpis-Quartier. You can join at any stop; the order given is the one that flows best.
  • Which stops charge entry: The Mehlsack platform, the Museum Ravensburger and the Museum Humpis-Quartier. Everything else is free to see, and the Blaserturm is currently closed.
  • Timing your day: If a museum is part of your plan, pick a day and time when it is open. The Mehlsack platform is only open on selected days and needs a ticket booked online in advance.
  • Getting oriented: The Tourist Information in the Lederhaus is on the route early on, handy if you want local advice before choosing a museum.
Walking tour route map of Ravensburg
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11stops 1.8km 25 minwalking 13languages
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What the AI Tour Guide Adds Between Towers and Gates

Ravensburg's story is one of rich merchant families, imperial bailiffs on the hill and a free imperial city watching them, and much of it is not written on any wall. The AI Tour Guide picks up those threads as you walk: it tells you about the Great Trading Company the Besserer family belonged to, explains what a Landvogt actually did, and follows wherever your curiosity goes, whether that is medieval trade or the board games born on Marktstraße. Interrupt it whenever you like; the free GPS route keeps leading you from stop to stop either way.

A Real Conversation A voice AI Tour Guide greets you, leads the whole route, and tells the stories and facts as you walk, asking what you want to see and keeping a real conversation going. Not a recording you press play on.
Map Navigation Follow the route on the map and walk at your own pace. You choose where to start and when to move to the next stop.
Ask Anything Curious about a building you pass? Ask your AI Tour Guide on the spot and the conversation carries on.
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Common Questions About Ravensburg's Old Town

What is Ravensburg's museum quarter?

Four museums form it together: the Museum Ravensburger, the Wirtschaftsmuseum, the Museum Humpis-Quartier and the Kunstmuseum. Two of them are stops on this walk, and the Wirtschaftsmuseum is passed on the way to the Rathaus.

How do I get back to the Mehlsack after the last stop?

The walk ends at the Museum Humpis-Quartier, not where it began. If you want to return to the start, the GPS navigation in your browser leads you from the last stop back to the Mehlsack.

Which towns can I combine with Ravensburg?

Lake Constance is close: Lindau and Meersburg are both about 27 km away, and Constance about 35 km. For more late Gothic art after the Liebfrauenkirche, Ulm is the natural next step.

Is the tour really free?

Yes. The whole tour is free: the route, the interactive map and the navigation cost you nothing. Only the voice AI Tour Guide is optional and paid: you test it with 100 free credits, then you pay either €5 per hour or €19.99 for this whole tour, with no time limit. Admission to 3 of the 11 stops is not included: Mehlsack, Museum Ravensburger and Museum Humpis-Quartier charge their own entry fees.

Do I need to download an app?

No. Everything runs in your phone browser. Open the route and start walking, no download and no sign-up required.

Do I need to book the walking tour in advance?

No booking needed. This self-guided tour is available anytime. Open the route in your browser and start walking. The AI Tour Guide works instantly, no app, no reservation required.

What languages is the AI Tour Guide available in?

The AI Tour Guide speaks 13 languages, so you take the tour in your own language and can switch at any time.

Can I skip stops or change the route?

Yes. Skip any stop, spend extra time at places you like, or start the route from any point. It is your walk, you set the pace.
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