Free Walking Tour Speyer: From Altpörtel to the Dom

Walk from a city gate the French nearly blew up to the largest surviving Romanesque church, past a Jewish ritual bath built some 900 years ago.

10 Stops 3.6 km ~49 min walking
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Route map for the Speyer walking tour
Stop 1 of 10
290 m·4 min
Altpörtel
Head north-east toward the Purrmann-Haus
Willkommen, welcome to Speyer. I'm Alex, and a stone staircase here descends into nearly nine centuries of Jewish history.
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Speyer on Foot at a Glance

Ten stops lead from the Altpörtel, Speyer's medieval west gate, through the old town to the Technik-Museum Speyer: 3.6 km and 49 minutes of pure walking. For the nine old-town stops with time inside the Judenhof and the Speyerer Dom, plan about three hours; the Technik-Museum deserves its own half day.

Five stops are free, the Speyerer Dom among them; the Judenhof, the Purrmann-Haus and both museums charge entry, as does a visit inside the Altpörtel. Route, map and GPS navigation run free in your browser and lead you from stop to stop; the AI Tour Guide is optional.

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The Route

Walking Map of Speyer: Gate, Old Town and Cathedral

10 stops 3.6 km 49 min walking
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The 10 stops along this route

  1. Altpörtel in Speyer, stop 1 on the self-guided walking tour
    1Altpörtel
  2. Purrmann-Haus in Speyer, stop 2 on the self-guided walking tour
    2Purrmann-Haus
  3. Alte Münze in Speyer, stop 3 on the self-guided walking tour
    3Alte Münze
  4. Judenhof in Speyer, stop 4 on the self-guided walking tour
    4Judenhof
  5. Maximilianstraße in Speyer, stop 5 on the self-guided walking tour
    5Maximilianstraße
  6. Dreifaltigkeitskirche in Speyer, stop 6 on the self-guided walking tour
    6Dreifaltigkeitskirche
  7. Speyerer Dom, stop 7 on the self-guided walking tour
    7Speyerer Dom
  8. Historisches Museum der Pfalz in Speyer, stop 8 on the self-guided walking tour
    8Historisches Museum der Pfalz
  9. Domgarten in Speyer, stop 9 on the self-guided walking tour
    9Domgarten
  10. Technik-Museum Speyer, stop 10 on the self-guided walking tour
    10Technik-Museum Speyer
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Your Speyer Walking Tour, Stop by Stop from Gate to Hangar

  1. 1

    Altpörtel

    Altpörtel in Speyer, stop 1 on the self-guided walking tour

    Start where emperors once entered the city. The Altpörtel is Speyer's medieval west gate, 55 metres tall and one of the largest and architecturally most significant city gates left in Germany. It was once one of 68 towers along the walls and gates, and it began life as an outer gate linking the old town with the suburb of St. Gilgenvorstadt.

    Read it from the bottom up. The lower part dates from between 1230 and 1250, built on the ruins of an earlier tower. In 1511 the mayor had the upper part rebuilt, finished in 1514, and the steep roof, 20 metres high on its own, was added in 1708. Walk round to the outer, west face and you will see no windows at all, only two rows of embrasures: that side faced whoever was coming, so security came first.

    By rights the tower should not be standing. In 1689, during the War of the Grand Alliance, French troops had already packed it with explosives. The prior of the nearby Carmelite monastery warned Marshal Duras that the falling stone could bring down the monastery's old walls and the marshal's own headquarters close by. When Duras replied that his men knew how to do it safely, the whole Carmelite community knelt before the soldiers and their burning torches and begged. After a few minutes the marshal told them to rise: “Stand up, children, the tower shall stand.” The gate survived; the city and its cathedral were left in rubble.

    The gate also marked the end of the Via Triumphalis, the processional road from the cathedral along which the emperor and his court entered on great religious occasions. A visit inside costs a fee and runs only at set times, partly as guided tours; worth it if you want the gate from within, while the outside tells its story at any hour. From here it is 300 metres, about 4 minutes, into the lanes to the Purrmann-Haus.

    Hours
    Wed & Fri afternoon, Sat morning (individual visit timeslots); Sat afternoon, Sun & holidays (guided tours)
    Price
    5 EUR regular, 3.50 EUR reduced (individual visit); 7 EUR regular, 5 EUR reduced (guided tour)
  2. 2

    Purrmann-Haus

    Purrmann-Haus in Speyer, stop 2 on the self-guided walking tour

    At Kleine Greifengasse 14 the Purrmann-Haus still looks like what it was: a craftsman's home and workshop. Built in 1829 on two merged plots, burned in 1876 and rebuilt largely as before, it shows a late-classicist front structured with sandstone, with the gateway to the yard on its right. Behind it, the main house, a side building and a former shed turned painter's studio close around a courtyard. The barrel-vaulted cellars under the main house may even be older than the city's destruction in 1689.

    In 1877 Georg Heinrich Purrmann bought the property for his house-painting and decorating business. Three years later his son Hans was born here, grew up in these rooms and learned the trade in his father's workshop. After the father's death a brother took over business and house; that brother's son sold it in 1977, and in 1986 it passed to the city.

    Since 1990 the city and the Kunstverein Speyer have run it as a memorial to Hans Purrmann and his wife, the painter Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann. Display cases trace both lives, and about seventy works by the couple, paintings, prints, watercolours and sculpture, are on permanent show. Changing exhibitions feature artists who were Purrmann's friends or were shaped by his work, and an archive keeps above all his letters.

    Entry is charged. Go in if painting and artists' houses are your thing; otherwise the facade and the gateway make a quick, rewarding look. Then it is 260 metres, about 4 minutes, to the Alte Münze on the Maximilianstraße.

    Hours
    Thu–Sun 11:00–18:00, Mon–Wed closed
    Price
    6 EUR regular, 4 EUR reduced (permanent collection); 10 EUR regular, 8 EUR reduced (during special exhibitions)
  3. 3

    Alte Münze

    Alte Münze in Speyer, stop 3 on the self-guided walking tour

    This is the shortest stop on the walk. The baroque building at Maximilianstraße 90 went up in 1748 as the Neues Kaufhaus, the new merchants' hall. The name promises a mint; the records speak of trade. Today it houses city offices, the Stadtkasse among them, so in a loose sense the building has never left the business of money.

    Look at the arcades and the facade; there is no interior to visit, and you miss nothing. Notice the street as well: right here the Maximilianstraße is at its narrowest. The stretch from here to the cathedral was laid out over a broad ditch that once separated the bishop's town in the south from the settlement of the counts in the north.

    From the Alte Münze it is 320 metres, about 4 minutes, to the Judenhof; on the way you pass the Museum SchPIRA.

    Hours
    24/7 (exterior viewing freely accessible at any time)
  4. 4

    Judenhof

    Judenhof in Speyer, stop 4 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Judenhof holds some of the oldest and best-preserved Jewish architecture in northern Europe. The synagogue was consecrated in 1104, and the complex grew in stages into the 14th century. Since 2021 it has been UNESCO World Heritage together with the Jewish sites of Worms and Mainz: the three ShUM cities, the cradle of Ashkenazi culture.

    It began with refugees. In the late 11th century Jews fleeing persecution in Mainz found shelter in Speyer, and in 1084 Bishop Rüdiger Huzmann issued a letter of protection for the young community, hoping it would help the city's economy grow.

    The synagogue, the courtyard and the mikvah are early 12th-century sandstone. Look at the synagogue's windows: arched openings grouped around a central round one, the oldest example of an arrangement that became standard in Ashkenazi buildings. Later remodelling kept most of its Romanesque features. Against its south side stood the frauenschul, the women's synagogue, built in high Gothic style with a ribbed vault; of the brick yeshiva, the house of study, only the north and east walls still stand above ground.

    Do not leave without the mikvah east of the synagogue, the ritual bath, which survives intact. Its anteroom has a four-part window wall and finely carved capitals, and the same stonemasons probably worked on Speyer's Christian churches and its cathedral too.

    Entry is charged, and if you pay for only one interior in the old town, make it this one. From here it is 280 metres, about 4 minutes, back onto the Maximilianstraße.

    Hours
    Apr 1 – Oct 31: Mon–Sun 10:00–17:00; Nov 1 – Mar 31: Tue–Sun 10:00–16:00, Mon closed
    Price
    5 EUR regular, 3 EUR reduced, 10 EUR family
  5. 5

    Maximilianstraße

    Maximilianstraße in Speyer, stop 5 on the self-guided walking tour

    Back on the main street, stop for a moment and look along it. This is the old Via Triumphalis of the imperial city, about 600 metres long, running east to west between the Dom and the Altpörtel and cutting the medieval old town in two. It was laid out in the 11th century together with the cathedral and the first expansion of the city, and locals still simply call it the Hauptstraße.

    It was never just a road; it was the market. From the Domplatz came the Obere Markt, then the Weinmarkt for wine, the Marktplatz up to the old mint, the Ledermarkt for leather, the Zwiebelmarkt for onions and finally, in front of the Altpörtel, the Krämergasse of the small traders. The buildings between the street and the Korngasse are thought to have grown out of market stalls, which means the street was once about twice as wide.

    In 1740 it was called the Hauptstraß, in 1773 the Breite Straße, and until the end of the 18th century it was the only street in Speyer called a Straße at all; everything else was a Gasse. Its present name came in 1816, when the Palatinate passed to Bavaria and the street was renamed after King Max I. Joseph.

    There is more beneath the surface. Between the Altpörtel and the Alte Münze the Speyerbach still runs under the street, covered only in the 19th century, and cellars from older building lines reach far under the roadway. The street is free and open at any hour. The Dreifaltigkeitskirche is just 170 metres away, about 2 minutes.

    Hours
    24/7
    Price
    Free
  6. 6

    Dreifaltigkeitskirche

    Dreifaltigkeitskirche in Speyer, stop 6 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Dreifaltigkeitskirche, the Trinity Church, is a late Baroque Protestant parish church, and it is a building of return. In 1689 Louis XIV had Speyer destroyed. Its citizens, mostly Lutheran since the Reformation with a smaller Reformed minority, fled by the Rhine, many of them to Frankfurt, and only in 1698 did some of them come back.

    The small Reformed congregation built first, the Heiliggeistkirche, between 1700 and 1702. The Lutherans spent the winter of 1700/01 clearing the rubble and laid their foundation stone on 22 April 1701. A few days later the city council laid a second one, together with the Lutheran church order of 1700, the Augsburg Confession of 1530 and a pewter tablet: after the barbaric destruction of the city by Gallic hands, it said, this church was built for the glory of God and to adorn the city.

    Master builder Johann Peter Graber laid the foundations, and the Italian master bricklayer Paul Bagnato, who called himself Paul Naß in German, raised the walls between 1701 and 1703. When the War of the Spanish Succession threatened in autumn 1703, the congregation decided on 17 October to move its services from the cemetery church outside the gates into the unfinished church inside the walls. The wooden galleries were begun in 1704, and for lack of money the work inside dragged on until 1717. Since 1988 the church has been protected under the Hague Convention for cultural property in armed conflict.

    Entry is free, but the doors open only on certain days, so check before you count on going in. From here the longest leg so far, 670 metres or about 9 minutes, leads to the Speyerer Dom.

    Hours
    Wed 10:30–16:00, Fri 14:00–17:00, Sat 10:30–16:00, Sun & holidays 14:00–17:00
    Price
    Free
  7. 7

    Speyerer Dom

    Speyerer Dom, stop 7 on the self-guided walking tour

    Everything on this walk has pointed here. In 1025 Conrad II ordered the largest church of the Christian West to be built in Speyer, and he meant it to be his own resting place. Work began in 1030 on the site of an earlier basilica, on a raised plateau right by the Rhine yet safe from high water. In its day only Santiago de Compostela, Cluny and Durham matched its ambition.

    What you see is a triple-aisled vaulted basilica of red sandstone; the east end and the high vault were added between 1090 and 1103. The stone came from the Palatine Forest and was probably shipped down the Speyerbach, the stream that still flows under the main street. With Cluny Abbey in ruins, this is the largest Romanesque church still standing, a design that shaped Romanesque building across the 11th and 12th centuries. UNESCO listed it as World Heritage in 1981.

    It is a political building, too. Salian, Staufer and Habsburg emperors and kings were buried here, which made the cathedral a symbol of imperial power. It is dedicated to St Mary, patron of Speyer, and to St Stephen, it is the seat of the Bishop of Speyer, and in 1925 Pope Pius XI raised it to a minor basilica.

    The Domplatz in front was redesigned in 1990 by the architect Oswald Mathias Ungers, who cleared out the parked cars so people could linger. Entry to the cathedral is free, and it is worth going in for everyone, even with little time. From the Dom, 590 metres, about 8 minutes, bring you to the Historisches Museum der Pfalz.

    Hours
    Apr–Oct: Mon–Sat 09:00–19:00, Sun & holidays 11:30–17:30; Nov–Mar: Mon–Sat 09:00–17:00, Sun & holidays 11:30–17:00
    Price
    Free
  8. 8

    Historisches Museum der Pfalz

    Historisches Museum der Pfalz in Speyer, stop 8 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Historisches Museum der Pfalz tells the story of the region around you. It was founded in 1869 by merging the collections of the Historical Society of the Palatinate, the former Rhine District and the city of Speyer. The building you see was designed by Gabriel von Seidl in 1910; a modern annex followed in 1990.

    The collection counts about a million objects, the oldest a hand axe roughly 190,000 years old. The permanent galleries cover the history of the Palatinate, but the museum is known above all for its special exhibitions, from Attila and the Huns, the Samurai and the Vikings to the Salian dynasty. In 2006 one of them showed the barbarian treasure of Neupotz: over 1,000 pieces of silver, bronze, brass and iron, more than 700 kg, sunk in the Rhine 1,700 years ago and dug out of a gravel pit 30 km south of Speyer.

    More than 200,000 visitors come each year. The museum is carried jointly by the city, the Protestant Church of the Palatinate, the Catholic Diocese of Speyer, the state, the Historical Society and the Bezirksverband Pfalz.

    Entry is charged. Allow a couple of hours if you go in, and see what is on first, because the current special exhibition usually decides whether it is for you. Then it is 330 metres, about 4 minutes, to the Domgarten.

    Hours
    Tue–Sun & holidays 10:00–18:00, Mon closed
    Price
    15,00 EUR Tue-Fri / 16,00 EUR Sat-Sun & holidays (Superheroes exhibition incl. Dom- and Diözesanmuseum); 10,00 EUR regular (Kreuz & Krone. Dom- and Diözesanmuseum separate)
  9. 9

    Domgarten

    Domgarten in Speyer, stop 9 on the self-guided walking tour

    The Domgarten is the listed park wrapped around the north, east and south of the cathedral; in Palatine dialect locals call it the Dummgaade. In Salian times the Rhine flowed close past the Dom. The straightening of the river in the 19th century moved it further east and left the open ground on which the park grew.

    The French, who then held the left bank of the Rhine, already planned a public park here; a cost estimate dated 13 July 1812 survives, but the Napoleonic wars got in the way. After the Palatinate passed to Bavaria, the ruins were cleared and from 1821 the park was laid out at the initiative of Carl Albert Leopold von Stengel. In 1837 he was made an honorary citizen of Speyer, also for his work toward an independent Diocese of Speyer and for the schools.

    The line of the old city wall divides the park into an eastern and a western part, both reaching to the Rhine and together covering 124,300 square metres. Who owns which piece is tangled, a legacy of French rule, then Bavarian rule and the role of the church: in 1956 the state parliament in Mainz debated it at such length that it turned into a “historical seminar”.

    Free and open at any hour, it is a good place to sit down after the cathedral. The last leg is 660 metres, about 9 minutes, to the Technik-Museum Speyer.

    Hours
    24/7
    Price
    Free
  10. 10

    Technik-Museum Speyer

    Technik-Museum Speyer, stop 10 on the self-guided walking tour

    The walk ends in a very different world. Since the early 1990s the Technik-Museum Speyer has filled 25,000 square metres of halls and 100,000 square metres of open ground with vehicles, aircraft and other unusual machines. The grounds also hold the Marinehaus and an IMAX cinema with a domed screen 24 metres across and about 1,000 square metres of projection surface. In the Forum you can find out for free how some of the largest exhibits were transported here and to the sister museum in Sinsheim.

    The main hall has a story of its own. The listed Liller Halle was built in 1913 in Lesquin near Lille for CFTH, the French sister company of British Thomson-Houston. During the First World War German troops took the entire hall apart and around 1917 brought it to Speyer, where from 1918 it was to serve as a production hall for the Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke. That company, founded in 1913, built aircraft on this very site until 1918.

    After the war French troops seized the works and used the grounds as a military vehicle depot until 1926; the last French troops left Speyer in 1930. From 1937 until 1945 German specialists repaired and overhauled aircraft here, and after 1945 the French occupying forces used the buildings as barracks until 1984, adding more of their own.

    Today a non-profit association with more than 2,000 members runs the museum, driven by the entrepreneur Hermann Layher, son of the founder Eberhard Layher. Entry is charged, with a combined ticket if you want the IMAX film as well. This is a destination in itself, so plan it as its own half day rather than a quick look at the end of the walk.

    Hours
    Mon–Fri 09:00–18:00, Sat–Sun & holidays 09:00–19:00
    Price
    25,00 EUR regular, 20,00 EUR reduced for children 5-14 years (museum only); 30,00 EUR regular, 25,00 EUR reduced (museum + IMAX documentary)
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Press start wherever you are, even hundreds of kilometres from Speyer, and the guide begins telling its stories right away. In the city, pick any of the 10 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.

10stops 3.6km 49 minwalking 13languages
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Shorter Ways to Walk Speyer

Short on time or more interested in museums than lanes? These three cuts keep the order of the full route.

Old town and cathedral

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

For first-time visitors with half a day: from the Altpörtel through the old town to the Speyerer Dom, 2.0 km and 27 minutes of walking. The Judenhof, the Purrmann-Haus and the inside of the Altpörtel charge entry; the Dreifaltigkeitskirche and the Dom are free.

Cathedral, museums and park

Stops: 7, 8, 9, 10

For museum lovers and families: start at the Speyerer Dom and finish among the aircraft of the Technik-Museum Speyer, 1.6 km and 21 minutes of walking. The Historisches Museum der Pfalz and the Technik-Museum charge entry; the Dom and the Domgarten are free.

The whole old town, no Technik-Museum

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

For anyone who wants all of historic Speyer in one go and prefers to end on a park bench: 2.9 km and 39 minutes of walking, finishing in the Domgarten. Paid entry applies at the Altpörtel interior, Purrmann-Haus, Judenhof and Historisches Museum der Pfalz.

How Long Does This Speyer Tour Take, With and Without Museums?

The walking itself takes 49 minutes over 3.6 km. If you see most places from outside and only step into the free Dreifaltigkeitskirche and Speyerer Dom, the nine old-town stops take about two hours. Add a proper visit to the Judenhof and you are at about three hours. With the Purrmann-Haus or the Historisches Museum der Pfalz on top, and the Technik-Museum Speyer as a half-day finale, the route fills a full day.

The old town and cathedral variant takes about two and a half hours with the Judenhof and the Dom inside. The cathedral and museums variant depends almost entirely on how long you stay in the two museums: do both properly and it becomes a full day.

Before You Set Off in Speyer

  • Start: The Altpörtel is the recommended start, because the walk then follows the old imperial road toward the cathedral. You can join at any stop, though.
  • Finish: The route ends at the Technik-Museum Speyer. Bus line 561 connects the museum with Speyer Hauptbahnhof.
  • Time of day: Walk during the day, when the interiors on the route are open. The Altpörtel and the Dreifaltigkeitskirche open only on certain days, so check those two first if seeing inside matters to you.
  • Entry: Free: Alte Münze, Maximilianstraße, Dreifaltigkeitskirche, Speyerer Dom and Domgarten. Paid: the Altpörtel interior, Purrmann-Haus, Judenhof, Historisches Museum der Pfalz and Technik-Museum Speyer.
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10stops 3.6km 49 minwalking 13languages
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What the AI Tour Guide Adds in Speyer

Speyer's stories run in layers: the same emperors, the same stonemasons and the same year 1689 turn up again and again along this route. The AI Tour Guide tells each place's story as a conversation, asks what you noticed and remembers it, so by the time you reach the Dom it knows whether you would rather hear about the Salian emperors or the Jewish community. Wonder what became of Speyer's Jews after the charter of 1084, or where Hans Purrmann's path led after his father's workshop, and it picks up that thread; you can interrupt it at any time. You start with 100 free credits; after that, choose this tour all-inclusive for €19.99 with no time limit, or credits at €5 per hour.

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.
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Common Questions About Walking Speyer

Can I go inside the Altpörtel on any day?

No. The tower opens for visits only at set times, some as individual visits and some as guided tours, and a fee applies. Check the current times before you plan around it; the outside and its story work at any hour.

Where do I get an audioguide for the Speyerer Dom?

At the Dom-Info, the cube-shaped sandstone building south of the cathedral, also designed by Oswald Mathias Ungers. It sells souvenirs and tickets for special tours as well.

Is the Dom- und Diözesanmuseum included in the Historisches Museum der Pfalz ticket?

It depends on the ticket. The ticket for the current special exhibition includes the Dom- und Diözesanmuseum; otherwise it is ticketed separately. Ask at the desk which combination fits your plans.

Where else can I see the ShUM heritage of the Judenhof?

In Worms and Mainz, which share the UNESCO listing with Speyer. Both have their own walks: Worms is 36 km away, Mainz 77 km.

Can I pair Speyer with Heidelberg?

Easily: Heidelberg is only 22 km away. If you have a second day, the Heidelberg walking tour works the same way, with a free GPS route.

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 5 of the 10 stops is not included: Altpörtel, Purrmann-Haus, Judenhof, Historisches Museum der Pfalz and Technik-Museum Speyer 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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