Scharding

Schärding stands on the Inn opposite Bavaria and belonged to Bavaria itself until 1779, which shows in the architecture: the Silberzeile, a row of tall gabled baroque houses along the main square, is Inn-Salzach style, with flat parapets hiding the roofs behind them in the manner of Braunau, Burghausen and Passau rather than anything further east. The houses are painted in strong distinct colours, and the tradition holds that the shades once indicated the trade of the occupant - butcher, baker and so on - which is repeated on every tour and is probably part fact and part later tidying of a custom. The town has gates, walls, a water tower and a Kneipp spa; Sebastian Kneipp's cold-water cure has a long association here.

What you actually see

• The Silberzeile - the row of gabled baroque houses along the square.
• Trade-coded colours - the painted façades and the story attached to them.
• Inn-Salzach architecture - flat parapets hiding the roofs, a Bavarian form.
• Gates and walls - fragments of the fortifications above the Inn.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Small - two hours covers the centre. The colour-by-trade story is tradition rather than documented fact. Passau across the border is the larger draw and pulls day traffic through.

Nearby

Passau is upstream in Germany; Engelszell Abbey and the Danube are south.