Bad Urach Waterfall

The Brühlbach drops about thirty-seven metres over a lip on the edge of the Swabian Jura. The water is heavy with dissolved lime from the limestone plateau, and mosses growing on the rock face cause it to precipitate, so tufa builds up over the moss and the ledge grows outward gradually; the whole formation is a living structure rather than a fixed cliff. A path climbs from the valley through beech woods to the base and continues to the top, from which a longer circuit runs along the plateau edge. In hard winters the fall freezes into a curtain of ice.

What you actually see

• The tufa terrace - a rock lip built by lime precipitating over moss.
• The 37-metre drop - water falling from the edge of the Jura plateau.
• The beech approach - a wooded path from the valley car park.
• The winter ice - a frozen curtain in cold years.

When to go

April to October for the walk; flow is strongest in spring. Winter can produce ice formations but the path becomes slippery and is sometimes closed.

Honest expectations

Flow is modest in dry summers. The walk up takes around forty-five minutes with steps. Parking is paid and fills on weekends.

Nearby

Lichtenstein castle lies west; the Jura plateau is above.