Ulm Minster

Ulm Minster was begun in 1377 by a town that decided to build its own church rather than depend on an abbey outside the walls, and the ambition shows. The main spire tops 161 metres - only finished in the nineteenth century after centuries of standstill - and was the tallest church steeple in the world from 1890 until late 2025, when the central tower of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona overtook it. The climb runs to more than seven hundred steps, narrowing to a tight spiral inside the stonework, and the platform gives the Danube, the town roofs and, on clear days, the Alps along the southern horizon. Inside, the carved choir stalls by Jorg Syrlin are the finest work in the building, their portrait heads of philosophers and sibyls sharply individual.

What you actually see

• The tower climb - more than seven hundred steps to a platform around 143 metres up.
• The choir stalls - Jorg Syrlin's carved heads of sibyls, philosophers and poets.
• The nave - whitewashed and sparse, its scale easier to feel than to photograph.
• Munsterplatz - the modern square and glass library pyramid facing the medieval west front.

When to go

The church is open all year and the tower opens daily, with shorter hours in winter. Go on a clear cold day if the Alpine view matters, since summer haze usually hides the mountains. The climb closes in high wind, ice or thunderstorms, and that call is made at short notice on the day itself.

Honest expectations

The staircase is narrow, two way in places, and genuinely hard on the knees and on anyone uneasy in confined spaces. There is no lift. The platform is caged in mesh, which frustrates photographers. The city centre around it is largely modern and plain, so the minster carries the whole visit on its own.

Nearby

The Fishermen's Quarter with its canals and leaning house, the Danube promenade, and the blue spring at Blaubeuren.