Lörrach

Lörrach is a city of 50,000 people (2022) in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the site of the Rötteln Castle, which is the third largest castle ruin in Baden.

Understand

It is the home of the Milka chocolate factory owned by Mondelez International.

Lörrach's climate is mild, and in the summer, it is often hot. The region of Markgräflerland is the warmest in Germany because of the Mediterranean air current from the valley of the Rhône. Because of its numerous sunny days, the region is dubbed the German Tuscany.

Tourist information

• Lörrach Tourism website

Get in

By plane

Euro Airport (BSL ^IATA ; MLH ^IATA ; EAP ^IATA) near Basel (but on French soil) has flights from many cities in Europe including from budget carriers.

Travellers from further away may find it cheaper to fly to Zurich and take a train from the airport there to Basel SBB and thence to Lörrach by train.

By train

• 1 Lörrach Hauptbahnhof. Trains run from Basel SBB to Lörrach every half hour. There is also a sleeper train to Hamburg with tickets sold by Flixtrain  

Get around

There are train services from the central station every half hour to Basel (leaving at one minute past the hour and half hour). Trains can also be used to get to the southern suburb of Stetten or the northwestern suburb of Steinen. There is also a bus service around Lörrach but buses are not as frequent as trains. However, most areas are within walking distance of the central city.

From Stetten, the Swiss border is in easy walking distance and the number 6 tram runs from the border into Basel.

See

Rötteln Castle

• 1 Rötteln Castle (Burg Rötteln), 79541 Lörrach-Haagen (Bus no. 16 to Röttelnweiler plus 15 minutes walk or about 50 minutes walk from the main station), ☏ +49 7621 56494, info@burgruine-roetteln.de. open 10:00-18:00. The fortification was one of the most powerful in the southwest, and today is the third largest castle ruin in Baden. The outer bailey is free and open year round. The inner bailey and museum is open each day in summer and on weekends at other times. In the outer bailey there is a café and a beer garden. €2.50 adults; €1 children. (updated Apr 2018)
• There are views over Lörrach, Basel in Switzerland, and parts of France from Obertüllingen on a hill directly west of the Lörrach suburb of Stetten.

Further afield

Inzlingen Castle

• Holzen is 13 km north and has large stork nests on top of several buildings, most picturesquely on a narrow church spire. Look for a witch's house (marked with 'Hexe') - if you put 50 cents in the slot the shutters will open and a mechanical witch appears to tell you (in German) about her life.
• Inzlingen is a neighbouring village which can be reached walking through the foothills of the Black Forest. It has its own castle, Inzlingen Castle (Wasserschloss Inzlingen).

Do

Go for a walk through the foothills of the Black Forest, which surrounds the town.

Buy

There are market days on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with the latter being by far the largest.

Sleep

• Stadt Hotel. is central and comfortable. 
• Jugendherberge Lörrach (youth hostel). cheaper, and close to the Black Forest, but is about half an hour's walk or a bus ride from town. 
• There are other hotels. There are a number of apartments catering to travellers, but no central website for booking them.

Go next

• Basel (CH)
• Freiburg (DE)
• Colmar (FR)