Oberursel

Passage from the Marktplatz to St. Ursula Church

Oberursel, or Oberursel (Taunus), is a small city in Hesse. The city is in the area of the Taunus mountain range in Hesse, north of Frankfurt.

Understand

The highlight of Oberursel is its Altstadt (old town area), a residential area with many half-timbered houses. On its east side is the historic Marktplatz (market place). The streets Strackgasse and Vorstadt connect Marktplatz to the more modern shopping district along a pedestrian mall. As you walk Strackgasse and Vorstadt towards the Marktplatz, you will notice that the buildings become older as they transition from modern to medieval.

Get in

By train

• U-Bahn: Take line U3, direction Oberursel (Taunus)-Hohemark, getting off at Oberursel (Taunus) Altstadt. The train leaves Frankfurt Willi-Brandt-Platz every 15 minutes; the trip duration is 33 minutes. From the U-Bahn station, walk along Hohemarkstraße to Eppsteinerstraße to Marktplatz (distance about 450 metres).
• S-Bahn: Take line S-5, direction Friedrichsdorf Bahnhof, getting off at Oberursel (Taunus) Bahnhof. The train leaves Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof every 15 minutes; the trip duration is 17 minutes. Once you arrive at Oberursel (Taunus) Bahnhof, you can either transfer to the U-Bahn for 2 stops or walk 1 km. along Feldbergstraße and Eppsteinerstraße to Marktplatz.

The RMV website has schedules. For 2-5 people travelling together on a day trip from Frankfurt, the RMV group day ticket (Gruppentageskarte) is more economical and more convenient that using single trip tickets.

Get around

Walking is the preferred method of getting around as the Altstadt and central shopping district are both within a kilometre of the U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations.

Historic Rathaus (town hall)

Half-timbered building on the Marktplatz

See

Altstadt

• 1 Marktplatz. a square with many half-timbered buildings. 
• Altes Rathaus (old town hall). 
• Fountain in the square. 
• Statue of a jester and a woman on a mule. The woman is being paraded riding backwards on a mule on Shrove Tuesday as a medieval punishment for striking her husband. 
• 2 St. Ursula Church, Ursula-Gasse. 15th century, late Gothic 
  • Many half-timbered houses located behind the Rathaus and around St. Ursula Church.
• 3 Hospitalkirche, Strackgasse. 18th century church east of the Marktplatz. 
• 4 Memorial to the holocaust victims from Oberursal, Korfplatz (beside the Hospitalkirche). A small park along Strackgasse contains a sculpture of several people around 2 stone blocks. 
• 5 Epinayplatz. A modern square near the Vorstadt pedestrian mall with a fountain around a glass pyramid structure containing an elevator shaft. 
• 6 Opel Zoo, Königstein (7 km west of Oberursel town centre).  

Do

Events

• Brunnenfest - The fountain festival in early summer is one of the largest folk festivals in the Hochtaunuskreis district attracting visitors from the entire Rhine-Main region.

Buy

The street Vorstadt is a pedestrian mall lined with shops.

Eat

There a number of eating places along the Vorstadt pedestrian mall as well as on some of its side streets.

• Alt-Oberurseler Brauhaus, Ackergasse 13, ☏ +49 6171 54370. German food and strong beer. (updated Feb 2016)

Sleep

• Mövenpick Hotel Frankfurt/Oberursel, Zimmersmühlenweg 35, ☏ +49 6171 5000. 
• Parkhotel Am Taunus (Waldlust), Hohemarkstr. 168, ☏ +49 6171 9200. 
• 1 Dorint Hotel Frankfurt/Oberursel, Königsteiner Straße 29 (between Bad Homburg and Kronberg), ☏ +49 6171 2769-0, info.oberursel@dorint.com. The Dorint Hotel in Oberursel is surrounded by a 100,000 m² hotel-owned historical park. from €198 per room/night. (updated Sep 2017)

Go next

• Bad Homburg
• Frankfurt