Weekend Trip to Kempten: The Perfect 48-Hour Plan

Kempten im Allgäu combines Roman history, baroque splendour and alpine living in one compact space. A single weekend is enough to experience the essential facets of the city without rushing. Here is the perfect 48-hour plan for your visit.

The first day is best started at St. Mang-Platz, the vibrant heart of the city. After breakfast at one of the traditional bakeries with fresh Allgäu pretzels, head to the Cambodunum Archaeological Park. This former Roman town offers a vivid insight into the ancient past, with reconstructed temples, thermal baths and an impressive museum. Allow a good two hours here.

For lunch, a detour to Fischerstraße is well worth it, where inns such as ‘Zum Stift’ serve regional classics. Allgäu Kässpatzen or a seasonal salad with mountain cheese make the perfect pick-me-up. In the afternoon, it's time for the prince-abbot's residence, a baroque masterpiece with magnificent state rooms and a tranquil courtyard garden that invites you to linger.

The evening belongs to the old town. Between Rathausplatz and Residenzplatz, wine bars and restaurants line up, many staying open late. A tip: the Residenztheater often hosts guest performances and concerts; book ahead and you can combine culture with fine dining.

On the second morning, an excursion to Burghalde, Kempten's local hill, beckons. A twenty-minute walk from the centre brings you to the viewpoint, which offers a magnificent view over the city and the Allgäu Alps. After the descent, a visit to the Erasmuskapelle is worthwhile, a hidden gem with Gothic frescoes.

The afternoon offers two options: shopping in the pedestrian zone with its independent shops, or a trip to the nearby Illertal for cycling. The day rounds off with dinner at one of the country inns in the surrounding villages, which stand out for venison from their own forests and fish from local waters. With these impressions in tow, you leave Kempten enriched and relaxed.

Anyone with time left after the essentials should delve deeper into the city's history: Kempten is one of the oldest cities in Germany, and at the Cambodunum Archaeological Park, traces of the Roman past can be impressively explored. The reconstructed temple complexes and thermal baths on the hill above the Iller bring to life what everyday existence here looked like almost two thousand years ago. Children can go on a voyage of discovery around the site, while adults enjoy the view over the city.

In the centre, the contrast between the Stiftsstadt (abbey town) and the Reichsstadt (imperial city) is well worth exploring: on one side, the baroque splendour around the Residenz with its state rooms and the Basilika St. Lorenz; on the other, civic Kempten with Rathausplatz, gabled townhouses and the St-Mang-Kirche. Only a few minutes' walk separates the two worlds – there are few places where South German urban history can be experienced in such a compact form. The Kempten Museum in the Zumsteinhaus tells the story of both towns in an entertaining and vivid way.

Culinarily, there's no getting around Kempten im Allgäu: Kässpatzen with fried onions, hearty bread platters with mountain cheese from the surrounding dairies, and in summer a cool beer in a beer garden are all part of the essential experience. Those after something more modern will now also find cafés in the old town serving specialty coffee, vegetarian cuisine and international concepts. For Sunday morning, a stroll around the weekly market is recommended, where local producers sell cheese, sausage and baked goods.

The second day belongs to the surrounding area: within a few minutes you reach the Iller, whose riverside paths are perfect for a cycling trip or a long walk. Those wanting to head higher can take the car or bus into the Allgäu mountains – Oberstdorf and the Hörnerdörfer villages are reachable in around half an hour, and even a short detour rewards you with panoramic views, alpine meadows and mountain air. In poor weather, the region's water parks and museums offer dry alternatives.

Those who enjoy shopping should head to the pedestrian zone around Fischerstraße: alongside chain stores, there remain a pleasing number of independent shops – from bookshops to traditional Bavarian clothing to a cheese shop that vacuum-packs Allgäu specialities for the journey home. Saturdays are lively and colourful, while weekdays offer a more relaxed browse. A special souvenir is the mountain cheese from the dairies of the Oberallgäu, which many traders offer in various stages of maturity.

Even in the evening, nobody needs to head back to the hotel early: wine bars and pubs open up in the lanes of the old town, and in summer, outdoor seating stays busy until late. The Stadttheater and smaller stages provide cultural entertainment, and anyone simply wanting to reflect on the day can find quiet benches along the Iller with a view of the water.

Practical tips for the trip: Kempten is reachable from München by train in just over an hour, and the centre can be explored entirely on foot. Accommodation options range from family-run guesthouses to modern city hotels; if travelling during peak season or festival weekends, it's wise to book early. Whether it's Roman history, baroque splendour or mountain panoramas: Kempten condenses everything that makes the Allgäu special into a small space, making it ideal for a 48-hour getaway.

One final tip for planning: the best months for a visit to Kempten are May to October, when the beer gardens and mountain railways are in full swing – though Advent has its own charm too, with the Christmas market and a snow-covered old town backdrop. Choosing to travel by train saves you the hassle of finding parking and lets you enjoy the Allgäu scenery along the way. And if 48 hours isn't enough, simply add a third day: Füssen with its royal castles, Lake Constance and the mountains of Vorarlberg are all within comfortable day-trip distance.