October 31, 2026
Reformation Day — Public Holiday in Select States
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
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Check the current status before you arrive.
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📷 Taxiarchos228 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Freiburg lies in the south-west of Germany, where the Rhine Plain meets the Black Forest, and is one of Germany's historic university cities. Running through the streets of the old town centre are the Bächle — shallow channels fed by water from the Dreisam river — while the cathedral towers above the city with its 116-metre western spire. The air raid of 27 November 1944 destroyed a large part of the old town, yet the cathedral survived unscathed, so what visitors see today is a blend of original structures and carefully restored ones. From here, the Schauinsland summit and the vineyards of the Kaiserstuhl are both within half a day's reach.
October 31, 2026
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
Check the current status before you arrive.
December 25, 2026
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
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December 26, 2026
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
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January 1, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
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March 26, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
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March 29, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
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May 1, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
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May 6, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
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May 17, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
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October 3, 2027
What this means for you
Closures of institutions and shops are possible on that date.
What to do
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Everything you need for Freiburg im Breisgau in one place
The western tower stands 116 metres tall and is crowned by a perforated stone pyramid, 46 metres high, rising from an octagonal base; it was completed around 1330. Construction began around 1200 under Duke Berthold V and continued for roughly three and a half centuries — the choir was consecrated on 5 December 1513. In 1869, the art historian Jakob Burckhardt wrote that Freiburg would likely remain home to the most beautiful tower in the world. The viewing platform is at seventy metres. The Hosanna Bell was cast in 1258 and measures over one metre sixty in diameter; it does not ring every day, but rather on Thursday evenings after the Angelus, on Fridays at eleven o'clock, and every 27 November. Carved into the stone beside the portal are bread measures, which were used in the marketplace to check the size of loaves.
The market runs from Monday to Saturday — weekdays until half past one, Saturdays until two — with up to one hundred and thirty stalls. On the northern side of the square, regional producers sell vegetables, cheese, meat and bread; the southern side is given over to ceramics, brushes and hats; and the flower sellers are gathered by the cathedral's main portal. Traders have occupied this square since the 16th century, when the graveyard that once surrounded the cathedral was relocated; before that, the Sunday market was held in what is now Kaiser-Joseph-Straße. This is also the place to try Lange Rote, Freiburg's grilled sausage.
Construction of the building began in 1520 and was completed in 1532. The façade features four Habsburg rulers — Maximilian I, his son Philip the Handsome, and Philip's sons Charles V and Ferdinand I — figures carved in 1530 and 1531 by Hans Sixt of Staufen. The building served as a goods transhipment and customs point, and its red sandstone arcades open directly onto Münsterplatz. The identity of the architect has never been conclusively established.
A thin, skinless sausage thirty-five centimetres long, grilled and served in a bread roll from which it protrudes at both ends. The only question you will be asked is whether you want it with or without onions — the onions are fried alongside the sausage. Sold at seven stalls on Münsterplatz, next to the market.
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