Esslingen is a very sweet German village in wine country on the Neckar River, just a one-hour trip on two city trains from Stuttgart. From the Esslingen train station, it’s an easy 5-minute walk into their main square. This is a very historic village, developed around 1000 BC and a market town since the 800’s.
We visited on a Saturday, and as soon as we arrived we remembered that it was market day. The town square was full of colorful fruit and vegetable stands, and the bakery shops all around town were full of people having croissants, savory Danishes, and coffee. We picked up coffee and took a best guess at picking out our pastry. We thought we chose something sweet, but ended up with delicious tomato-and-cheese Danishes.
It’s a good idea to fuel up, because the walk up to the castle is a good one. Even though there may have been a million steps to go up, the climb is worth it. From the top, you can see for miles. Or, in this case, kilometers. There are gorgeous views that include red tiled roofs and rolling grape vines planted down the hill.
Photo Gallery
We ate lunch at the Weinkeller Einhorn (Unicorn Wine Cellar). The restaurant is in a building that is centuries old, full of wooden beams, with a fabulous spooky wine cellar. The wines were very good, and the food was very German. We ate meat-filled dumplings (Maultaschen) and beans & franks (Linsen und Wiener Würstchen).
Esslingen is home to the Kessler winery, famous for their German sparkling wines. Kessler offers what is said to be an excellent tour of their cellars, but only in German. Nonetheless, we might try this another day.
This village, with half-timbered homes, vineyards, and a fabulous climb to the castle, is also an added bonus of a close train ride from Stuttgart. Overall, a day out in Esslingen, a quintessentially quaint German village, gets two thumbs up.
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