Memmingen: the Bavarian gateway to the Allgäu Alps

The Town Hall of Memmingen, with its colorful Baroque facade, remains the city's most imposing civic building, facing the main square.

A short walk away, the medieval walls of Memmingen, among the best preserved in Bavaria, still encircle much of the historic center.

Continuing toward the interior, one reaches the Allgäu hills, a region known for cheese production, traditional livestock raising, and lush alpine vistas extending to the first slopes of the Alps.

Toward evening, Memmingen's local breweries offer tastings according to the Bavarian beer tradition passed down for centuries among families of the old town.

Memmingen was a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire for over five hundred years, a status that granted it direct administrative autonomy from the emperor until the early nineteenth century, when it passed under Bavarian sovereignty.

The Allgäu region, extending south of Memmingen toward the Alps, remains famous throughout Germany for its cheese production and for its verdant hilly landscapes dotted with traditional farms and medieval castles.