This guide covers six places in Regensburg's old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the Kepler monument, Neupfarrplatz, the Alte Kapelle, the Old Town Hall, Haidplatz and Bismarckplatz. All six are stops on our scavenger hunt, and together they cover the city's long story, from a Carolingian church and the Jewish quarter of the Middle Ages to the diet of the Holy Roman Empire and the new squares laid out around 1800.
Kepler Monument
The astronomer Johannes Kepler, who worked out the laws of planetary motion, died in Regensburg in November 1630 while on a journey and was buried in a cemetery outside the walls; his grave was lost during the Thirty Years' War. The monument to him was inaugurated in December 1808, revived by the prince-primate Karl Theodor von Dalberg and designed by the architect Emanuel Herigoyen as a small round temple on eight Doric columns, crowned by a gilded armillary sphere.
Under the dome stands a life-size marble bust of Kepler by Friedrich Döll, and the relief on the front of the pedestal, by Johann Heinrich Dannecker, shows Kepler as a genius lifting the veil of Urania, the muse of astronomy. The temple first stood near the old burial ground and was moved in 1859 to the green belt of Fürst-Anselm-Allee, near the main station, where it is the first stop of our scavenger hunt.
Neupfarrplatz
For centuries this was the centre of one of the largest Jewish communities in Germany. In 1519 the city expelled its roughly 500 members and tore down the synagogue and the houses around it. On the ruins a Catholic pilgrimage church to the Schöne Maria, the Beautiful Mary, was begun, but money ran out; when Regensburg adopted the Reformation in 1542, the unfinished building became the city's first Protestant parish church, the Neupfarrkirche.
Excavations in the 1990s uncovered the foundations of the Gothic synagogue, and among the finds was a 14th-century hoard of 624 gold coins, now in the Historisches Museum. The square is one of our scavenger hunt stops.
- The white concrete relief by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan, dedicated in 2005, which traces the floor plan of the synagogue and which you can walk and sit on.
- The Neupfarrkirche itself, with its unusual unfinished shape.
- The entrance to document Neupfarrplatz, an underground exhibition that shows about 2,000 years of history beneath the square.
Alte Kapelle (Basilica of Our Lady)
Behind a plain exterior just off the Alter Kornmarkt hides the oldest church in Regensburg. King Louis the German is recorded as its builder in 875, and in 1002 Emperor Henry II refounded its college of canons and rebuilt the church. Its full name is the Basilica of the Nativity of Our Lady at the Alte Kapelle; Pope Paul VI raised it to a minor basilica in 1964.
Step inside and the medieval walls disappear under one of the finest Rococo interiors in Bavaria, created from 1747 onwards, with stucco by Anton Landes and ceiling frescoes by Christoph Thomas Scheffler. The side chapel holds a revered image of Mary, by legend a papal gift to Henry II, though historians date it to the 13th century. Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church's new organ in 2006. The basilica is a scavenger hunt stop.
Altes Rathaus
The Old Town Hall grew from the 13th century onwards, with a Gothic tower and the great hall of the Reichssaal, built in the 14th century for the city's council and its festivities. Imperial diets met in Regensburg many times, and from 1663 to 1806 the hall was the seat of the Perpetual Imperial Diet, the first permanent assembly of the Holy Roman Empire, where envoys of the emperor, the princes and the imperial cities sat.
Today the rooms of the diet form the Reichstagsmuseum, which you can see on a guided tour, including the dungeon and the old interrogation chamber in the basement. The building also houses the tourist information office. The Old Town Hall is one of our scavenger hunt stops.
- The Reichssaal windows and the oriel facing Rathausplatz.
- The two small stone figures above the portal, known as Schutz and Trutz, guardians of the town hall.
Haidplatz
Haidplatz is one of the largest and oldest squares in the old town. Knightly tournaments were held here in the Middle Ages, and the city's best-known legend, the duel between the knight Dollinger and the giant heathen Krako, is said to have been fought on this spot, though it is a legend and not documented history.
The houses around the square have their own stories. Emperor Charles V stayed several times in the Goldenes Kreuz, and during his visit in 1546 he met the young Barbara Blomberg, mother of Don Juan of Austria, the future victor of Lepanto. In the Neue Waag, the city's weigh house, the Protestant reformer Philipp Melanchthon and the Catholic theologian Johannes Eck held their religious colloquy in 1541. Haidplatz is a scavenger hunt stop.
- The Justitia fountain in the middle of the square, built in 1656, with its figure of Justice from 1659.
- The Goldenes Kreuz with its tower, a medieval patrician house on the north side.
- The classical façade of the Thon-Dittmer-Palais, whose courtyard is used for open-air performances in summer.
Bismarckplatz
Bismarckplatz is the newest of these squares, a product of the years around 1800 when Karl Theodor von Dalberg ruled Regensburg as prince-primate. In 1803 the architect Emanuel Herigoyen built a theatre and the Präsidialpalais here, the residence of the French envoy, and the open space in between was turned into a square with a classical look that is very different from the medieval lanes nearby.
The theatre, still the city's main stage, closes the south side, and the Präsidialpalais now houses the Haus der Musik. With its fountains, trees and café tables, the square is a pleasant place to finish a walk. It is the last stop of our scavenger hunt.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the Kepler monument near the main station and walk north along Maximilianstraße to Neupfarrplatz. From there it is a short walk to the Alter Kornmarkt and the Alte Kapelle; with time to spare you can also see the cathedral and the Porta Praetoria nearby. Head west through the lanes to the Old Town Hall, continue to Haidplatz, and finish at Bismarckplatz, at the western edge of the old town.
See Regensburg with World City Trail
Our Regensburg scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the Kepler monument to Bismarckplatz, and all six places in this guide are stops. The route also takes in the Basilica of St Emmeram, St Peter's Cathedral, the Porta Praetoria and the Stone Bridge.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Regensburg.
Play the Regensburg scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Regensburg →
Play the outdoor escape game in Regensburg →
Facts checked in October 2026.