What is the Aachen outdoor escape game?
The Aachen outdoor escape game turns the escape room inside out: rather than locking you in a room, it sends you through the streets of a historic spa town. On your smartphone you crack a puzzle at each of the 10 spots by studying the place and reasoning it through. Set aside about 2 hours, of which 23 minutes are spent walking across 2 km.
Puzzles are set at the Ponttor, the Holy Cross church, the International Newspaper Museum, City Hall, the Centre Charlemagne, the Couven Museum, the Doll Fountain, the cathedral, the Circulation of Money fountain and the Elisenbrunnen. Each puzzle is self-contained, so no storyline is required, and three levels of hints help. The old town is compact, and the route runs through the student quarter and around the market square, which leaves time between puzzles.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 23 min · 2 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What you do on the escape game
Solve
Crack each puzzle by observing the spot and reasoning it through. No prior knowledge of Aachen is needed.
Look for the figures
Clues sit in sculptures, carved stone and the details of façades, from the jointed figures of the Doll Fountain to the Gothic lines of City Hall.
Walk
Follow Google Maps through the lanes: about 23 minutes on foot across 2.0 km.
Take your time
There is no countdown. Use hints if needed, stop for a coffee in the market square and continue later or on another day.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who it suits
Friends on a day out
Each puzzle sparks a new debate, and nobody needs to know Aachen beforehand.
Couples
A shared challenge that keeps you talking as you wander from fountain to cathedral, with no clock running.
Team building
Teams of up to 5 play on their own phones, so colleagues can split the tasks or work out each spot together.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- Best started in daylight, so you can see the details the puzzles ask about.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Puzzle route: from the Ponttor to the Elisenbrunnen
10 stops · about 23 min walking · start: Ponttor · finish: Elisenbrunnen
The first puzzle waits at the Ponttor gate, and the last at the Elisenbrunnen, the pavilion with its warm spring fountains. In between come the Holy Cross church and the newspaper museum on the Pontstraße, then City Hall, the Centre Charlemagne, the Couven Museum, the Doll Fountain and the cathedral, before the Circulation of Money fountain. Starting in daylight suits the outdoor puzzles best, since rain slows everything down. Google Maps guides you between spots, the app lets you change the order, and no entry tickets are needed.
Open the route map ↗
1PonttorStart
The Ponttor is one of only two surviving gates of Aachen's outer city wall, built in the 14th century. Its main gate tower is joined to an outer gate by walls, a layout that trapped attackers between the two, and it stands at the end of Pontstraße, the street that leads to the market square.
2Church of the Holy Cross
This Catholic church stands in the Pont quarter, the lively district around Pontstraße that is popular with students of RWTH Aachen University. Compare its quiet church front with the cafés, bars and student pubs that line the rest of the street.
3International Newspaper Museum
The museum was founded in 1886 by Oscar von Forckenbeck and holds one of the largest collections of newspapers in the world, including many historic first and special editions. Aachen suits the theme: in 1850 Paul Julius Reuter ran a carrier-pigeon news service from here, before founding his news agency in London.
4City Hall
Aachen's Gothic City Hall was built in the 14th century on the walls of Charlemagne's palace hall, and the Granus Tower on its east side goes back to his time. After their coronation in the cathedral, German kings held their banquet in its great hall, and the Charlemagne Prize for services to European unity is awarded here every year.
5Centre Charlemagne
This museum of city history opened in 2014 on the Katschhof, the square between City Hall and the cathedral where Charlemagne's palace once stood. It tells Aachen's story from the Roman spa town to today, with Charlemagne and the coronations of kings at its centre.
6Couven Museum
This museum shows how wealthy Aachen families lived in the 18th and 19th centuries, in furnished rooms from rococo to Biedermeier. It is named after the Aachen architect Johann Joseph Couven, and on the Hühnermarkt in front stands the Hühnerdieb fountain, a bronze thief making off with a hen.
7Puppenbrunnen
The Doll Fountain on Krämerstraße was created by the sculptor Bonifatius Stirnberg in the 1970s. Its bronze figures represent characters from Aachen life, and their arms and heads are jointed, so you are allowed to move them and change their poses.
Read the full story →
8Aachen Cathedral
Charlemagne built the octagonal Palatine Chapel around 800 as part of his palace, and he was buried here in 814. Between 936 and 1531 some 30 German kings were crowned here, and in 1978 the cathedral became the first German site on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
9Kreislauf des Geldes
This bronze fountain sculpture, whose name means the circulation of money, shows a ring of figures through whose hands money passes. Take a close look at their faces and gestures, which comment with plenty of humour on what money does to people.
10ElisenbrunnenFinish
This neoclassical pavilion with its colonnade was built in the 1820s and named after Crown Princess Elisabeth of Prussia. Two fountains deliver warm thermal water with a strong smell of sulphur, and plaques list famous spa guests who came to Aachen for its springs, such as Peter the Great.
Read the full story →
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.