The Best Views of Augsburg

A grueling climb up exactly 258 steep, highly uneven stairs puts you directly at the top of this 70-metre medieval watchtower. You look straight down onto the copper roof of the adjacent Renaissance town hall and the chaotic pedestrian square below. On a sharply clear day, the heavy grey line of the Alps is distinctly visible on the southern horizon. The bells hang directly above the viewing platform and are deafeningly loud if you time your visit poorly.

An aggressive, high-speed elevator shoots you to the top floors of the city's tallest concrete skyscraper. From this brutalist 1970s structure, you get an uninterrupted 360-degree panorama of the entire urban grid and the dense forests bleeding into the city limits. It provides the absolute best perspective to understand the sheer scale of the surrounding landscape. You can access the view by visiting the hotel's bar or restaurants on the upper levels.

Positioning yourself on one of the small, heavily reinforced pedestrian bridges crossing the artificial Olympic channel puts you directly over violent, crashing water. You look straight down into complex, highly engineered concrete drops designed to aggressively trap kayaks. The sheer speed of the turquoise water rushing beneath your feet is deeply hypnotic. It is the absolute best angle to watch athletes battling the fierce currents during training sessions.

Standing on the heavy stone bridge over the former moat, you get a highly compressed, deeply historical view of ancient engineering. The massive Red Gate defensive tower looms directly ahead, flanked by three exceptionally old brick water towers. The steep, grassy banks of the moat drop away violently below you, creating a deep sense of scale. It feels entirely disconnected from the modern traffic rushing just a few streets away.

Standing directly in the centre of this heavy concrete traffic bridge forces you to confront the sheer power of the alpine river. You stare straight down the wide, milky-green channel of the Lech as it cuts aggressively through thick lines of trees. The massive Hochablass weir is visible in the distance, violently churning the water white. The constant, heavy vibration of cars passing behind you adds a tense energy to the natural landscape.

Looking out from the rear windows or balconies of this highly ornate Rococo mansion reveals a fiercely manicured, secret formal garden. The extreme symmetry of the hedges and gravel paths contrasts sharply with the chaotic mediaeval alleys outside the palace walls. It provides a highly controlled, incredibly wealthy perspective on urban space. The view proves exactly how much money local aristocrats possessed to maintain such useless, beautiful land in the city centre.