Bad Dürkheim

Its population in 2018 was about 18,000 people. From west to east through the town flows the river Isenach.

Bad Dürkheim's main industry is winegrowing. With 855 ha (3.3 square miles) of vineyards under cultivation, the town is the Palatinate’s third biggest winegrowing centre.

Bad Dürkheim is about 30 km east of Kaiserslautern and just under 20 km west of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Roughly 15 km to the south lies Neustadt an der Weinstraße. In Bad Dürkheim, Bundesstraßen 37 and 271 cross each other.

The A650 runs from Ludwigshafen and the A61 to the edge of the town. Alternatively take the Deutsche Weinstrasse.

The Rhein-Haardtbahn (a narrow-gauge tramway), which now runs as “Line 4”, runs through Maxdorf and links Bad Dürkheim with Ludwigshafen and Mannheim.

• 🌍 Limburg Monastery (Kloster Limburg). At the edge of the Palatinate Forest lie the once thriving Limburg Abbey’s ruins. In the 9th century, the Salian Dukes from Worms built a fortress on the Linthberg as their family seat. In the early 11th century, the fortress was converted into a monastery with a basilica. It existed until the mid-16th century. 
• 🌍 Schloss Hardenburg. Ruins of castle. Beginning in the 13th century, the castle was the seat of the Counts of Leiningen, but was built in its current shape only in the 16th century. It was destroyed once and for all in the late 18th century. 
• Saint Louis's Catholic Parish Church (Ludwigskirche). Built in 1828 and 1829 in the Classicist style. The plans were inspired by a master builder from Baden named Weinbrenner. The building work was backed and financially supported by King Ludwig I of Bavaria (Bad Dürkheim was part of Bavaria's Palatine exclave at the time). 
• The Protestant Castle Church (Schlosskirche). Built in the late 13th century. Its tower, with a height of 70 m, is the Further (or “Anterior”, that is, East) Palatinate's third tallest churchtower. 
• The Castle Church (Burgkirche). Built in the 18th century, destroyed in 1945 and thereafter built once again. Today it serves as a Protestant community centre. In its tower hangs a 317 kg bell poured in 1758. It underwent improvements in 2006 and is rung by a hand-drawn rope. It is rung each year at 14:00 on 18 March in memory of the air raid on Bad Dürkheim in 1945, and also at 17:00 on the first Saturday in Advent, together with the other bells in the inner town, to usher in the new liturgical year. 
• The Heidenmauer (Heathen Wall). The remnants of a great Celtic settlement with a 2.5-km-long ringwall, which was built about 500 BC. 
• Dürkheimer Riesenfass (Giant Barrel) (on the western edge of the Wurstmarkt grounds). The world's biggest barrel. It houses a restaurant. 
• Riesenroulette (Giant Roulette Wheel). Every year in August, the wheel is set up in the spa park as part of the Kurparkgala. It uses a ball the size of a football. 

• Wurstmarkt: . Its name literally means “sausage market”, although it is in fact the world's biggest wine festival, drawing more than 600,000 visitors each year for ten days in mid-September. (date needs fixing)
• Stadtgeläute (the Town Bellringing). Once a year at 17:00 on the first Saturday in Advent, it is performed by ringers at the town's three churches, the Burgkirche, the Schlosskirche and the Ludwigskirche. (updated Jun 2020)

• 🌍 Dürkheimer Riesenfass, St. Michael Allee 1, ☏ +49 6322 2143. 

• 🌍 Gartenhotel Heusser, Seebacher Str. 50, ☏ +49 6322 9300. (updated Jan 2016)
• 🌍 Mercure Hotel Bad Duerkheim An Den Salinen, Kurbrunnenstrasse 30-32, ☏ +49 6322 6010. (updated Jan 2016)

• Neustadt an der Weinstraße
• Worms
• Speyer