Landau is a town of 47,000 people (2018) in the Palatinate. It is a university town, a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the Palatinate wine region. Landau lies east of the Palatinate forest, Europe's largest contiguous forest, on the German Wine Route.

Understand

Wine-making continues to be an important industry of Landau.

The "landau", a luxury open carriage with a pair of folding tops, was invented in the town.

Get in

By plane

Frankfurt airport, Stuttgart airport and Saarbrücken airport are all about 2½ hours away.

By train

Rail connections from Neustadt an der Weinstraße which has good long distance connections, also from Karlsruhe and Pirmasens.

By car

The town lies just off the A65, about 50 km from Ludwigshafen and 40 km from Karlsruhe.

See

• In the 19th century, the former fortifications gave way to a ring road that encircles the old town centre, from which the old industrial buildings have been excluded.
• A convention hall, the Festhalle, was built in Art Nouveau style, 1905–07 on a rise overlooking the town park and facing the modernist Bundesamt, the regional government building. The Protestant Collegiate Church (Stiftskirche) is one of the oldest buildings in the town. The construction of the church started in the 14th century, and was completed in the mid-16th century.
• 1 Castle Trifels (Reichsburg Trifels) (Few kilometres west of the town near Annweiler). Castle where Richard Lionheart of England was held as a hostage and the place where the imperial regalia was stored. 
• 2 Castle Lindenbrunn (Burg Lemberg - Pfalz) (24 km into the Palatinate Forest). 
• Rathausplatz. Landau's large main square is dominated by the town hall (Rathaus) and the market hall (Altes Kaufhaus). (updated May 2020)
• Zoo. The zoo is close to the centre of Landau alongside the historical fortifications. Animals are held in natural enclosures. The zoo contains numerous exotic species such as tigers, cheetahs, seals, penguins, kangaroos and flamingos. (updated May 2020)

Eat

• 1 Zum Weißen Bären, Meerweibchenstraße 9, ☏ +49 6341 20925. 

Sleep

• 1 Parkhotel Landau, Mahlastraße 1, ☏ +49 6341 1450. 

Go next

• Bad Bergzabern
• Neustadt an der Weinstraße
• Speyer