Rietenau: Half-timbered houses, sound trail and village museum

Rietenau lies at the entrance to the wooded Heiligental and Forstbachtal valleys. Several magnificent half-timbered houses stand in the winding village center. This brings landscape and architecture together. The different highlights can help you get a sense of Rietenau as a destination if you are looking for a hotel for a stay focused on culture and nature.

Hiking with music and geology

The Rietenau Sound Trail is an interactive hiking route with twelve musical stations over four kilometers. It starts and ends at the Rietenau Music Hall on Trinkgasse. These details give the route a clear profile: walking and music are at its heart, while local history and the museum offer other thematic focuses.

Station 22, the dinosaur station on the Keuper Geology Trail, is by the fishponds. Its information boards cover the geology of southwestern Germany, the Backnang Basin and the organisms of the Keuper and Muschelkalk periods. The subject matter therefore ranges from regional geology to organisms from these two periods. This focus differs from the musical character of the sound trail and the themes of the village center.

Local history and everyday culture

Rietenau’s sights include the Protestant Ulrich Church, whose origins date back to the 13th century. A fountain is located beside the former bathhouse, built in 1826. The church and bathhouse thus point to different historical landmarks in the village.

The Museum of Rural Everyday Culture in Rietenau is located in the former town hall. Tools, documents and photographs bring together practical, written and visual records of rural everyday culture. The museum has no regular opening hours. It is open during events such as “Day of the Swabian Forest – Dolce Via through Aspach”; group tours are available on request. Check in advance whether your visit coincides with an event.

More themes in the wider destination of Aspach

The wider destination of Aspach offers further, distinct themes. At the historic Torkel wine press in Kleinaspach, a multi-part video presentation explores viticulture, wine processing and work in the vineyards. It also covers the Torkel press and pressing process, wine festivals in Aspach, as well as leisure activities and educational trails in Aspach. The wine press in Allmersbach am Weinberg dates from the late 18th century. Rest areas along the Aspach Wine Hiking Trail invite you to take a break; there are also places to eat and drink and opportunities to sample wine with complementary dishes. A free brochure about the GUcK Tour is also available at the Großaspach town hall as a guide to visiting Aspach.

The Aspacher Panorama is also part of the wider destination. The hiking trail can be started from several hiking and regular parking areas, as well as from stops on bus route 367. If you plan to use the bus, check the latest information before setting off. There are also suitable cycling routes in the Aspacher Panorama area.

For the wider travel overview: Aspach.