Discover Aldersbach: Monastery, Asam Church and trails

If you are looking for a hotel in Aldersbach, you can choose your destination based on the interests you have for your stay. The town combines monastic history and church art with exhibitions, historical guided experiences, events, and cycling and hiking trails.

Monastery complex and church art

The former Cistercian monastery in Aldersbach, together with its former monastery church, the collegiate Church of the Assumption of Mary, forms an impressive ensemble. The Asam brothers designed the interior of the collegiate church. Cosmas Damian Asam painted a fresco spanning a bay on the nave ceiling there for the first time in Bavaria. Egid Quirin Asam created stuccowork in the style of the early Rococo, showing the influence of the Italian Baroque. As you look around the church interior, you can appreciate ceiling painting and sculptural stuccowork as distinct forms of artistic expression.

The Asam Church has been open again since its altar consecration on November 24, 2024. Check the current opening hours before planning a visit.

Exhibitions and historical tours

The Bräuseum in Aldersbach features the permanent exhibitions “Wirtshaussterben? Wirtshausleben!” and “BIER & WIR.” Their titles offer different thematic starting points: one contrasts the decline of inns with inn life, while the other brings together beer and “us.” An arbitration award issued by Count Albert of Hals in 1268 attests to brewing in Aldersbach from that time onward.

Historical guided experiences offer another way to explore the town’s history. “Abbot Theobald II” and Brother Kastner lead history-minded visitors from the town hall portal across the monastery grounds to ornate monastery halls such as the library hall and the Solomon Hall. If you are planning a group tour, contact the tourist information office to arrange it.

Events and trails

The open-air stage in Aldersbach hosts events ranging from classical music and cabaret to rock, pop and musicals. If attending an event is a deciding factor in your trip, check the program dates in advance.

Cycling and hiking trails in Aldersbach include the Vilstal Cycle Route and the Via Nova. The latter passes through the monastery grounds and its Baroque garden. This gives you two specific points to consider when planning: the named trails in the town and the Via Nova route through the monastery complex.

Another cultural destination in the wider Passau travel region

The Bavarian Forest Open-Air Museum is located in Tittling, within the wider Passau travel region. Across 20 hectares, you can visit more than 100 residential and farm buildings from the Bavarian Forest dating from 1580 to 1890. The museum includes farmsteads, mills, sawmills, blacksmiths’ workshops, chapels and field monuments, as well as Germany’s oldest elementary school, dating from 1666. While the monastery complex and church art are local highlights in Aldersbach, the museum in Tittling offers another cultural and historical perspective on historic residential and farm buildings in the wider Passau travel region.

Discover more destinations: Ortenburg, Vilshofen An Der Donau, Haarbach, Beutelsbach, Neuhaus Am Inn, Untergriesbach, Salzweg, Neukirchen vorm Wald.

View the overview of the wider travel region: Passau.