When we went to Belgium, my mom wanted to go to Germany. Monschau was close enough to the border for us to make a trip into Germany for the day, while also visiting a town that looked super cute.

Some of Monschau’s History

Monschau is a medieval town that dates back at least to the 1100s. However, its heyday came much later in the 1700s. It had a thriving textile industry that gave its economy a good boost. After the 18th century, however, the economy declined. However, the town ended up being very well preserved and now looks as it did 300 years ago.

I can’t find how many of the current buildings date back to this time or even further to the medieval era. It doesn’t look so old as being more than 300 years old, but I could be wrong.

Interestingly Monschau also had a background role during Battle of the Bulge. I don’t know much about war history but you can read more about it here.

A Visit to Monschau

The Red House is one of the biggest buildings in the town and it’s also a museum. Ironically it’s much more pink than it is red. You can go inside and see how a wealthy family lived there in the 1760s – one of the heads of the town’s defining textile industry. I found it nice but not incredible.

Of course, every old town has to have a castle, so of course Monschau has Monschau Castle. It was built in the 13th centuries but abandoned only a few hundred years later. Today it’s not in use, but you can go up and visit the remains.

The Historic Mustard Mill is a big draw for Monschau. It’s family-owned and been in business for centuries, and still makes mustard the old-fashioned way. From the old town it’s about a 10-minute walk slightly uphill. Apparently the mill isn’t for touring, but you can taste the 23 varieties of mustard they have in their shop. They incorporate lots of different flavors into the mustard, like tomato, garlic, and even beer.

My personal favorites were the Imperial and Herb mustards. They also have different types of vinegars and other culinary goods for sale. Even though the mustard mill wasn’t what I was expecting (it’s a store), it was a nice place to try unique flavors and get souvenirs. It was actually my mom’s favorite place to visit in Monschau.

We were also excited to go to the Glashutte Monschau which is advertised as a “glass-blowing museum.” It’s really a large shop where they have a glass-blowing demonstration. The glass in the shop is beautiful but it’s all large stuff like vases, so we weren’t able to buy anything to take home. The shop is part of a shopping center where they also sell things like beautiful ornaments and they have a traditional German restaurant. If you’ve been to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, it looks very similar to the Festhaus – which shocked me a bit! Haha.

That quite wraps up what there is to do and see in this small town. A lot of the appeal is that you can walk around its old cobblestone streets and see the half-timbered (and some half-timbered-painted) houses. The gushing Roer river with the steep stone hills make a dramatic backdrop. The winding roads give good photo ops. I could not find anything that indicates Monschau was ever a mining town but it certainly looks it.

It can take about half an hour to explore the old town on the surface, maybe an hour if you’re super leisurely. It’s not very big so Monschau can easily be explored in a day. It was a perfect place to visit so my mom could “see” Germany; a cute place characteristic of German style, but not too big so it could be explored in a few hours.

I liked Monschau, and found it cute. It’s a convenient trip from nearby countries and can be seen in only a few hours, so it’s a place to consider for a day trip. However I wasn’t head over heels in love with it, and neither was my mom. I’d say it should definitely be kept on your radar but you can’t find time or room in your itinerary for it, there’s probably lots of other places in Germany that have a bit more to see.

That being said, we did a trip that also included Aachen and I have to say Monschau is definitely the more charming town of the two! Hopefully this info helps you plan your trip.

Have you been to Monschau? What did you think?

About the Author

Leave a Reply