At the former moated castle in Titting, a striking building and a brewing tradition dating back to 1707 come together. The Titting fossil collection site offers a very different experience: with a little luck and patience, visitors can make finds of their own. Three named hiking trails also cross the municipality. When planning your trip, it is therefore worth distinguishing between the town of Titting and destinations across the municipality.

Moated Castle and Brewing Tradition

The former moated castle is in the upper part of the town of Titting, at the foot of Kreuzberg. Its two-storey wings, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, enclose the courtyard of the irregularly octagonal building. The courtyard complex and the irregular ground plan are two related aspects of the same architecture. In 1707, the Prince-Bishop of Eichstätt had a brewery set up in the castle; beer has been brewed there ever since. The building’s history and brewing tradition are thus distinct aspects of the same Titting landmark.

Fossil Hunting and Taking Home Small Finds

The fossil collection site offers a different focus. With a little luck and patience, visitors can find fossilized plants, crinoids and, occasionally, ammonites there. Smaller finds may be taken home as prehistoric souvenirs. The search therefore depends on patience and luck; the option to take finds home applies to smaller specimens. This clearly distinguishes two interests in Titting: on the one hand, the moated castle, its architecture and brewing tradition; on the other, the chance to discover fossils for yourself.

History and Trails Across the Municipality

The municipality’s history reaches far back: grave finds provide evidence of settlement in the Anlauter Valley as early as around 1000 BC. Much later, between the 14th and 15th centuries, Brunneck Castle ruins were built above Altdorf in the Anlauter Valley. Only remains of the castle survive today. The finds and the ruins point to different historical traces: the grave finds to early settlement, and the ruins to a medieval castle.

The Limes Trail, the Pilgrims’ Trail and the Nuremberg–Eichstätt Way of St. James cross the municipality of Titting. Their names highlight different themes: the Limes, pilgrimage and the Way of St. James. The municipality also has renovated examples of the traditional Jura house style of the Altmühl-Jura region, with their characteristic flat-stone roofs. Alongside the moated castle, these bring another type of architecture into focus: regional Jura houses with their distinctive roofing.

An annual event is the visit to the forest chapel in Erkertshofen for the Antonifest. The festival is always held on the Sunday after 13 June. Thus, as well as enduring architectural and historical features, the municipality also has an event that takes place on a fixed date each year.

More to Explore in the Wider Eichstätt Destination

In the wider Eichstätt destination, the Jura Museum Eichstätt offers a focus of its own: the exhibition centres on fossils from the Solnhofen Plattenkalk limestone; the museum also displays the original Eichstätt specimen of Archaeopteryx. The Eichstätt Fossil Trail, by contrast, is a moderately difficult 9 km circular route for families. The offers can therefore be distinguished by type: an exhibition featuring a named original, a circular trail, or fossil hunting in Titting, where potential finds depend on luck and patience.

Willibaldsburg Castle is part of Eichstätt’s history. Bishop Berthold, Burgrave of Zollern, had it built in 1355; it served as the bishop’s residence until 1725. Of the 420 m-long castle, the walls and bastions, the arsenal, the 63 m-long gate hall and the Gemmingen building with its two towers have survived. The 1,500 m² Bastion Garden is also located at Willibaldsburg Castle in Eichstätt. There, the Hortus Eystettensis, destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War, was brought back to life after 400 years; visitors can discover many of the original plant species.

Eichstätt’s Cathedral Square is also located on the oldest settled ground in the city. The Eichstätt Culinary Hosts add a culinary dimension to the wider destination: several times a year, they serve special dishes under the motto “Eichstätt cooks...”, including flavourful Altmühltal lamb dishes. These highlights complement Titting’s offerings with distinctive cultural, nature and culinary experiences in Eichstätt.

Discover more destinations: Emsing, Eichstätt, Altmannstein, Gaimersheim, Wellheim, Mörnsheim, Denkendorf, Böhmfeld

Back to the wider travel overview: Eichstätt.