Landshut combines more than 800 years of history with an unusually well preserved historic centre. Burg Trausnitz castle stands above the old town, the tower of St. Martin defines the skyline, and every four years the Landshut Wedding recalls one of the best-known princely weddings of the Middle Ages.
Today Landshut is at once the seat of the government of Lower Bavaria, a university town and the economic centre of the region.
Landshut is unusually easy to read on foot: the long old town below, St. Martin above it, Burg Trausnitz above that – three levels that make almost the whole history of the city visible at once.
The city lies in Lower Bavaria on the river Isar, around 70 kilometres north-east of Munich. It is an independent city and the seat of the government of Lower Bavaria, the administrative centre of the region. According to the residents' registration office, 75,870 people lived here on 31 December 2024.
What sets Landshut apart from many towns of its size is the state of its centre. The old town and the Neustadt run side by side as two parallel streets, both lined with townhouses from the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods. Narrow lanes run between them; medieval gates close them off at either end.
Landshut was founded in 1204 by Duke Ludwig I of Bavaria and became one of the most important centres of the Wittelsbach dynasty.
Source: Bavarian Palace Administration
The city did not grow gradually. It was founded – together with the castle that was meant to protect it.
In 1204 Duke Ludwig I laid out castle and city together. The site was chosen strategically: a ford across the Isar and a slope above it that could be fortified. By 1235, when Emperor Frederick II visited, the castle was essentially complete.
From 1255 to 1503 Landshut was the residence and seat of government of the Dukes of Lower Bavaria. This was the period of the city's greatest prosperity. The Landshut branch of the Wittelsbach family became known as the rich dukes – wealth that came from the salt trade, tolls and a position on important trade routes, and that can still be read from the buildings today.
In 1475 Georg the Rich married Hedwig, daughter of the King of Poland. The celebration is considered one of the most lavish of the late Middle Ages and remains part of the identity of the city.
The War of the Landshut Succession ended the independence of the duchy in 1503. Even so, the Renaissance left one more significant building: the Stadtresidenz, erected between 1536 and 1543 under Duke Ludwig X.
Ten places that together explain the city – from the castle and the churches to the river.
The castle above the old town was begun in 1204 together with the city and served from 1255 to 1503 as the residence and seat of government of the Dukes of Lower Bavaria. The Narrentreppe, a staircase painted with scenes from the Italian commedia dell'arte, dates from the Renaissance.
Find out more about Burg Trausnitz at Bavarian Palace Administration (opens in a new tab)
Built between 1389 and 1500 and the principal work of the master builder Hans von Burghausen. The tower measures 130.1 metres and is, according to the city, the tallest brick tower in the world. It carries three sundials and a moon phase clock.
Find out more about St. Martin collegiate basilica at Landshut erleben (opens in a new tab)
A single, unusually wide street axis runs through the city, lined with colourful townhouses carrying stepped and scrolled gables. The effect is less of a street than of a very long square.
Three Gothic townhouses, acquired one after another from 1380 onwards and brought together behind a neo-Gothic facade in 1861. In the great hall, murals show the bridal procession of the Landshut Wedding of 1475.
Find out more about Town hall at Landshut erleben (opens in a new tab)
Duke Ludwig X had the palace built between 1536 and 1543 after seeing the Palazzo Te in Mantua on a journey through northern Italy. The Italian wing is considered the earliest Renaissance building north of the Alps to follow Italian models.
Find out more about Stadtresidenz at Bavarian Palace Administration (opens in a new tab)
The brick gate marks the historic entrance to the old town from the river. Its name recalls the Lände, the landing place used by raftsmen and boatmen.
Founded in 1338 by Duke Heinrich XIV and in use as a parish church from 1369, which made it the second parish in the city alongside St. Martin. Above four square storeys the tower turns into an octagon and reaches 77 to 80 metres.
Away from the broad main axis lie narrow lanes with Gothic townhouses. They show how densely the medieval city was built behind its representative facades.
The gardens on the Hofberg lie between the old town and the castle. From here the view opens across the roofs to the tower of St. Martin.
The Isar divides within the city and forms the Mühleninsel, an island between the old town and the Neustadt. Riverside paths connect the districts away from the traffic.
The St. Martin collegiate basilica defines the skyline of Landshut with its 130.1 metre brick tower. It was built between 1389 and 1500 and is regarded as the principal work of the master builder Hans von Burghausen.
Source: City of Landshut / Landshut erlebenThe old town is not a tangle of alleys but a single, very wide street axis. It runs for around half a kilometre through the city and widens in places so much that it reads as a square rather than a street. The layout goes back to the planned foundation: unlike towns that grew organically, this one was laid out generously from the start.
Townhouses line both sides, carrying stepped and scrolled gables, many of them in strong colours: ochre, red, green, blue. The facades conceal narrow, deep plots – a typically medieval pattern in which street frontage was expensive and therefore kept short.
The most important buildings stand side by side along the axis: St. Martin, the town hall with its great hall, and the Stadtresidenz. From almost anywhere at street level, Burg Trausnitz is visible above the roofs. This relationship between city and castle is one reason Landshut feels so coherent.
The Neustadt runs parallel and, despite its name, is also medieval. Narrow lanes such as the Heilig-Geist-Gasse connect the two axes.
Lower Bavaria had no good building stone but plenty of clay. The monumental architecture of the city is therefore built of brick. Brick Gothic does not allow fine stone carving – the effect comes from mass, proportion and moulded bricks. St. Martin and St. Jodok show this at two different scales.
The old town and the Neustadt run parallel. This double axis gives the city its clear structure: it is almost impossible to get lost, and both streets end at gates. The wide street space originally served as market and trading ground.
Between the Isar and the Hofberg the ground rises noticeably. That produces sight lines everywhere: from the street up to the castle, from the castle down across the roofs to the tower of St. Martin. A flat city would have the same buildings but not this effect.
In November 1475 Duke Georg the Rich married Hedwig, daughter of King Casimir IV of Poland. The bride travelled for weeks from Kraków to Landshut. The celebration drew princes from across half of Europe and became one of the most elaborate festivities of the late Middle Ages.
Since 1903 the city has staged this event as a historical festival. Around 2,500 participants re-enact the entry of the bridal procession, tournaments, dances and camp life, in costumes made to historical patterns. Only those who live or have lived in Landshut may take part.
The festival is held every four years and runs for several weeks. It is therefore less a date than a recurring phase in the life of the city.
The next Landshut Wedding is scheduled for 25 June to 18 July 2027.
Source: landshuter-hochzeit.de · checked: August 2026
Hochschule Landshut – in full, the Landshut University of Applied Sciences – was founded in 1978. It has 5,080 students on 57 bachelor's and master's programmes across 6 faculties, from business administration and computer science to mechanical engineering and social work.
There is no comprehensive university in Landshut today of the kind found in Munich. The emphasis is on applied teaching and research, supported by technology centres outside the main campus.
This is the more interesting part of the story. In 1800 the Bavarian state university was moved from Ingolstadt to Landshut – French troops had made Ingolstadt too insecure. It stayed for 26 years.
In 1826 King Ludwig I brought the university to the capital, Munich, where it developed into today's Ludwig Maximilian University. Landshut is therefore one of three locations of the same institution – founded in Ingolstadt in 1472, now in Munich.
From 1800 to 1826 Landshut was the seat of the Bavarian state university, before it moved to Munich and became the Ludwig Maximilian University.
Source: University Archive, LMU MunichThe campus lies outside the historic centre, which is easy to reach by bus or bicycle. Landshut is small enough to cross on foot and large enough for cinemas, a theatre, museums and a gastronomy scene of its own.
The Isar and its riverside paths lie between the university and the old town and are the main outdoor gathering place in summer.
The proximity to Munich – around 70 kilometres – means that many students and employees commute between the two cities.
The city does not merely sit beside the Isar – the river runs through it.
Within the city the Isar splits into several arms. Between them lies the Mühleninsel, named after the mills that once used the water power. Today it is a quiet green space in the middle of the city, linked to both banks by footbridges.
Paths follow the water right through the city, on foot or by bicycle and largely away from the traffic. The Maxwehr weir dams the Isar and is one of the landmarks along the river.
Walking up from the riverbank takes you through the old town to the Hofberg. In a few hundred metres you pass from floodplain woodland through the medieval city to gardens and a castle – the most compact way to understand Landshut.
An order that avoids doubling back: the level ground first, then the slope, then the water.
Start at the Ländtor and walk the length of the old town axis. See St. Martin from the inside, then continue to the town hall and the Stadtresidenz. The three buildings are minutes apart.
The parallel Neustadt is the quieter of the two streets. Cafés and restaurants are found there and in the lanes between the two axes.
The climb to the castle leads through the gardens on the Hofberg. At the top the guided tour is worth it for the Narrentreppe; the view over the city is freely accessible.
Back at the river, cross the footbridges to the Mühleninsel. From here the city shows itself once more from the other side, with the castle lit above the roofs.
All stages lie in the centre and can be walked. Only the castle involves a real climb. Opening times and admission prices for the museums and the castle change – current details are published by the Bavarian Palace Administration and by Landshut erleben.
As the seat of the government of Lower Bavaria, Landshut is the administrative centre of the region. To that come the functions of an independent city: its own administration, its own schools, its own infrastructure for a hinterland considerably larger than the city itself.
Economically the region benefits from its proximity to the Munich metropolitan area while retaining an industrial base of its own. The university supplies skilled graduates and carries out applied research, partly in technology centres away from the main campus.
For visitors this means above all that Landshut is not a museum backdrop. The historic centre is at the same time a shopping street, a place of work and a residential quarter.
Landshut (Bayern) Hauptbahnhof lies on the Munich–Regensburg line and is served by long-distance trains. From the station it is about a 15-minute walk to the historic centre, or a few minutes by bus.
Via the A92 motorway between Munich and Deggendorf. Munich Airport is around 30 minutes away by car. Parking in the centre is charged – the car parks at the edge of the old town are usually the simpler option.
The city and district of Landshut have belonged to the MVV transport network since 1 January 2026; the whole city area lies within a single fare zone. Within the centre, walking is almost always fastest; along the Isar, a bicycle.
Timetables, fares and lines change. Current information is published by the MVV and the City of Landshut.
This page belongs to Raum Landshut, a flexibly bookable space at Alte Bergstr. 174b, 84028 Landshut. The address is on the Hofberg between Burg Trausnitz and St. Martin – about a minute on foot from the start of the old town.
Anyone coming to Landshut for a stay, a working day or an appointment can book the space by the hour, for 24 hours or for a week.
For its Gothic old town, Burg Trausnitz castle above the city, the 130.1 metre brick tower of St. Martin and the Landshut Wedding, a historical festival held every four years in memory of the princely wedding of 1475.
In 1204, by Duke Ludwig I of Bavaria, known as Ludwig the Kelheimer. He founded the city and Burg Trausnitz castle in the same year.
According to the city residents' registration office, 75,870 people lived in Landshut on 31 December 2024. Depending on the method of counting, municipal statistics or the official census projection, the figures differ slightly.
Burg Trausnitz, the St. Martin collegiate basilica, the old town with its colourful gabled houses, the Stadtresidenz as an early Renaissance palace, the Ländtor gate and the Hofgarten on the Hofberg. All six lie within walking distance of one another.
130.1 metres. The city of Landshut describes it as the tallest brick tower in the world and the tallest church tower in Bavaria. Other sources give slightly different figures around 130.6 metres.
The next performance is scheduled for 25 June to 18 July 2027. The festival has been held every four years since 1903.
Today Landshut is a university of applied sciences town: Hochschule Landshut has 5,080 students. Historically the city really was a university town. From 1800 to 1826 it was the seat of the Bavarian state university, which then moved to Munich and became today's Ludwig Maximilian University.
The old town with St. Martin, the town hall and the Stadtresidenz in the morning, the climb to Burg Trausnitz and the Hofgarten in the afternoon, the Isar and the Mühleninsel in the evening. The distances are short and the centre can be covered entirely on foot.
In Lower Bavaria on the river Isar, around 70 kilometres north-east of Munich. Landshut is an independent city and the seat of the government of Lower Bavaria.
Yes. The old town and the Neustadt run parallel to one another and the main buildings line these two axes. Only the way up to Burg Trausnitz is a noticeable climb.
The figures and historical details on this page come from the following official sources. Last checked: August 2026.
Picture credits: the photographs of the panorama, St. Martin, Burg Trausnitz, the town hall, the old town with the castle, the Isar and the brick vaulting are from our own collection. The photographs of the Heilig-Geist-Gasse, St. Jodok and the Ländtor are by Jahanzeb Ahsan / Unsplash and are used under the Unsplash licence. Every photograph was individually checked to confirm that it really shows Landshut. The two drawn cards in the sights section stand where no photograph was available.