Geopark Ries

Geopark Ries covers nearly 1,800 square kilometres of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, an area about six times the size of Munich. At its heart lies the Nördlinger Ries, a meteorite impact crater formed around 14.5 million years ago. Twenty-five kilometres across and up to 150 metres deep, it ranks among the best-preserved impact structures in Europe. An asteroid roughly a kilometre wide struck here, and geological processes later reshaped the primary crater into the broad, gentle basin you cross today.

The impact left its own famous stone behind: suevite, a breccia of rock and mineral fragments. Eight developed geotopes with educational trails make this geology readable on the ground, and five of Bavaria's most beautiful geotopes stand here. The Rieskrater Museum in Nördlingen explains how the collision shaped the landscape, while information centres in Nördlingen, Oettingen and Treuchtlingen help you find your way, with smaller info points in the surrounding towns. Two long routes carry you through the country: the 186-kilometre 'From Crater to Crater' path for cyclists, and the Ries-Panoramaweg, a 128-kilometre trail encircling the rim.

One detail keeps this place in conversation: NASA astronauts have trained here, using the crater's terrain for field exercises ahead of space missions. You walk ground that has doubled as a training ground for space travel.