The best MTB trails around Ottobeuren

Pure idyll. Always beautiful

Ottobeuren Market Square / Market Chronicle Probably none of the visitors who stay in Ottobeuren today, for a shorter or longer period of time, can imagine how this approximately 1,500-year-old, historic town was founded. When visitors arrive in Ottobeuren from all directions by private car, taxi, or bus, their first gaze is usually drawn to the mighty basilica with its monastery buildings. No one considers that the very ground they have just set foot on was once impassable terrain, moorland, swamp, and densely wooded area. Nevertheless, a man had dared to gain a foothold here, clear the forest, and establish a human settlement. What Stone Age hunters and fishers had failed to achieve much earlier—namely, to settle here—had become the life's work of a man named Uot. At the site where the market square stands today, the first giant trees soon collapsed under the axe blows of the Uot farmers. Huts were built from rough beams, livestock was raised, and fields were cultivated. Only a few huts in the middle of the forest housed the Uot clan. Uot, the Swabian, founded Ottobeuren in the 5th century. Text / Source: Ottobeuren Tourist Office, Marktplatz 14, Ottobeuren https://www.ottobeuren.de/de/marktgemeinde/rathaus/markt-chronik.php

Ottobeuren Market Square / Market Chronicle Probably none of the visitors who stay in Ottobeuren today, for a shorter or longer period of time, can imagine how this approximately 1,500-year-old, historic town was founded. When visitors arrive in Ottobeuren from all directions by private car, taxi, or bus, their first gaze is usually drawn to the mighty basilica with its monastery buildings. No one considers that the very ground they have just set foot on was once impassable terrain, moorland, swamp, and densely wooded area. Nevertheless, a man had dared to gain a foothold here, clear the forest, and establish a human settlement. What Stone Age hunters and fishers had failed to achieve much earlier—namely, to settle here—had become the life's work of a man named Uot. At the site where the market square stands today, the first giant trees soon collapsed under the axe blows of the Uot farmers. Huts were built from rough beams, livestock was raised, and fields were cultivated. Only a few huts in the middle of the forest housed the Uot clan. Uot, the Swabian, founded Ottobeuren in the 5th century. Text / Source: Ottobeuren Tourist Office, Marktplatz 14, Ottobeuren https://www.ottobeuren.de/de/marktgemeinde/rathaus/markt-chronik.php

Great view today, but much too cold for the bench. The bumpy dirt road is really only suitable for mountain bikers. Up to the paved road before Hofs, it had a grassy strip down the middle, and the lanes were sometimes muddy. In Hofs, there was an official and questionable cycle path signpost to Rettenbach, Engetried, and Ronsberg. The paved road from Hofs becomes a dirt road, and it gets worse and worse. At the end of the dirt road, they forgot the important cycle path signs on the paved road. Those unfamiliar with the area will need an app or a map; I've cycled here from Rettenbach toward Ollarzried and Obergünzburg.

In addition to the animals, there is also a fantastic view of the mountains here. Roughly from the Upper Allgäu mountains to the left over the Zugspitze with the Austrian Ausserfern and the Eastern Allgäu mountains.

Beautiful, late baroque basilica. Take your time. There are thousands of pictures and figures to discover. 😍🥰👍

Large blocks of solidified ice age gravel, stacked wildly on top of each other, characterize the "Devil's Kitchen" in the valley of the eastern Günz. They come from the steep valley flank above, from where they broke off in the post-glacial period. As a rockfall or landslide, they slid down the valley on loose gravel and fine sediments of the tertiary subsoil.

When the weather is clear you have a great view of the Alps.