Leisure & Surroundings

Altmühltal Nature Park is one of Germany's largest nature parks and begins about twenty minutes by car from the hotel. Gentle hills, pale Jurassic limestone cliffs, mixed woodland and small villages along the river – the landscape is the exact opposite of the motorway we sit beside.

A single day is easily enough for a hike or a bike tour with a stop for lunch. If you stay several days, you can combine hiking, cycling and a canoe trip without covering the same ground twice.

• Altmühltal cycle path: well surfaced and mostly flat, ideal towards Eichstätt or Beilngries
• Twelve Apostles rocks near Solnhofen: the valley's best-known rock formation, short climb
• Canoe trips from Riedenburg or Dollnstein, manageable for beginners
• Schulerloch stalactite cave near Essing – a good option for a rainy day

Tip from the hotel team: We will put together a packed lunch for cycling trips if you let reception know the evening before. For canoe trips it is worth booking ahead – rental places are often fully booked on summer weekends.

Ingolstadt is Audi's home town, and the Audi Forum is far more than a showroom: museum mobile covers the company's history from its beginnings to current concept cars, and there are guided tours of the production line.

For anyone interested in engineering that is half a day, or a full one with a factory tour. Families enjoy it too, because a lot of it is hands-on.

• museum mobile with historic models and concept vehicles
• Guided production tours – advance booking required
• Vehicle handover centre for new car customers
• Restaurant and arthouse cinema inside the Forum

Tip from the hotel team: The factory tours are popular and often booked out weeks ahead – reserve as soon as your stay is confirmed. If you only want the museum, you can usually walk in.

The New Castle of the Dukes of Bavaria stands right on the Danube and impresses from the outside alone – a massive Gothic complex in the middle of the city. Inside, the Bavarian Army Museum covers military history from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century across several floors.

The visit combines well with a stroll through the old town. Kreuztor gate, the Church of Our Lady and the Asam church Maria de Victoria with its famous ceiling fresco are all within walking distance of one another.

• Bavarian Army Museum inside the New Castle
• Changing special exhibitions on current themes
• Kreuztor gate and the historic old town within walking distance
• Asam church Maria de Victoria with the world's largest flat ceiling fresco

Tip from the hotel team: Park in one of the car parks on the edge of the old town rather than at the castle itself – the centre is compact and you avoid hunting for a space. Do check opening times for the Asam church, it is not open continuously.

Ingolstadt Village is part of the Bicester Collection and one of southern Germany's best-known outlets. More than a hundred boutiques line a traffic-free promenade with cafés – it feels more like a walk than a shopping mall.

It is a good ten minutes from the hotel by car. Many of our guests combine the outlet with a morning in the old town.

• More than a hundred brand boutiques at reduced prices
• Cafés and restaurants for a break in between
• Traffic-free promenade, mostly covered walkways
• Free parking directly on site

Tip from the hotel team: Weekdays are considerably quieter than weekends. If you must go on a Saturday, start early – from late morning both the car park and the shops fill up.

There are several places around Ingolstadt that fill an afternoon with children without a long drive. The wildlife park at the Baggersee lake is the easiest: native animals, meadows, footpaths and a natural playground, and admission is free.

A little further but worth it: the Altmühltal Dinosaur Museum in Denkendorf with life-size models in an open-air setting. In the quarries near Solnhofen and Eichstätt children can also hunt for fossils themselves – in our experience the part they remember longest.

• Wildlife park at the Baggersee: deer, wild boar and goats, free admission
• Altmühltal Dinosaur Museum in Denkendorf, open-air site
• Fossil hunting in the quarries near Solnhofen
• Leisure pool in Ingolstadt and bathing lakes for the summer

Tip from the hotel team: Do not lug your own hammer and chisel to the fossil quarries – the visitor sites lend tools on location. Sturdy shoes beat trainers, and whatever the children find, they get to keep.