Billed as the best-preserved medieval monastery north of the Alps, this one-time Cistercian monastery was founded by Alsatian monks in 1147. It was born again as a Protestant school in 1556 and designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1993. Its famous graduates include the astronomer Johannes Kepler. Aside from the Romanesque-Gothic portico in the monastery church and the weblike vaulting of the cloister, it’s the insights into monastic life that make this place so culturally stimulating.
Maulbronn is 37km east of Karlsruhe, near the Pforzheim Ost exit on the A8. From Karlsruhe, take the S4 to Bretten Bahnhof (train station) and from there bus 700.