20th Mössingen Apple Festival 2026

When an Apple Becomes a Shrine

Mössingen lies at the edge of the Swabian Jura, that striking steep ascent where the Swabian Jura drops northwards into the foothills. Here grow around 40,000 fruit trees — one of the densest traditional orchard landscapes in Southern Germany. The Mössingen Apple Festival on Sunday, October 4, 2026, is the highlight of an entire Apple Week and celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2026. Organized by Netzwerk Streuobst Mössingen e.V. in cooperation with OGV Mössingen (Obst- und Gartenbauverein — Fruit and Horticulture Association), it is both a folk festival and a cultural festival celebrating traditional orchard culture.

The 15th Mössingen Apple Week — A Week Dedicated to the Apple

From September 27 to October 4, 2026, the 15th Mössingen Apple Week takes place — and with it, an entire town in apple mode. Schools dedicate their project days to the apple, cinemas show films about traditional orchards, competitions like the Apple Picking Cup tournament seek the region's fastest pickers, restaurants create special apple menus, and guided hikes through the traditional orchards explain the ecological significance of this cultural landscape, over 1,000 years old.

The Apple Festival on Sunday — The Climax

The actual Apple Festival takes place on Sunday in the town center as the conclusion of the Apple Week. At the market square and surrounding streets, regional cider presses, distilleries, fruit growers, and direct marketers present their products: freshly pressed apple juice from their own press, apple spritzer, apple brandy, apple chips, apple cake in all variations, apple sauce, apple chutney. The market offerings are complemented by traditional orchard specialists (seeds, scions, plants) and hands-on activities for children.

Traditional Orchards — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in Mössingen

The Mössingen traditional orchards have been recognized as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2021 — along with the other traditional orchards of Southern Germany. Mössingen is one of the municipalities with the highest density of traditional orchards: nearly 40,000 trees, about half of them apple trees, create a mosaic of traditional variety. Over 200 old apple varieties are documented in Mössingen's traditional orchards — a genetic treasure trove whose preservation Netzwerk Streuobst Mössingen e.V. has been pursuing for years.

Mössingen — Town at the Edge of the Swabian Jura

Mössingen, a medium-sized town with around 21,000 inhabitants in the district of Tübingen, lies directly at the foot of the Swabian Jura. The town is known, among other things, for the "Mössingen General Strike" of 1933 — the only organized resistance against Hitler's seizure of power — and for the spectacular rock scenery of the Belchen. Today, the apple is Mössingen's culinary and cultural flagship — and the Apple Festival on the first October weekend is the ideal occasion to visit the town.