Gütersteiner Wasserfall, Natural waterfall in Bad Urach, Germany

Gütersteiner Wasserfall lies in the Maisental, a side valley of the Erms about two kilometres southwest of Bad Urach. An artificial basin divides it in two: above, water trickles over tufa stone into the pool; below, it runs across the hiking path and drops over a moss-covered calcareous tufa nose that has cut its own channel. The stream reaches the Brühlbach after roughly 1.8 km.

A medieval monastery called Gütersteiner Karthause was located near the waterfall between 1226 and 1534, serving as a burial site during those centuries. The monastery shaped the valley's character for generations before being abandoned.

The waterfall sits in the Maisental, a side valley of the Erms, and the surrounding area is mainly Bannwald, protected forest left to its own development. The upper terrace was reduced by earlier quarrying of tufa, so the fall today is partly a result of that human intervention. The mossy tufa nose below keeps growing as the water deposits lime.

The waterfall is accessible via marked hiking trails starting from Bad Urach, with parking areas and rest spots positioned along the way. The routes through the valley offer different difficulty levels depending on your fitness and how much time you have.

Water rich in calcium minerals continuously deposits limestone deposits that gradually reshape the rock terraces over centuries. This slow natural process means the landscape itself is always subtly changing and reforming.