The picturesque town of Kaiserstuhl, with its 700-year history, is listed as a historical monument and is situated on the steep slope of the Rhine bank in the shape of an acute triangle. The 36 m high Upper Tower forms the upper tip. It towers over the town and is the only remaining part of the old fortifications.
At the upper end of the steep slope was the small castle of the barons of Kaiserstuhl in the 12th century. After they died out, the property passed to the barons of Regensberg. In 1254, they founded a fortified town on the steep slope and named it after the dynasty whose heritage they had inherited. The small town is the southern bridgehead of a bridge over the river that probably already existed in Roman times.
The Catholic church of St. Catherine dates from 1757 and was built in the Baroque style. It is considered the main work of the Kaiserstuhl sculptor and woodcarver Franz Ludwig Wind. Houses that are particularly well preserved are the Amtshaus in late Gothic style with its stepped gables, the Palais Mayenfisch with French architectural elements and the stately former inn "Zur Krone".
On the other bank of the Rhine stands Rötteln Castle, built in the 12th century by the von Wasserstelz family. In 1185, a Ludwig von Rötteln, who was in the service of the Dukes of Zähringen, is mentioned in a document. The castle was expanded in 1294 and received its present form in 1787.
