The sloping market square is Schiltach's centrepiece — a tightly arranged ensemble of sixteenth and seventeenth-century half-timbered houses that has survived fire and the centuries in unusually complete form. The buildings are painted in ochre, cream, and terracotta, and most are still in daily residential or commercial use rather than frozen as museum pieces.
The town hall at the upper end of the square dates from 1593 and anchors the composition. Below it, the square opens into a small fountain plaza where locals tend to gather in the afternoons. From here, narrow lanes branch off into the older residential quarters, equally well-preserved and considerably less visited.