The Sulz officially rises from the Sulzquelle at around 517 m above sea level. NHN a little north of the settlement boundary of the village of Tyrolsberg in the municipality of Berngau in the forest on the Tyrolsberg. She then has an open run of less than 200 meters long, after which she disappears underground on the side of the road in Tyrolsberg.
Only almost one and a half kilometers southwest of there is an open course again in the so-called Kindlesgraben, which is at around 445 m above sea level. NHN begins, here the Sulz feeds a chain of ponds in a roughly southern course and then passes to the west past the main town of Berngau. It passes two districts of the municipality and then moves into the area of the city of Freystadt, where the town of Sondersfeld is on the left of the course.
It turns southeast into the area of the municipality of Mühlhausen, some of which are located on the water. The municipality of Sengenthal also borders here, of which only Braunmühle is close to the river. The Wiefelsbach, its largest natural tributary, flows there from the left and north, and in its direction it now consistently turns south and carves itself an ever deeper Jura valley.
Then it flows through Mühlhausen itself and moves into the area of the town of Berching, where, just below the Pollanten district, the Main-Danube Canal swings into the valley from the west and now accompanies the Sulz on the right. Still in its own bed, it crosses Berching itself and then flows into the canal a little below the town limits and the Berching lock.
Sulz floodplain landscape near Gösselthal After it crosses into the area of the town of Beilngries, which is located in the Eichstätt district, there is first to the right of the canal, then to the left of it, strongly meandering residual water that is less than two kilometers long and which drains it. Shortly before Beilngries itself, where the canal bends to the east, the Sulz is diverted southwards from it. It flows for about three kilometers on a southeasterly course through the residential area of the central city, passes the old city center on the right and then flows to about 363 m above sea level. NHN from the left into the lower Altmühl.[3]
Canal introduction of the Entenbach south of lock 25 The mountain and town of Sulzbürg derive their name from the small, leisurely flowing body of water.
The once meandering Sulz operated many mills, which, in addition to the relevant place names listed in the → Places section, are also remembered by the Gößelthalmühle in Gösselthal.[4]