After spending a few crazy days at Oktoberfest, we were excited to get out of Munich and explore some other parts of Bavaria. We looked up the best way to do that and discovered there is a 261 mile long road called The Romantic Road. I was sold just based on the name before I even knew anything about this road. A windy country road surrounded by cute villages and castles.
The Romantic Road was developed by Germany after World War II to try and rebuild tourism. It stretches across the Franconian wine region to the German Alps. It is Germany’s most popular tourist route and visited by millions of people every year. Despite the mass tourism it receives, it still fully maintains its ‘old world charm’ and has beautiful, open scenery.
The road itself is not very romantic. Much of it looks like a standard highway, with cars going WAY to fast I will add. What is romantic though are the picturesque towns that connect this road.
There are several stops along the Romantic Road to see. To be honest, not all of them are worth it. Instead of stopping at every place, we cherry-picked some faborites which ended up being the perfect way to check out this part of the country. Let me tell you about some of our favorites.
The beginning of the Romantic Road technically starts at the Neuschwanstein Castle. We had decided to do a day trip while in Munich to visit this castle (which is amazing and we would totally recommend it). Instead, this allowed us to start our journey going northeast from Munich.
Our first stop was in Augsburg which was a short 1 hour drive from Munich. Augsburg is known for being the oldest city in Bavaria tracing back to when it was a Roman town. It historically was one of the most important trading and cultural centers in the world.
Today there is a much slower pace to this once booming city. It is more industrial now and there was an eerie quietness to the streets while we there.
Our next stop was Nördlingen which is another quiet town. This town is one of the only remaining with the medieval wall still fully surrounding the city.
The wall is nearly 2 miles in length and takes around 1 hour to walk the whole thing.
The town is almost a perfect circle due to the fact the village sits where a meteorite crashed into the earth over 15 million years ago. As a result of the asteroid, many buildings in Nördlingen are embedded with millions of microscopic diamonds.
Not far from Nördlingen is Schloss Baldern. Schloss in German means castle. We had lots of fun looking for “schlosses” and making sure to use that word as much as possible during our drives. We showed up too late to do a tour of the castle but were able to walk around the outside of it.
This schloss was built in the 1700’s and still acts as a residence today for the prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein.
Our final stop for the day was Rothenburg ob der Tober. We stayed the night here and could have definitely stayed longer. This enchanting fairytale town is exactly what you would picture on the Romantic Road.
This is probably the most popular stop on this scenic tour. The town was originally built in the 1200’s but much of it was destroyed when it was bombed during WWII. Donations around the world helped to rebuild the town to its former style.
The best thing to do here is simply walk through the cobblestone streets and admire the beautiful buildings. Rothenburg is thought to be the place that inspired the Disney story of Pinocchio.
The Plonlein Square is the most photographed spot in Rothenburg. We were sent an identical picture from family back home of a Christmas themed beer assortment from the exact spot we took this picture.
At night the town transforms when all the coach buses leave and a magical feeling takes over. There are small local restaurants open for dinner, a man dressed in historic clothing giving a ghost tour, the city clock chiming and putting on a small show. Everything seems to slow down and make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time.
We found a small, traditional German restaurant for dinner that made us feel like we were sitting in someones home. The potato pancakes with applesauce and potato dumplings (called Kartoffelklöβe) with beef and red cabbage were amazing!
We stayed at a bed and breakfast that is an old medival house right in the middle of town called Hotel-Gasthof Goldener Greifen. If you come here I would highly recommend checking it out.
The next day we back-tracked a bit to the town of Dinkelsbuhl. This old medival town is believed to have been developed in the 8th century.
Just like Rothenburg, Dinkelsbuhl has tons of colorful buildings making you feel like you are walking through a fairytale. We also still have traces of Oktoberfest following us here with Beth finding her token from bumper cars she swears Tyler had taken from her.
There is an enormous church in the middle of town as a reminder of Dinkelsbuhl’s glorius era in the 15th in 16th century.
Our final stop for day two on the Romantic Road is Wurzburg. This is a much bigger city than any of the other places we’ve visited so far. We had a good amount of time to explore this place but could have definitely stayed here longer!
We watched the sunset from a bridge over the river with some relaxing live music and local drinks. This is a moment I wish I could go back to!
The city itself in the middle of beautiful hills, smack dab in the middle of one of Germany’s biggest wine-producing areas.
There is a beautiful “schloss” called Wurzburg Residence that was the home to the prince bishop of Wurzburg. The residence was completed in 1780 and named a UNESCO site for attaining a mix of French, Viennese, and Italian architecture.
We decided not to do a tour of the building but spent some time walking around the gardens and enjoying the building from the outside.
In the center of the city is the Wurzburg Cathedral. This impressive church was finished in 1075 and is the 4th largest Romanesque basilica in Germany.
This was the perfect German city to walk through the streets, check out the local markets, and enjoy some coffee and strudel at an outdoor cafe.
Our final stop to end our time in Germany was Frankfurt. To be honest, we only came here because it is a big city and we were able to get flights from here. The city surprised us all with its beautiful riverfront walking paths and lively atmosphere. We finished our adventure with drinks at a rooftop German bar overlooking a beautiful sunset.
Chasing Summer 