Regensburg or... Looking for a quaint germany - Is regensburg beautiful still?

I think Regensburg is still very beautiful and I like it a lot.

Yes, even in the dreary cold rain as of late. Some businesses are gone with the Covid break, but the town has bounced back. I would also recommend a visit to Landshut. It can be very nice in good weather in the Altstadt and along the Isar. Not as many tourists.
https://www.himmel-landshut.de/

Regensburg is our favorite town in Germany. It has specific sights like the cathedral that are great. Plus it is just a nice, historic town to walk about day or night. I visited Regensburg in late November 2019; the Altstadt is very atmospheric in the early dark of the late Autumn evenings. Almost spooky.

Wikipedia does a good job describing Regensburg.

I also agree that Landshut is a wonderful small town to visit with a low tourist profile. I really like the many colorful brick facades on its old buildings. The river front is beautiful. We also enjoyed the walk up to the castle.

We were there in July and again, really enjoyed the shopping, eating and our favorite the ice cream. I really didn't see vacate shops. The place was packed with shoppers. Those hurting the most were along the river. The crowds on the river cruises were not quite there yet.

Thank you this is wonderful. I was just going to book a hotel for six nights or maybe four nights in regensburg and I got a little nervous when my husband went to a dinner and somebody told them it was not a nice city and very industrial after all the research we have done we thought Regansburg would be such a nice calm place where we could get some massages And spa treatment to start a much more busy vacation. We will also be staying in Kassel Germany for for five nights, and we were thinking of somewhere nice near Frankfurt for the last two nights before we go to the airport or we could get some spa treatment. Our vacation will be a 30 day jaunt moving fast during much of it, so we are more slow travelers in general and prefer three weeks in one place even if it’s a small town so it’s important to know that. Do you think six nights too much in Regensburg? This is a verbal text. I apologize for likely high number of misspellings and typos.

I would also recommend a visit to Landshut.

And to Straubing and, of course, to the Weltenburg Abbey with it's splendid Asam church and beer garden (boats from Kelheim are running until 6th Nov., after that you can go by bus).

I was just in Regensburg in April, and altho charming, I'm not sure what I would have done for four nights. It has a charming old town mixed with a working city. I was also puzzled why the shops were closed on Monday, and it wasn't Easter Monday. IMHO, I would go to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, ( there are two Rothenburg) a little further, for a charming slow down in a medieval , walled town. We were there for three nights, and I started every day and ended every day sitting in the Castle Gardens.
Have a great trip!

OK if you wanted to stay four nights or six nights in one of the cities and have a nice slow start, which would you choose?

You could base yourself in Nuremberg and then take day trips to places like Regensburg (which is still beautiful), Bamberg (a charming city with lots of atmosphere), Würzburg, and Rothenburg o.d.T. There are also many smaller towns in the area that would be nice to see as well.

For quaint towns near Frankfurt that have spas, etc. try Bad Nauheim, Bad Soden, Bad Homburg. More quaint towns that don't have spas, but also near Frankfurt and that might fit what you are looking for: Limburg, Marburg, Eltville, Seligenstadt, Gelnhausen, Büdingen, or Idstein.

Oh that’s wonderful cause bad homberg is one that I was thinking of. This will just be our wind down before life gets crazy, but we don’t have to have a spa. I just want to be near the airport.

Almost all old Germany cities of any size have a new modern area surrounding the Altstadt (old town core). You do not need to visit the more modern areas unless you wish. The Altstadt of Regensburg is fairly large.

We spent 4 nights in Regensburg this spring. I would not normally do so without planning day trips to nearby towns. Landshut is about 40 minutes by train, Straubing 26 minutes and Amberg about 50 minutes. We have made 2 day stops to each of these cities and found them interesting. This part of Bavaria is less touristed. Regensburg is fairly quiet except for boat cruises, which I found less numerous in November. There is now a direct Regional Express train from the Munich Airport to Regensburg, which makes it a handy starting destination.

The other town that I could visit for 4 days would be Würzburg, with its access to the Main river, a castle across the river and a walk up to the pilgrimage church. Still I would plan day trips to Bamberg, Aschaffenburg, Ochsenfurt, Rothenburg, Kulmbach, or...

We visited Regensburg in September as our first stop and only had two nights. After our entire trip, both my husband and I agreed that's the town we would have enjoyed more days in. We spent half a day just walking around, tasting beer and getting a feel of the town. We also took a day trip to Kelheim for a river cruise to the Weltenburg Abbey (a very relaxing, scenic trip) and to visit Schneider Weisse. I would have enjoyed more time to visit Thurn and Taxi, visit more shops (lots of cool, modern concept stores with great gifts), and another day trip maybe to Landshut. 4 nights probably would have been perfect.

We stayed at Hotel Rosi. Nice rooms, close to train station and main areas of town. Great breakfast and nice staff.