I'm putting the finishing touches on my itinerary for a week in SW Germany in April. I am at an absolute loss on what to do on a Sunday. I orginially planned on driving to RodT this day but may reconsider since most shops and attractions may be closed. We have a rental for the week so suggestions must be within driving distance of our home base in Heidelberg. Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks!
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
What else do you have planned on this trip? I could write for weeks about what you could see within an hour's drive of Heidelberg, but it would be nice to know what you already considered.
Don't even bother with Rothenburg odT. There are so many beautiful old towns near Heidelberg, driving all the way to Rotheburg would be completely redundant (apart from Rothenburg's high concentration of trinket shops). If you want to see a walled town, drive 15 minutes up the Neckar River to Dilsberg. You'll see it perched atop a hill. Actually, keep driving up the Neckar River to Bad Wimpfen. The scenery will knock you out and several of the towns are worth a look (Hirschhorn, Neckarsteinach, Eberbach, Zwingenberg, Mosbach, etc.)
BTW, tourist attractions and restaurants usually close on Monday in Germany, not Sunday. Stores, banks, contractors and professional offices have Sunday as their day off.
Posted by
OP
23 posts
Thanks for the reply! This is a short overview of what we have planned: Drive north on the Bergstraße and see Weinheim, Heppenheim, and Bensheim. Drive to Freiburg on the Baden Wine Road stopping along the way. Take the Fantastic Road to Hohenzollern Castle and Gengenbach. Drive the distance to Dachau, Weihenstephan brewery, and my ancestral homeland of Landshut. This may seem like a lot of time in a car but we are young and enjoy road tripping!
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
OK, then, a drive up the Neckar valley seems like a good idea, since you already have plans to see the Bergstraße. Try going to and from Bad Wimpfen. If you make a few stops, that should fill the day.
One nice little detour I can mention, if you have a day with clear weather. At Neckargerach, follow the signs up to Katzenbuckel, which is the highest mountain in the region. The actual summit only looks like a wooded hill, but it sits on top of a high plateau. You can drive to within a 20 minute walk of the top, where you can get some amazing views from the look out tower.
Enjoy Landshut, it's one of those gems that hopefully mass tourism never discovers, lest it become like Rothenburg.
Posted by
Long Beach, California, USA
3398 posts
On the Bergstrasse...don't leave out tiny Zwingenberg! It has a lovely town square with some nice old buildings. If you want to do a little hill-walking, there are paths going up into the vineyards and a nice ruined castle in the hills above the town.
Posted by
Oberpfalz, Germany
1389 posts
I concur with the drive along Neckar to Bad Wimpfen. Lots of stuff to see along the way.
A two hour or so drive one way will get you into the Franken Wine region, Iphofen, Prichsenstadt, Volkach etc. You'll probably have to have a designated driver after a wine tasting...
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
If any of you want to try a more modern German tourist attraction, the Auto & Technik Museum at Sinsheim is very much worth visiting, and I would say unmissable for car enthusiasts.
Posted by
OP
23 posts
Great! A drive along the Neckar Valley to Bad Wimpfen it is! Looking on a map, it appears that driving on the B3 south bound will connect with the B37 and head east along the river, is this the suggested route for a scenic drive to Bad Wimpfen?
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I answered you in a private message, but for the benefit of the group, yes, that's the route you would take... it's really the only priority road that runs the length of the river valley. It's extremely difficult to get lost in Germany driving between towns because all you have to do is stay on the priority roads that connect them.