A 3-night leg of our July/09 trip has us in Rothenburg 1 full day. Will stay in B&B near Creglingen 3 nights as a base doing daytrips-possibly Wurzburg, Weikersheim, Bad Mergentheim, and towns on Castle Road. We enjoy history, natural beauty, good food,wine,beer & avoiding crowds. Tell me what your highlights have been in this area.(besides Rothenburg-gotta go even tho crowded) Thanks.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
Würzburg - Big town. I really liked the Marienberg fortress (I like castles) and the view from the hill across the river and down into Würzburg. The castle has in interesting museum with a model of Würzburg after it was destroyed by bombing after the war. I was less impressed with the Residenz.
Weikersheim - cute little town. The palace and grounds were nice, but I would not say a must see.
Bad Mergentheim - Deutschordensmuseum (Museum of the Teutonic Knights) was historically interesting. As I remember, the displays were all in German. You might have been able to rent an audio guide in English (don't know).
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
I know you said the Castle Road. But the towns you mentioned are all on the Romantic Road. Was that what you really mean?
From Rothenburg headed south on the Romantic Road:
Feuchtwangen Spent a night here because it was convenient. It is a delightful little town, but nothing there of particular significance. One town gate is still standing. A few remnants of the town wall.
Dinkelsbühl All right, but I wasn't particularly impressed. Maybe it was anticlimantic, because I had just been to, and loved, Nördlingen.
Nördlingen For some reason, I really liked Nördlingen. It is more like Rothenburg without the touristy feeling. Most of the old wall still stands, with a Wehrgang you can walk on. You can climb up the inside of the church tower for a great panorama of the town. Nördlingen sits inside an ancient impact crater, the Ries. Our Apollo astronauts trained in the crater wall. There is a Ries Museum in Nördlingen.
Harburg Has the best castle on the Road. A little difficult to get to without a car (but you can do it, I did). The castle was interesting to see, but I wouldn't rent a car JUST to see it.
Farther south, I visited and liked Donauwörth and Landsberg am Lech, but I wouldn't call them "must-sees". I wouldn't stop south of there. Some people stop at Wieskirche. I thought it was over-rated; left after 5 minutes.
Posted by
OP
Minneapolis, MN, USA
2 posts
Thanks Lee, We are skipping most of the romantic road other than the cities I mentioned as part of possible day trips. The Castle Road is much less mentioned anywhere and we're wondering about driving times from the B&B and places of interest such as Neckarzimmern (Burg Hornberg), Mosbach , Hirschorn etc. Any experieinces in these areas?
Posted by
NYC area
2903 posts
Hi Xenobia,
We also stayed in a B&B (called the Zum Rappen) by Creglingen for 2 nights a little over a year ago. Since you're so close, I'd recommend seeing Tilmann Riemanschneider's "Mary's Alter" in the Herrgottskirche. It's amazing! So is his alter in St. Jacobs, in Rothenburg. It's up a few steps at the back of St. Jacobs.
Also, the Nightwatchman's Tour in Rothenburg is terrific. Very informative and entertaining.
Just be in the market square (in front of town hall) at 8pm. No tickets or reservations needed.
Just a note... we were not really impressed with Dinkelsbuehl. We simply loved Rothenburg.
Paul