pretty paintings on buildings... germany, france, ch?

"tell me what towns have the prettiest painted designs and stuff on buildings? like the outside is a big painting or somethign. is that in france or germany? perhaps switzerland." You find these most commonly in southern Bavaria. Examples include Oberstdorf, Nesselwang, Oberamergau, Mittenwald, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Füssen. "i also want to know towns that have the brown timber.. what is the pettiest towns for that?" Fachwerk buildings are common throughout Germany, although you don't find them quite so often in Bavaria. You also see this in the Alsace section of France and some other regions. Uncommon in Switzerland. What part of the countries did you have in mind? "i want to visit quaint towns with lots of flowers in the window sills." Everywhere.

Lyon in France is well-known for its many painted walls. See http://www.cite-creation.com/peintures-murales/fresques-lyon-parcours-murs-peints.html (In French, but you can see the pictures easily)

Hi Robyn, I'll only go with places we've been. As for paintings on buildings, Mittenwald and Oberammergau stand out for us. Garmisch and Fuessen also. For half timbered buildings, I'd suggest Rothenberg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbuehl, Bachahrach (along the Rhine) and Cochem and Bernkastel (along the Mosel). Quaint towns with lots of flowers in window boxes, that would be just about everywhere we've ever been in Bavaria, Austria and the Italian Dolomites. Just off the top of my head... Fly into Frankfurt, stop along the Rhine, base in Cochem on the Mosel for a few nights. Head to Rothenberg for a night or two (incl. Dinkelsbuehl), then head to Mittenwald, Garmisch and Oberammergau. These last three are close enough together as you can see all of them (and more) based in one location. We have photo's (3 pages) of these places at: www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/index.html Paul

For half timbered buildings (Fachwerk) I'd much rather be on the mid to south portion of the Fachwerksrasse. I think that the very best ones we ever saw were in Idstein an Buedingen, both near Frankfurt am Main.

As for Fachwerk (half timber) buildings, I have a folder of pictures I've collected from my trips of just such buildings. Nördlingen, Dinkelsbühl, and Rothenburg on the Romantic Road in Bavaria have some. I stayed in a fachwerk hotel (Traube) in Sigmaringen. It was built in 1722, The best concentration of those buildings I know of are in Calw in the northern Black Forest and in the town square in Herrenberg south of Stuttgart. I also saw a lot of Fachwerk buildings in Wernigerode, in what used to be east Germany, near Goslar and Quedlinburg. The Fachwerk buildings in Wernigerode don't look original (timbers are too straight). I think they were recently constructed to look old. The town was remodeled by the East Germans and used as a showcase of how "nice" thing were under Communism.

I think that the best collection of half timbered buildings I have seen is in Rouen, France, beyond the cathedral. As for painted buildings, Luzern has perhaps the most memorable I have seen, although I recall only a couple in town.

Hannoversch Münden has around 700 half-timbered buildings: http://hann.muenden-tourismus.de/bilderbuch/index.html