Romantic Road

Rothenburg ob der Tauber’s old town and walls above the Tauber valley

Photo: Tilman2007, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Distance
about 460 km (290 miles)
Country
Germany
Difficulty
Easy
Type of trip
Road trip

The Romantic Road, Romantische Straße in German, isn’t a single road. It’s a holiday route, put together in 1950, that links 29 towns on ordinary roads over 460 km from Würzburg on the Main to Füssen, just short of the Austrian border. It’s in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. It runs through the Tauber valley, the Ries, along the Lech and across the Alpine foothills between Landsberg and Füssen. The idea was to bring holidaymakers back to Germany after the Second World War, and the first were American soldiers stationed there and their families. You sleep in the towns along the way, and there are plenty of them.

The towns are the point. Parts of the route used to follow main roads such as the B17 and B25, and since 2009 it has been moved several times onto quieter ones, so an old map may not match the current one. There’s a separate signed cycle route of 494 km, mostly on minor roads and cycle paths, and a long-distance footpath that opened in 2006. From May to September the Romantic Road Coach runs day trips on the northern part, to Rothenburg from Frankfurt or Würzburg.

Highlights along the way

  1. Würzburg: The start. The Residenz of the Prince-Bishops, built in 1720–1744 to plans by Balthasar Neumann, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  2. Rothenburg ob der Tauber: Its 14th-century town wall survives complete, and you can walk about 2.5 km of it along the battlements.
  3. Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen: Dinkelsbühl still has its whole wall, with 16 towers and four gates, and the Minster of St George from 1448 to 1499. Nördlingen’s wall can be walked for 2.6 km, and the town sits in the Ries, a crater left by an impact about 15 million years ago.
  4. Augsburg: The Fuggerei, built in 1516–19, is called the oldest social housing settlement in the world. Augsburg’s old water system became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
  5. Wieskirche and Neuschwanstein: The Wieskirche near Steingaden, built in 1746–57, is a Rococo church on the UNESCO list. Near the end, Ludwig II began Neuschwanstein in 1869. You can only see inside on a guided tour, and tickets are sold online at hohenschwangau.de, with any left over sold on the day at the Ticket Center in Hohenschwangau.

Distance

About 460 km (290 miles) in all from Würzburg to Füssen, by the route’s own count. Other sources give 413 km (257 miles), and the line has moved more than once, so expect figures to differ. The signed cycle route is longer, at 494 km (307 miles).

Best time to go

The Romantic Road Coach runs only from May to September, and only on the northern part, so for the whole route you’ll need your own car or bike. In bad winter weather the Marienbrücke, the footbridge near Neuschwanstein, can be closed, though the castle tours go on. Check the Romantic Road’s own site, romantischestrasse.de, for the current route and events before you go.

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