A journey in time through culture, nature and gastronomy

In the south, in the footsteps of the Romans and the fairy-tale splendour of Ludwig II in the foothills of the Alps, near Füssen? Or, almost exactly in the middle, with the ancient history of the Ries district around Nördlingen and the Mesolithic caves between the Franconian Heights and the Swabian Alps?

No matter where and with what form of transport you begin on the 460 km long Romantic Road between the River Main and the Alps: each of the 29 towns and cities along Germany’s best known and most popular tourist route marks the start of an interesting journey in time: through exciting periods of the earth’s history, through varied countryside, through the multi-faceted history of 2,000 years of the finest art and culture, through fascinating periods of German and European history.

Nature-lovers will be fascinated by the contrasts: vineyards on the gentle slops along the River Main and in the nearby Madonna country, the European watershed on the Franconian Heights, fertile agricultural land in the Middle Franconian Basin, the mysterious Ries district where a huge meteorite struck the earth 15 million years ago, riverside forests on the Danube, the ice-age moraines in the Lech Valley, the mighty panorama of the Alps.

Make a pilgrimage along the Via Claudia Augusta, a former Roman Road, which is nowadays the foundation of the southern section of the Romantic Road to the ancient metropolis of Augsburg. See the relics of the Carolingian and Roman times between Donauwörth and Würzburg. Admire the outward signs of prosperity in commercial and imperial towns, such as Tauberbischofsheim, Creglingen, Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, Feuchtwangen, Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen, Friedberg and Landsberg am Lech, with their intact medieval old towns. Acclaim the late medieval works of art by masters such as Tilmann Riemenschneider, Veit Stoss and Matthias Grünewald. With the Renaissance, experience the transition to the modern era at the Castle of the Teutonic Order in Bad Mergentheim, at Weikersheim Castle or with the legendary Fuggers in Augsburg. Be carried away by the Baroque and Rococo architecture of Balthasar Neumann, the Asam brothers, Zimmermann, Enderle, Bergmüller and Tiepolo at the Prince-Bishops’ Residence in Würzburg, in Lauda-Königshofen, in the Tauber Valley, in Röttingen, in Schillingsfürst, in the ‘Royal World’ of Wallerstein and Harburg Castles. Or the incomparable ‘Land of farmers, artists and monks’ in the Pfaffenwinkel district with its idyllic holiday villages and pretty little towns, such as Hohenfurch, Schongau, Peiting, Rottenbuch, Wildsteig, Steingaden with its monasteries and basilica, not to mention the Rococo highlight at the Church in the Meadow, which has long been a World Heritage site. Enjoy the Königswinkel district with Halblech and Schwangau, a town surrounded by four lakes. And, finally, let yourself be enchanted when you reach the musical town of Füssen with its unique duo of palaces: Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein.

No matter whether you go by car, bus, bike or foot: the Romantic Road is an unadulterated pleasure for people of all tastes and all interests: from culture lovers to gourmets, from weekenders to holidaymakers, from day dreamers to adventurers. From Franconian wine in traditional bottles to refreshing beer, from rustic snacks to gala dinners for gourmets, nature, culture, art and gastronomy interact to create a unique symbiosis in a journey in time along the Romantic Road.