Group Travel Tour Operator for holidays to the Romantic Road, Germany

Wine and Würzburg

Spread across both banks of the River Main, Würzburg is the Romantic Road’s northernmost attraction. Surrounded by luscious vineyards, the striking Fortress Marienburg and Würzburg residence, the Bavarian city boasts a mixed history. Würzburg is the site of the largest peace time trials in human history – between 1926 and 1931 it is estimated 600 to 900 witches were burned here.

The city’s best architecture was painstakingly recreated after sustaining heavy damaged during World War Two.

To Augustus, forever ago

The green city of Augsburg is Germany’s third oldest. Affectionately referred to a Fuggerstadt or Datschiburg after two of its most famous children – the Fugger banking family and a fruit-based sweet – Augsburg was named for Roman Emperor Augustus.

Decked with history, Augsburg’s St Anna Kirche is often regarded as Germany’s oldest renaissance church while the Fuggerei Catholic welfare settlement provides a living representation of the past. 200 people still live in the Fuggerei, their rents frozen at one Rhenish guilder (€0.88) per year.

Wander through the historic city streets, from the former home of Bertolt Brecht to the Rathaus’ stunning Goldener Saal meeting room. See the legendary Stony Man statue –said to be a baker who threw loaves baked from sawdust over the city walls during a siege so to demoralise the attackers with the city’s apparent abundance of food.

A city of empires, holy and unholy

The undeclared capital of the Holy Roman Empire for centuries, Nuremburg’s Kaiserburg castle, sitting above the Altstadt, is a monument to the city’s longevity. The castle’s Sinwell Tower provides ideal panoramas of the city.

Built on the rail industry, Nuremburg was at the centre of Germany’s industrial revolution. As a result, it became a target for Hitler, who held huge rallies in the city to court the city’s disaffected working class. The Reichsparteitagsgelände (say that with a mouthful of toffee) provided the backdrop for the infamous black and white images of Nazism’s rise. As the tide of war turned, Nuremburg also became the target of Allied bombs, levelling the city in 1945. The city has been carefully resurrected in the years since.

Post-war, the city became the site of the Nuremburg war crimes tribunal, in which the Nazi hierarchy saw justice. A memorial to the trials stands in the city today.

A town out of time

Set among stunning royal gardens taking their inspiration from Versailles is Weikersheim Schloss. The 12^th century palace boasts enough ornate decor and rigour to embarrass even the most lavish of royals. The 40m-long Knights’ Hall provides a centrepiece to the palace’s renaissance beauty.

Settled in the Tauber Valley, Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a town out of time. Encircled by 1.5miles of wall, Rothenburg is one of Germany’s few remaining walled towns and subject to some of the country’s strictest urban conservation laws. The town hit the big time providing the backdrop to the 1968 film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Here, in a town oftentimes too fantastical to be believed, history is always present. It truly put the romance in the Romantic Road.