This blog summarises a trip to Germany in late 2023 and especially one of the highlights for us: the Romantic road. After a short visit to Luxembourg we headed south through the Black Forest towards Bavaria and southern Germany.
Jane and Ivan ready to explore Germany with our little Dachshund Otto
The Black Forest was more than we expected and we loved driving the twisty forest covered hills, visiting waterfalls and hearing about the local folklore.
We used www.searchforsites.co.uk to locate Stellplatz (parking for motorhomes) where we could stay overnight, usually for free and many have services and electric for a few euros.
Cuckoo clocks feature heavily in the Black Forest and are beautifully crafted in wood. Here we are outside one of the many scenic Cuckoo clocks.
Ivan is inside the largest cuckoo clock in Germany. These places have to explored, even if some are more touristy than others!
Beautiful Germanic towns wetted our appetite for our tour of Bavaria and the Romantische Straße, as it’s known in Germany.
The Romantic road in Germany runs 290 miles (460 kilometres) from Fussen in the south to Wurzburg in the middle. It’s famous for linking many picturesque towns and castles. It was once a trading route linking mid Germany to the south, however nowadays the towns and villages en route can be described as quintessentially German scenery and culture. The castles themselves are straight out of fairytales and the medieval walled cities have to be seen to be believed.
Many people walk or cycle the route and it is clearly sign posted. We of course traveled in our motorhome Daphne. The photo above is one of our many overnight stops, this was in a castle car park, complete with electric hook up and we were the only ones there.
We enjoyed the route immensely and felt Neuschwanstein and Harburg castle were particularly impressive. The three medieval walled towns of Nordlingen, Dinkelsbuhl and Rothenburg ob der Tauber were worth a days visit in their own right.
Some of the towns had bizarre fairy tale trails where you came across recognisable figures of fairy tales in the woods circling a medieval castle.
Late autumn is a good time to travel the Romantic road as it’s so scenic, however as it’s “out of season” many of the castles were closed for the winter or undergoing renovation. There are beautiful walking and cycling trails to be done in the area and we found everything easy to navigate.
Many of the picturesque towns are walled. You can walk around elevated sections of the wall looking down on the half timbered houses and beautiful scenic towns on one side. On the other side are views of moats and the surrounding countryside.
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The German bakeries had some of our favourites, especially the apple strudel. Many of them had dog friendly seating areas where you could drink strong coffee and taste the delicacies. Along the Romantic road especially were these Schneeballs: round balls of deep fried pastry dough with lots of different colours and flavours.
Although the towns were fairly small, in order to really get around them and see as much as possible, as well as the surrounding countryside we used our electric cycles. Germany has lots of cycle lanes and tracks. In some places they out numbered the cars.
In between the towns on the Romantic road is fantastic countryside, wine growing (Riesling was a particular favourite) and beautiful views.
We were not following the route the traditional way as were travelling north to finish in Wurzburg, however we loved completing the route in such an historic fascinating city.
It’s incredible to think Wurzburg has been pretty much rebuilt since appalling heavy bombing in World War II. On March 16th, 1945 a bombing raid took place. Within 17 minutes 87% of the city was destroyed in a massive firestorm which could be seen from over 230km away.
From Wurzburg we were able to travel north and visit another of our wish list destinations: Traditional German Christmas markets! To cap it all, we got snow ⛄️.
We travelled around Germany for around a month and the Romantic road itself for a week, so this blog is just a snapshot of our time there. We do thoroughly recommend the route.
Prost all! Hope you have a great 2024 and thanks for reading.
