Is Germany’s Romantic Road actually that romantic?

Germany’s “Romantic Road” – or Romantische Straße – is a 250 mile scenic route in Bavaria, taking in medieval towns, fairytale castles, lush forests and snow-capped mountains. Mr Fletche and I decided to take a peek at this tourism board lover’s lane with a week-long road trip from Würzburg to Füssen.

So how romantic is the Romantic Road?

First off, Romantic Road is something of a misnomer. It is indeed a road. And at times, it’s a beautiful one. And at other times, it’s just – well – a road. With very little that’s romantic about it. No hearts or cupids hanging from the trees. And after yet another “turn left…no turn right…get in that lane…where the %*¡$ is… [insert name of town/hotel]” it becomes clear that the Romantic Road could indeed be where a number of divorces have started.

From Stuttgart Airport to Rothenburg ob de Tauber

Our journey starts at Stuttgart Airport, where we meet the Opel Astra that will be our Fletchemobile for the next five days. Mr Fletche is soon confident behind the wheel, and I don’t even need to scream at him about keeping to the right. As we’ve picked up the car earlier then planned we decide to make a 90 minute detour to Würzburg, at the northern tip of the Romantic Road.

Driving into a new town is always a challenge, and the first test of a relationship between driver and passenger/navigator. We follow Blue P Signs successfully however and eventually park up a 10 minute walk from the old town. Is it a nice little town, with a pretty river and bridge? Yes. Does it have a bustling market place which delivers us our first Bratwurst of the trip? Yes. Was it worth the 90 minute detour? Probably not. Würzburgcould easily have been missed from the itinerary.

So it’s back on the Romantic Road. Or is it? We’re not quite sure. Sometimes there’s are brown signs announcing that we are indeed on the Romantic Road. Other times, these signs seem to point in completely the opposite direction to the town we are looking for. More tests of the driver navigator relationship. Especially when the navigator’s phone is eking out the last of its battery. It’s a nice drive nevertheless, and we’re struck by the vastness of the rural landscapes we’re driving through.

Google map abandoned, we follow the signs for our first overnight stop, Rothenburg ob de Tauber. I’ve booked us into a medieval guesthouse right in the centre of town. Which brings it’s own problems. Tight corners, narrow streets, meandering pedestrians… We are driving in ever decreasing circles, whilst Mr Fletche has an ever increasing blood pressure. Eventually I persuade him to pull over whilst I try and find the guesthouse on foot. I easily locate the guesthouse. I cannot easily locate Mr Fletche. It’s a comedy of errors whilst I roam the streets. Eventually we are reunited and I am successfully able to navigate us to the guesthouse and its parking spot. Potential divorce avoided. For now.

We check in and partake in a beer and journey debrief in the biergarten of our guesthouse. But we don’t linger too long, we still have the late afternoon light and some exploring to do! Our first stop is the city walls for a bird’s eye view of the town. Except the walls seem to be lower than the buildings, and we lose the wall in several places. Just like in York, when we managed to lose the famous walls altogether. So we start to weave our way into the town itself.

It’s a beautiful town, although spoiled by the fact that cars are allowed within the inner town walls. There are half timbered houses, a traditional old town square, and that view of Plonlein corner, which probably inspired this trip in the first place.

We’re getting hungry, having eaten nothing since our bratwurst in Würzburg. We decide to go back, freshen up and then eat in the restaurant at our guesthouse. This turns out to be a great choice. Mr Fletche has the traditional pork knuckle with red cabbage and dumplings; I have the pork liver with boiled potatoes.

We head back out into town after dinner and straight away it strikes us how quiet everything is. Bars and restaurants are already closed for the night; it’s not even 9pm. There are only a handful of people wandering about. We decide to call it a night with a last drink back at the hotel. They’re happy to serve us, but make it clear that this is the only one by locking the outside doors and turning off all the lights around us.

Rothenburg to Augsberg

We’re up bright and early for breakfast and we have time for another walk around the town before we have to find our way out of this labyrinth. I find myself wandering around the amazing Christmas shop, mentally planning this year’s colour scheme but have to put back the handful of baubles when I realize that Mr Fletche has not followed me into the store and I don’t have any money. I look like the world’s most festive shoplifter.

I do however manage to find a suitably tacky Christmas decoration and fridge magnet in a nearby gift shop. My shopping is not complete however until I’ve purchased the Rothenburg speciality – the schneeballen. I’m still not entirely sure what they’re made of, or how many calories they contain, but it’s all part of the Rothenburg experience.

We check out and wave goodbye to the traditionally attired staff at our guesthouse. They also kindly guide Mr Fletche out of the car parking space when they realise that he is doing some sort of 300-point turn manoeuvre.  We have that driver-navigator challenge once more when the Romantic Road sign points left, and our next planned stop points right. Eventually though we are on the right road (romantic or otherwise) and we’re parking up outside the walls of our second medieval town of the day. We get to use our blue parking dial for the first time, which is exciting.

Dinkelsbühl is beautiful, with its cobbled streets and half-timbered buildings in an array of pastel colours, but surprisingly it’s even busier than Rothenburg, and is spoiled by the amount of cars. Maybe it’s Dinkelsbühl’s rush hour. It’s actually more dramatic from the outside, with towers peering above the old city walls. The parkland outside is a lovely spot to sit and eat lunch.

Despite the medieval slant-roofed and turreted buildings, the town feels newer than Rothenburg so I’m was surprised to find that most of the building exteriors are in fact original 15th & 16th century, Dinkelsbühl was thankfully spared from destruction during World War II.

It’s a 30 minute drive south from Dinkelsbühl to Nördlingen. More city walls, cobbled streets and half-timbered buildings but this one is located in the Ries crater, created by a meteorite impact 15 million years ago. I’m assured this isn’t likely to happen again any time soon. We wind our way through the town, and join the locals in the main square eating a gelato in the shadow of St Georgeskirche. It turns out that the patron saint of Bavaria is a familiar-sounding dragon-slaying St George.

It’s mid-afternoon, so we continue south to Augsburg, via a quick detour through Harburg when we are briefly distracted by the imposing Schloss Harburg on the hill. We find our way quite easily into Augsburg – it’s easier to drive into larger cities than into tiny towns. It helps that our hotel is right next to Augsburg Cathedral, giving us a handy focal point on Google Maps.

I leave Mr Fletche with the car whilst I check in and find out about our reserved parking space. I am entrusted with a garage fob and vague instructions about platforms that go up and down. Despite the scary sounding parking procedure its actually easy-peasy, and we’re soon unloading our bags once more.

I didn’t have many expectations of Augsburg. It was simply a stop to break up the long drive between Rothenburg & Füssen. But we were both charmed by the city, which has a small and walkable old town, a tram system which provided Mr Fletche with plenty of photograph opportunities, and a vibrant university population. Which happily means cheap drinks.

We step over the hordes of people sitting on the cobbles in the afternoon sunshine in Rathausplatz, opting for the relative comfort of a table and chairs in one of the outdoor cafe bars.  It’s time to test the quality of the German Aperol Spritz. I pronounce it to be sehr gut.  We continue to explore the city, heading down the lovely Maximilianstrasse towards the magnificent 15th century St Ulrich’s & St. Afra’s Abbey.

It’s getting a bit chilly now the sun’s gone down so we swing back to the hotel to freshen up and to pick up a jacket. We’re surprised when we venture back out later that there don’t seem to be more eating and drinking establishments around; on the main streets and squares many of the cafes and restaurants are closing up, although there are a few bars open along along Maximilianstrasse.

We opt for Pizzeria Allegra in the absence of anything more authentically Bavarian. It’s just about warm enough to eat outside now I’m bundled up in a coat and hat. The food is simple – opt for schnitzel whilst Mr Fletche has calamari – and there’s lots of it.  A little too much in fact judging by the piles of calamari and half a schnitzel still piled up on our plate long after our hunger has been sated.

Mr Fletche then gives me a lesson in long exposure photography – which mainly ends up with me shouting “Press it now!!!” whenever a car or tram is approaching. This is much more entertaining than it may seem, and we move from Maximilianstrasse to Königsplatz for a better vantage point for trams and buses. It’s been another long day so we finally head back to the hotel to dream of tomorrow’s mountains.