Germany’s Romantic Road – Augsburg to Füssen

The second part of our journey along Germany’s so-called Romantic Road takes us away from the bustling town of Augsburg to the town of Füssen, close to the Austrian border and most importantly, a base to discover one of Germany’s most fairytale-like of castles.

The first part of our road trip took in Wurzburg, Rothenburg ob de Tauber, Dinklesbuhl and Nordlingen

A morning stroll around Augsburg

We’re up bright and early. There’s time for a final explore before we pack up and leave the city behind. Augsburg is known for the Fuggerei, the world’s oldest charitable social housing settlement which is still in use today.  We pay our €4 entrance fee and wander around the community. It costs less than €1 annual rent to live in these surprisingly pretty and spacious golden-walled apartments.

The Fuggerei is a tiny city within a city, and we’re early enough to wander around with the locals before the tour groups descend.  I wonder how we can get our hands on one of these apartments. Apparently we need to be an Augsburg Roman Catholic and an upstanding citizen. I’d probably fail the selection process on all counts.

We make our way back to the Dom Hotel, crossing our fingers that our car hasn’t been lifted up on the double decker platform in the garage. We’re in luck, and we’re the only car left in the garage. Mr Fletche has plenty of room to manoeuvre the Fletchemobile out of the tight space.

Unlike yesterday’s meandering, we have just one stop planned on our journey down to Füssen, giving us a bit of time to go off plan if we want.  And we do.  But more on that later.

From Augsburg to Landsberg am Lech

It takes us about 45 minutes to get to the pretty little pastel-coloured town of Landsberg am Lech. The air is feeling fresher, and the rivers are getting greener as we head towards the Alps.  It’s busy as we cross the river, and we find ourselves parking above the town.  We walk up about a thousand steps to get out of the car park, then down an extremely steep hill to get into town.  Luckily we find a much more direct route back to our car which doesn’t require any extreme ascents or descents.

We don’t spend too long in Landsberg, just long enough for a walk down by the river, pick up a picnic lunch from a bakery, and for me to have an Aperol Spritz.  Its a beautiful day, and Landsberg has a holiday feel to it.  Or maybe that’s just the lunchtime Aperol Spritz talking.

Onwards to Füssen

“Shall we go to Ammersee?” I ask as we start heading down the 17. “It doesn’t look that far away on the map”

A 50km and 45 minute detour later, we still haven’t found the lake.  Well, we can see it in the distance over a sea of caravan roofs.  We have our picnic lunch in a car park.

Back on the road. The wide open landscape starts to become a little more claustrophobic, bordered by mountains, reaching up into the blue sky.  The small towns that we pass start to have that “alpine chalet” look about them, all wooden balconies, shuttered windows and brightly coloured hanging baskets.

Suddenly we’re in Schwangau, and above us, to the left, the sun is glinting off the towers of Neuchswanstein Castle.  I scream at Mr Fletche to pull over there and then, but he’s way ahead of me and has already spotted a handy car park ahead.  We take a stroll around the meadows at the foot of the mountains, whilst I babble on incoherently about fairy-tale castles, Sleeping Beauty and crazy kings.  Plonlein in Rothenburg and Neuchwanstein Castle are the two images that inspired this trip. Thankfully, neither have disappointed me.

We’ll have plenty more opportunity to explore the castle tomorrow so I give a last lingering gaze – after all, you only ever see this sight for the first time once – and we head to our base in Füssen. We’ve planned two nights here as I’m guessing there will be plenty to keep us occupied.  I’m looking forward to spending evenings in a vibrant and lively tourist town.  It certainly looks that way when we drive through on the way to our hotel.

I’m a little disappointed at first when I realise that our hotel is a short way out of town. There seems like quite a serious hill we may need to climb and I have visions of tantrums a la Cavtat.  This seems to be where most of the hotels and guesthouses are located though, and as we discover later, it’s actually a pleasant riverside 10 minute walk into town. No hill-climbing required; tantrums are averted.

After our earlier lake disappointment, Mr Fletche consults Google Maps and proclaims Forggensee as within walking distance. It’s a beautiful sunny late afternoon so we start strolling along the riverside. And strolling.  And strolling. Eventually we’ve been strolling for 45 minutes and there still appears to be no lake in sight. We’re hungry and thirsty and Mr Fletche needs a wee.  And my toes (sensibly encased in Compeed plasters purchased in Augsburg- an odd souvenir from our trip) need a break from being pressed against my pumps. We’d not planned for a 6km hike.  

We take a detour through a Füssen housing estate and make our way into town. All the tourists that were bustling around earlier appear to have gone home. We find two potential places to eat. Tonight its all about sausage and sauerkraut, and we opt for Zum Schwanen, a German/Croatian restaurant on Brotmarkt. It’s informal, friendly, and reasonably priced. Oh, and the sausages and sauerkraut are divine. Plus I never complain when wine is automatically served in a 1/4 litre jug.

We look around after dinner for somewhere to have another drink. We’re not in luck. The town has mostly gone to bed for the night. The few establishments that haven’t are trying to politely evacuate any last lingering customers. They won’t appreciate us bowling in and demanding beer. So we walk back to our hotel and call it a night. After all, we need to be bright and breezy for tomorrow’s castle, mountain and lake adventures!

If you want to find our more about visit Neuschwanstein Castle, it has it’s very own blog post here!

Things to do in and around Füssen that aren’t castle-related

For the first time since we’ve been in Germany, the sky is a little hazy. The clouds look ominous, with a threat of rain. So of course this is the perfect time to go up a mountain. No climbing involved this time, although there are no shortage of hiking trails should we want to. Instead we shell out €20 each for the convenience and comfort of the Tegelbergbahn. The cable car lifts us way above Neuchswanstein, the alpine meadows and the forest, all the way up the 1730m high mountain. Suddenly we’re in a winter wonderland, surrounded by snow.

There are a number of walking routes available once you’re at the top of Tegelberg, but instead we enjoy a beer in the fur-lined deckchairs at the Panorama restaurant and watch the clouds move across the mountains. From up here we are dwarfed by the Ammer mountain range ahead of us.

Despite the spring temperatures down at ground level, it’s definitely a little chilly up here. I start to lose feeling in the tips of my ears so we descend once more in the cable car. Had I been better prepared (what about all the lovely new gear I brought for climbing Snowdon, barely used?) then we would have probably made much more of our time up on Tegelberg. Another reason for us to put the region on our return list.

We’ve done castles and mountains, now it’s time for the lakes.  After yesterday’s non-visit to Ammersee, today we make the 15 minute drive back to the other side of Füssen, to Weißensee. Whilst not the hugest lake in the Allgau area of Bavaria, it is 2.4km long, and 600m wide. The walk around the lake is 6.2km. We know this, because we end up walking it.

We only intend to go for a “short walk”.  By the time we’re halfway along one side, a lovely wide paved path, we decide we may as well carry on. And on. And on. The end of the lake must be around this bend. Or maybe the next bend after that. This side of the lake is unpaved, in woodland and we often have to scramble over rocks and tree roots.

We didn’t bring a drink with us (“we’re only going for a short walk”), my feet are hurting in my sensible (but not hiking-sensible) shoes and I need a wee. I feel like this is a running theme. Eventually we’re on the home strait. Just as we’re nearing the car park the sun returns and we have a beautiful Alpine vista in front of us. It’s been a lovely walk, but we’ve now racked up about 15km walking for the day. Not bad for someone who wanted a nice lazy break.

By the time we get back to the hotel I’m unsure if I can manage the walk back into town, but I gamely pull on my boots and give it a go. After all, it’s Saturday night, we’re in Bavaria and there’s partying to do! Except, like last night, it’s all quiet.  There appears to be even less open tonight.

Our dining options are sorted. We’ve already decided to eat at Restaurant Aquila, and there are tables available. Our waitress shows us a romantic candlelit table and we settle down to peruse the menu.  And that’s when I see it. “No credit cards accepted”. After paying cash for the castle and cable car today, we didn’t replace it from our stash, and we only have about €30 in cash on us. There is no working ATM in town. The waitress has snuffed out our candle before we’ve even got our coats on.

There’s another option across the road, but before we enter we see the big “No credit cards accepted” sign. Our dining options are dwindling. We’re left with “Ludwig’s” restaurant. Ludwig thankfully accepts credit cards. The waiter looks as if the last thing he wants to see is more customers at this late hour (8pm) but he grudgingly serves us to dishes which are clearly microwaved (we hear the ping) rather than freshly cooked, but are tasty and plentiful enough. We have €30 in our pockets to spend on post-dinner drinks but the town has once again gone to bed way before we are ready. Fussen is beautiful, but out of season it’s pretty dull after hours.

From Füssen to Stuttgart (via a definitely non-Romantic Road)

We follow our usual check-out day routine – breakfast, bundle suitcase into car, find our way out of town. We’re so close to the Austrian border it would be rude to not at least go peer across at another country. Of course, we can’t actually cross the border without telling the hire car company. We park in a riverside car park to walk back up to Lechfall. It seems we have inadvertently crossed into Austria. Don’t tell the rental company.

This whole area – beautiful blue-green water, the “beach”, the dam ladder forcing the water through a narrow gorge before opening back up to the wide river flowing towards the lake – turns out to only have been a 10 minute walk from our hotel. There’s more to this area than first meets the eye. Apart from nightlife of course.

We say goodbye to the River Lech, to Austria and to Füssen. Our flight isn’t until this evening so we wind our way west along the B12 to Bodensee – Lake Constance. Its a beautiful spring day, and everyone is heading for the lakeside town of Lindau. It’s like trying to visit Stratford upon Avon on a Bank Holiday Monday.

We find a relatively empty but well-located car park where no-one appears to be parked. It’s actually a private car park belonging to casino Spielbank Lindau. Damn our lack of German language when it comes to translating parking restrictions. The nice lady at Spielbank Lindau kindly gives us a token to get out of the car park. We get the feeling we are not the first people to have made this error.  We stalk some people through one of the main car parks until they get back in their car and we finally manage to get a prime parking space.

Lindau is lovely, and definitely a town which deserves more time to explore.  Its lakeside location gives it a seaside feel, and there are plenty of bars, restaurants and gelato stalls lining the promenade.  There are so many resort towns that ring the lake – not only on the German side but also on the Austrian and Swiss banks – that this could be a future holiday destination on it’s own merit. We stop for a pizza lunch at Zur Alten Werft, where I partake in my final Aperol Spritz of the trip. Photos of Lindau are few and far between as my camera battery finally gave out after five days of constant photographing.

By 4pm, we’re back on the road.  No unscheduled stops or detours this time, it’s all the way up the A7 and A8 to Stuttgart Airport.  We have a bit of a wait for check-in to open as we’ve arrived ridiculously early, and then we get through security to find that all the bars, restaurants and shops are closed. Germany – land of early closing.

The Romantic Road was an amazing trip – even if the visions of winding roads through forests and idyllic little viewpoints where lovers could nestle whilst sharing a black forest gateau didn’t quite materialise.  Rothenburg and Neuschwanstein both exceeded expectations, and we found places we would like to return to, like Lindau. Even Füssen. As long as we stock up on supplies and don’t expect any wild late-night parties.

The Boring Details

• We flew with Flybe, Birmingham International to Stuttgart.
• Our car Rental was through AutoEurope
  We stayed at Hotel-Gasthof Goldener Greifen in Rothenburg ob de Tauber, Dom Hotel in Augsburg, and Vital Hotel Wiedemann in Füssen. All booked via Booking.com.

Has this inspired you to check out the Romantic Road?  What other parts of Germany should I discover next? Let me know in the comments!

I try my hardest to keep the information in this travel guide up to date; however if you notice anything has changed please let me know! Happy travels, Emmalene