Rick Steves first wandered into Rothenburg ob der Tauber as a young backpacker, back when farm animals still lived inside the town walls. Today those barns have become hotels and the crowds can be thick, yet he still crowns it Germany's best-preserved walled town. In the Middle Ages this Franconian hilltop was among the country's largest cities, and a thousand years of history still echo through its towers and cobbled lanes.
The secret is timing. Day visitors pour in and drain out, so Steves recommends staying overnight and saving the town's best moments for early morning and evening. Walk the roughly 1.5-mile circuit of the medieval wall before breakfast or at sunset, climb the Town Hall tower for the finest view over red roofs and countryside, and step into St. Jakob's Church to admire a roughly 500-year-old altarpiece carved by Tilman Riemenschneider.
Stories by lantern light
After dark, join the Night Watchman's Tour, a funny, theatrical stroll that brings medieval daily life vividly back to life. By day, the Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum offers a slightly gruesome but fascinating look at old-time justice, and a sprawling Christmas shop hides a German Christmas Museum upstairs. Locals also sell prints, woodcarvings, beer steins and the famous Schneeball, a crumbly fried pastry that is more fun to photograph than to eat.
For a quieter afternoon, follow a path down from the castle gardens into the Tauber Valley. Mills, orchards and birdsong lead past Toppler Castle, a narrow, treehouse-like tower built by a 15th-century mayor, to the village of Detwang, which is even older than Rothenburg itself and guards a second Riemenschneider altarpiece. Rooms are usually easy to find except on Saturdays and festival weekends.
Source: Rick Steves (BOOMER Magazine)
