After the castles in Füssen, Rothenburg must be next on everybody "gotta see" list. Although often crowded and always touristy, Rothenburg has some interesting things to see. And I don't mean the Christmas Shop or the Crime and Punishment Museum. The Christmas Shop might be of value if you needed to buy ornaments, but neither really has anything to do with Rothenburg.

Here is the website of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and here is a map of Rothenburg.

Do: Walk the Wehrgang on the wall. My wife walked the wall from the Stöberleinturm (#20 on the map), on the river side near the south end of town around to the Klingentor (#27) on the North end.Think about this. People didn't build the wall as a tourist attraction. This was serious stuff. They wanted to stay alive. Notice how thin (~8") the wall is. It was built before cannons.

Part way along the wall is a museum in one of the towers (Rödertor, #26, I think) of the wall. You can climb up the inside of the tower for a view of the town and the wall.

After walking the wall, we went south toward town and toured St. Jakobs church. Mostly it's just a gothic church, but in the back is a fantastic wood carved altar by Tillman Riemenschneider. Go out and enjoy the park on the point where the castle once stood. You can climb the city hall tower in the square, where the clock performs Mayor Nusch's drinking of the yard glass of wine that (according to legend) saved the town.

We walk out the gate by the Plönlein, down to and across the Tauber river, and sat just looking at the beautiful town above us.

Getting to Rothenburg (from Munich)

There are two ways to get to Rothenburg, the slightly faster, more expensive, ICE route, or the least expensive regional route.

The more expensive route goes by ICE from Munich to Nürnberg, then by regional train to Ansbach or Neustadt, to Steinach, to Rothenburg. It takes 3 hrs, +/-. Full fare by ICE is €59, one way (that's €118, per person, round trip). Since the trip is less than 100 km, if you purchase well in advance, online with the Bahn, you might get Sparpreis fares as low as €19 each way, still €38 round trip. The slower route is Munich to Treuchtlingen to Steinach to Rothenburg. It takes about 3½ hrs., all by regional trains. If you do the round trip in a day, which I don't advise, a €28 Bayern-Ticket will take up to five people round trip. For a couple, that's only €14 per person. If you do it on separate days, so you can spend an evening in Rothenburg and do the Night Watchman's tour, you will need one Bayern-Ticket each day, €28 per person for a couple.

The station in Steinach is a very small station. The shuttle from Steinach to Rothenburg leaves on Gleis (track or platform) 5. Southbound trains from Neustadt arrive on Gleis 1. You'll have a two platform change through the tunnel. Northbound trains from Ansbach arrive on Gleis 2; that's a one platform change. Either way, it's pretty fast, 4 or 5 minutes. Stay with the herd. You should not have a problem.

The station in Rothenburg is located outside the wall, so it your hotel is inside, you'll have a little walk. Most of the inner town is a pedestrian zone.