The Fairytale Town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Rothenburg, Germany

We tend use “fairytale” to describe a whole lot of places, but after seeing Rothenburg ob der Tauber, I firmly believe that all other cities need to forfeit that right. Rothenburg is nestled in the Bavarian countryside just 75 km from Nuremberg, and visiting it is a magical experience.

Driving into Rothenburg is a little bit like entering another century. The city is completely surrounded by intact city walls, one of the only three towns in Germany that still have them. This means you can only enter through one of the city’s main gates. Once you cross over, you’re surrounded by colorful half-timbered houses, ornate storefront signs, and lovely cobbled streets where it still looks like the 1600s. The fortified wall has walkable ramparts that are 3 km long, which gives you an idea of just how small the town is. You can walk the entire length of Rothenburg walls in 2 to 3 hours, but you can also take stairs at different points to walk just a part of it.

It’s certainly not the only well-preserved Medieval city in Germany – it’s not even the only Rothenburg. Though the full name is a bit cumbersome (meaning Rothenburg on the Tauber River), it’s important to distinguish it from the other Rothenburgs in Germany. It is also undoubtedly the most precious. Which obviously makes it the most popular with tourists. So you can expect the tiny streets of Rothenburg ob der Tauber to be absolutely crawling with visitors and massive tour groups that are shuttled in by dozens of buses that park just outside its walls every day. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).