The iconic Plönlein — Rothenburg's most-photographed corner, straight from a fairy tale. Photo / Unsplash
Lorna Riley makes a fairy-tale stop at one of the world’s most beautiful towns.
“How many ways can Bavarians serve sausage, cabbage and mashed potato?” It’s a fair question from one of our fellow river cruise passengers, given the local dishes we’ve encountered the past couple of days, and the answer can only be “in seemingly endless variations”.
We’re lunching in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a medieval town in the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Today’s offering involves sausage meat baked in a cabbage leaf, adorned with a scoop of mashed potato and a hearty gravy, much tastier than it may sound, and accompanied by Franconian wine (much less tasty than it may sound, sadly). The restaurant’s old paned windows make the houses outside appear even more crooked than they actually are, which only adds to the storybook allure.
I’ve been excited to visit Rothenburg ever since it made Conde Nast Traveller’s 50 most beautiful towns list in 2024 (a spot it retained in 2025). The hour-long drive here along the “Romantic Road” from where our Viking longship is moored in Würzburg has only built the anticipation, with whimsical scenery on every side, seemingly lifted out of Grimms’ Fairy Tales.
The town’s full name translates as “red castle above the Tauber [river]”, and it’s the oldest of only four towns remaining in Germany with completely intact city walls. Founded around AD1000 and once ruled by the Holy Roman Empire, it was a busy merchant city until the early 1600s, when war and the plague threw it into poverty. This stagnation froze Rothenburg in time, before German Romantics rediscovered it in 1802.
Before our lunch stop, we’ve toured the town. It’s larger than I’d expected, and the walk takes even longer as we pause every few moments to snap picturesque pastel houses set on cobbled streets, the stunning view across the valley, and the castle gardens.
Perhaps fortunately, the Kriminalmuseum with its array of torture devices is closed, but we console ourselves with a schneeballen (snowball), the local delicacy consisting of little more than deep-fried shortcrust pastry dusted with icing sugar, the taste reminiscent of a New Orleans beignet (read: absolutely delicious). Time (and schneeballen) conspire against us so we don’t opt to walk the entire 4km of city walls, but there is much to admire within them. Here, perhaps inevitably, a sausage shop selling every variety I’ve ever heard of and plenty more besides; there, a medieval weapons shop filled with suits of armour, and where I buy my son an impressively brutal-looking replica dagger.
The highlight for me, however, is the Plonlein area with a striking yellow half-timbered house at its centre. This charming, if crooked, dwelling inspired one-time visitor Walt Disney’s artwork for the original Pinocchio, and I’m pretty sure it’s the law here that one must have a photo taken in front of it, so I oblige.
Rothenburg is not all storybook charm, though. The Nazis viewed it as the quintessential German “home town”, and in 1938 expelled all the Jews living there. Dotted throughout the cobbled lanes are stumbling stones, small brass plates set in the pavement in front of the last residences of Holocaust victims, stating their names and their fates. They’re a sobering sight. Allied bombing destroyed a third of Rothenburg, but the then United States Assistant Secretary of War, one John McCloy, understood the importance and beauty of the town, and it was taken without further artillery being used. It was later rebuilt to its former glory, with McCloy becoming an honorary citizen.
These days, Rothenburg is a fully functioning town, but with a distinct nod to tourists. Like so many places in Europe, it loves the festive season, and although we are not here at the right time for the iconic Christmas markets, that does not impede yuletide cheer all year round. We spot an endearing nativity scene nestled amongst lush hanging vines in a resident’s garden, and pose with a giant Christmas bear outside a shop. But the piece de resistance is Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas Village, open year-round and spanning more than 1000sq m in a medieval building.
Entering this magnificent store, flanked by giant nutcracker soldiers, is like stepping into a festive fever dream. I get lost several times perusing the incredible animated villages, carousels, decorations and more than 30,000 different traditional ornaments displayed by colour and theme. There’s a specialised festive museum too, but the crowning glory is a 5m tree that drops the jaws of young and old alike. The Grinch himself couldn’t fail to be moved to embrace the Christmas spirit.
So does Rothenburg ob der Tauber deserve its accolades as one of the most beautiful towns in the world? Undoubtedly. And as our coach wends its way back to Wurzburg, am I looking forward to something other than sausage and cabbage for tonight’s dinner on board the Viking Ve? Again – undoubtedly.
Viking Cruises’ 15-day Grand European Tour from Budapest to Amsterdam.
New Zealand Herald Travel travelled courtesy of Viking Cruises.