A summertime visit to Western Germany and a tour taking in the famous “Romantic Road”, which winds its way through historic towns and villages. Our tour is based in Wurzburg, a city filled with architectural delights, while our excursions take in Dinkelsbuhl and Rothenburg on the Romantic Road, and the World Heritage town of Bamburg in Upper Bavaria, together with the vineyard-clad hillsides of this picturesque region.

ITINERARY

Day 1 Early taxis from home and on to Dover for the short ferry crossing to Calais. From Northern France we travel into Belgium, and take an afternoon break in the Flemish city of Ghent with its canals, trading wharves and cathedral. By late afternoon we reach our overnight hotel, the Novotel Brussels Airport at Diegem on the outskirts of the city.

Day 2 From Brussels we travel past Liege and on to the German border at Aachen. We continue through the edge of the Eifel Mountains to the Rhine Valley with a break at Koblenz at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers. On across the Taunus Mountains and around Frankfurt, we reach Wurzburg and the Novotel in the city centre by early evening where we enjoy a welcome drink.

Day 3 A free day to enjoy Wurzburg. A few minutes walk from the hotel lies the Old Town situated on the banks of the River Main, and noted for attractions such as the Prince Bishop’s Residence, a magnificent Baroque palace surrounded by fine gardens and grounds, the Romanesque St Kilian’s Cathedral with beautiful carvings, tombs of the Prince Bishops and a fine dome atop the building, and the Marienburg Fortress, the city’s most prominent landmark with superb river views. The Old Town streets are lined with stone houses, and all around is a good range of shops and cafés for sustenance.

Day 4 A full day’s excursion along the northern stretch of the “Romantic Road”, a tourist route which winds its way through the vineyard-clad slopes, towns and villages of the Frankenhohe Valley and Upper Bavaria. We travel south to the medieval city of Dinkelsbuhl with its market place, half-timbered Gustav Adolf House, 14th Century city gates and fortified walls, before taking the scenic route north to Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber. This unspoilt medieval town is situated high above the river and again has fortified towers and gates dating from the 14th Century, magnificent half-timbered and gabled houses and beautiful floral decorations.

Day 5 A leisurely excursion through the Steigerwald to the town of Bamburg, declared a World Heritage Site and covering seven hills, each one topped by an historic church, the oldest of which dates back to the 11th Century. The old town contains a 12th Century Romanesque Cathedral, the 14th Century Old Town Hall built on the Regnitz River and approached by two bridges, and 16th Century New Palace, home of the Prince Bishops in the 17th Century . We include a guided walking tour of the city to enhance your experience of this lovely town.

Day 6 Leaving Wurzburg we travel west past Frankfurt and across the Taunus Mountains to Limburg-an-der-Lahn with its 900-year-old castle overlooking the river, the impressive St George’s Cathedral and the half-timbered buildings filling the old town. On across the Westerwald we reach the outskirts of Cologne and the Mercure Koln-West for our final night’s accommodation.

Day 7 A drive back through Germany and Belgium by motorway with regular comfort and refreshment breaks. Into Northern France we reach Calais and take the late afternoon ferry back to Dover, returning to our local area by mid-evening.