At the northern end of the Romantic Road, Wurzburg is an old city nestled in a vineyard-filled valley on the Main River. The city is dominated by the Marienberg Fortress, the home of the powerful Prince-Bishops of Wurzburg, who transformed the city into one of the 17th century's finest. Inside the fortress are a museum and an eighth-century church. Catch the bus or climb the fortress' steep vine-covered hill for a magnificent view of the city. The Residenz, with its grand staircase and ceiling frescoes by Tiepolois, is one of the finest baroque palaces in Germany. A Mozart festival is held there in late spring, and the region's delicious white and rose wines can be sampled in the gardens in summer.
Also in town are the cathedral, St. Mary's Chapel and the Old Bridge, which is lined with statues of saints. If time permits, take an afternoon boat trip to Veitshochheim, the Prince-Bishop's hunting palace, which has one of the most outstanding rococo gardens in Europe.
Nearby Miltenberg is a little village that looks just the way a fairy-tale German city should look—half-timbered houses, an old market square with a fountain, narrow streets, and a city wall with gates and turrets. One of its attractions is that it's very similar to Rothenburg, but with fewer tourists. Wurzburg is 60 mi/95 km southeast of Frankfurt.
