We have just spent a week visiting some Christmas Markets in the Franconia area in Germany and took some time to visit again some of the campsites and the vineyard where we will be staying during our “Germany’s Romantic Road” tour next year.
We try to visit this area every year as we love to spend time in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a beautiful medieval town which hosts our favourite Christmas market and one that is not as commercial as the most famous one in Nuremberg. Of course, and as every year, we had to eat the half meter long sausage in bread roll and drink some mulled wine! We also went into the magical Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop. This is the largest of a chain of shops, open all year, selling German Christmas ornaments and decorations. Although we have bought so many things from this shop in the past, Audrey still managed to find something to buy that we don’t yet have! If you join us on our “Germany’s Romantic Road” tour next year, you will also be able to stock up for Christmas. There is also a branch in Rüdesheim, where we stay during our “Majestic Rhine and Moselle Rivers” tour.
During the week we also stopped in Kitzingen at the vineyard, where we will be staying during the “Germany’s Romantic Road” tour and will have a wine tasting of the famous Franconian wine. This vineyard, in contrary to many others, not only offers a place to park up for the night, they have EHU and now also a dumping station and if needed fresh water. A lot of the vineyards in this area also produce their own mulled wine which they often sell at the Christmas markets and which we can confirm tastes much better than the mass-produced ones!
We then went to the Christmas Market in the baroque city of Würzburg. Würzburg is on the northern part of the Romantic Road and is filled with architectural masterpieces from various eras. St. Kilian Cathedral with its two imposing towers, for example, is the fourth largest Romanesque church in Germany. There is also the 180-metre-long old Main bridge, which is lined with impressive statues of saints and is one of Würzburg’s most famous landmarks. The Würzburg Residence with its Court Gardens and Residence Square (UNESCO World Heritage Site) is also worth a visit as is the Marienberg Fortress. We will be back in Würzburg again in April next year after our “Exciting Eastern Germany” tour, as we have booked tickets for a concert by David Garrett, the violinist, which we are very much looking forward to as it is not always easy to fit such events into our travelling schedule.
On our way home we also stopped in Schweinfurt and Fulda. The Christmas market in Schweinfurt was very small and a bit disappointing, but we really enjoyed the market in Fulda, as it was spread out through the town along many of the different streets and included a medieval market. Fulda is another beautiful baroque city in Germany with an impressive Cathedral and the monastery was the largest and most important one north of the Alps during the Middle Ages.
If you are interested in any of our upcoming tours for 2024, you can find more information on the tour by clicking on the links below:
Exciting Eastern Germany
Tour date: Sun. 14th April – Sat. 27th April
Calais pick-up: Fri 12th April
Discover Denmark
Tour date: Sun. 12th May – Sat. 1st June
Calais pick-up: Fri. 10th May
Stunning Norway
Tour date: Sun. 2nd June – Sun. 23rd June
Majestic Rhine & Moselle Rivers
Tour date: Sat. 29th June – Sat. 13th July
Calais pick-up: Sat. 29th June
Germany’s Romantic Road
Tour date: Sat. 14th July – Sat. 27th July
Impressive Italian Lakes & Cities
Tour date: Sun. 1st – Sat. 14th September
Calais pick-up: Fri. 30th August
Captivating Croatia
Tour date: Sun. 15th September – Fri. 4th October
All information regarding dates, prices, and itinerary can be found on our website. If you have any additional questions or require any further information, just send us an email. If you would like to book a tour you can do this online, or just send us an email and we will send you a booking form. The Earlybird discount is only available until the end of the year so if you are interested in travelling with us next year and wish to book one of the remaining places, do not hesitate too long or you could be disappointed!
We wish you and your family a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Audrey & Michael