It can't be wrong to take a look at the place that millions of American, Chinese and Japanese tourists consider Germany to be.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is town history straight out of a picture book, and when strolling through the alleys and on the town wall, nobody lets their mood spoil when they know that almost half of the building fabric was destroyed in an air raid shortly before the end of the Second World War much is a reconstruction.

The people of Frankfurt, who only recently treated themselves to an old town, know that.

The Sights

Manfred Koehler

Head of department of the Rhein-Main editorial team of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

  • Follow I follow

As proof of a successful trip to Rothenburg, you absolutely have to upload a selfie from Plönlein on Instagram, that's the place at the top of the photo.

If you write that "Plönlein" means "small square at the fountain", you almost pass for a Rothenburg expert.

Also nice: climb the 220 steps to the town hall tower.

If you still have enough breath, you should leave Rothenburg for a moment and take a look at the historic town with its city wall and towers from the Tauber valley.

There you get a sense of how powerful even cities that seem small to us today must have had an impact on hikers centuries ago.

The souvenir

We just noticed that Heinrich Böll’s story “Not only at Christmas time” could also be recommended as travel reading for the way to Rothenburg.

Because, like Böll, it's Christmas all year round in Rothenburg.

The city is the origin and headquarters of Käthe Wohlfahrt KG, which has made a name for itself with Christmas items.

In the "Christmas Village" on Herrngasse with its festively lit Christmas tree, everyone hums "O you happy ones".

And also: In 210 days it's Christmas Eve again!

If you sit in the train for a long time, you should also use the time.

For example with travel literature that fits the destination.

But what comes to mind when you think of Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Grazyna Cebulla, owner of the bookstore "Deine Buchhandlung" in the small town, recommends "Angel of Revenge" by Uwe Klausner, which is an exciting book about the Middle Ages in Rothenburg.

From the advertising text of the publisher: “Mysterious incidents keep the Free Imperial City in suspense.

It all started with the suicide of a fourteen-year-old dyer's daughter, whose hastily buried body mysteriously disappears.” Today, Rothenburg is no longer such a dangerous place.

If you still want to read the book on the return journey to spare your nerves: "Deine Buchhandlung" on Rödergasse has it in stock.