2 Best Sights in Füssen, The Romantic Road

One of the best-preserved late-Gothic castles in Germany, Hohes Schloss (High Castle) was built on the site of the Roman fortress that once guarded this Alpine section of the Via Claudia, the trade route from Rome to the Danube. Evidence of Roman occupation of the area has been uncovered at the foot of the nearby Tegelberg Mountain, and the excavations next to the Tegelberg cable-car station are open for visits daily. The Hohes Schloss was the seat of Bavarian rulers before Emperor Heinrich VII mortgaged it and the rest of the town to the bishop of Augsburg for 400 pieces of silver. The mortgage was never redeemed, and Füssen remained the property of the Augsburg episcopate until secularization in the early 19th century. The bishops of Augsburg used the castle as their summer Alpine residence. It has a spectacular 16th-century Rittersaal (Knights' Hall) with a carved ceiling, and a princes' chamber with a Gothic tile stove.

Located in part of the former Benedictine Monastery of St. Mang, this baroque masterpiece dates back to the 8th century, when city patron Magnus, who spent most of his life ministering in the area, founded it. The summer presence of the bishops of Augsburg ensured that Füssen would gain an impressive number of baroque and rococo churches, and after his death, the abbey was built at the site of his grave. The museum contains one of Germany's largest collections of 17th to 19th century lutes and violins, the baroque Annakapelle (chapel), which includes frescoes of the local legend, the Füssen Totentanz. A Romanesque crypt beneath the baroque abbey church has a partially preserved 10th-century fresco, the oldest in Bavaria. In summer, chamber concerts are held in the baroque splendor of the former abbey's soaring Fürstensaal (Princes' Hall). Program details are available from the tourist office.