7 Best Sights in Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, The Romantic Road

Rothenburg's city walls are more than 4 km (2½ miles) long and dotted with 42 red-roofed watchtowers. Due to its age, only about half of the wall can be accessed on foot, but it provides an excellent way of circumnavigating the town from above. Let your imagination take you back 600 years as you explore the low, covered sentries' walkways, which are punctuated by cannons, turrets, and areas where the town guards met. Stairs every 200 or 300 yards provide ready access or departure. Called the Tower Trail, there are superb views of the tangle of pointed and tiled red roofs and of the rolling country beyond through viewpoints, many of which are narrow slits, since this was a protection against invaders.

It's Christmas year-round at the German Christmas Museum, a hit among visitors even in the summer heat, as it provides an in-depth history of the holiday and many of its symbols, including Christmas trees. There's a unique collection of 150 historical Santa Claus figurines, mostly from the 1870s to the 1950s, and other holiday items, including hand-carved and hand-painted figures.

The tale of the Meistertrunk (Master Draught) and a prodigious civil servant dates to 1631, when the Protestant town was captured by Catholic forces during the Thirty Years' War. At the victory celebrations, the conquering general was embarrassed to find himself unable to drink a great tankard of wine in one go, as his manhood demanded. He volunteered to spare the town further destruction if any of the city councilors could drain the mighty six-pint draft. The mayor took up the challenge and succeeded, and Rothenburg was preserved. The tankard itself is on display at the Reichsstadtmuseum. On the north side of the clock tower in the main square is a fine clock, placed there 50 years after the mayor's feat. A mechanical figure acts out the epic Master Drink daily on the hour from 10 to 10. The feat is reenacted in the historical play "The Master Draught," and celebrated at the annual Meistertrunk festival.

The heart of the city is the Rathaus, where a car-free square has become a popular gathering point with a great view. Half of the town hall is Gothic, begun in 1240; the other half is neoclassical, started in 1572, and renovated after its original facade was destroyed by a fire 500 years ago. You can climb the 220 stairs of the tower to get a good view of the Franken countryside.

Formerly known as the Reichsstadtmuseum (Imperial Town Museum), it is still housed in a former Dominican convent dating back to the 13th century, including a cloister where one of the artifacts is the great tankard, or Pokal, of the Meistertrunk. The town purchased the property in 1933 and converted it into a museum. Exhibits include hunting weapons used by Marie Antoinette, a hunting rifle belonging to Frederick the Great of Prussia, musical instruments and original Biedermeier room reconstructed from a Rothenburg townhouse from the early 1800s, and a gallery which explores Jewish life in Rothenberg from the 13th century to the Third Reich.

This baroque castle of the Princes of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst is 20 km (12 miles) south of Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber. Standing on an outcrop, it can be seen from miles away. You can watch eagles and falcons swoop down from high in the sky to catch their prey during one of the Bavarian falconry demonstrations held in the courtyard here, twice daily from April to October. Castle tour highlights include the Red Salon, named for its wall color and filled with Nymphenbeurg porcelain, and the Billiard Room, with a wood-carved table from 1700.

This Lutheran parish church, constructed from 1311 to 1485, showcases 700 years of stained-glass windows and has notable Riemenschneider sculptures, including the famous Heiliges Blut (Holy Blood of Christ) altar. Above the altar is a crystal capsule said to contain drops of Christ's blood. The Twelve Apostles Altar, by Friedrich Herlin, has the oldest depiction of the town of Rothenburg.