The Life and Loves of a Small Bavarian Town
 

This is a rather belated trip report of my little (4 days) trip to Wurzburg, in Bavaria. I was there from April 16th to 20th. Wurzburg was a beautiful, serene place, and I had a wonderful time.

There were plenty of churches and historic buildings to admire, but the highlight must certainly be the Residenz, a baroque castle built by Balthasar Newman (famous German architect and sculptor), which I found to be more beautiful than even Versailles. German baroque is more light hearted and playful than the French style, I think. The most beautiful part was the staircase, with the ceiling paintings by Tiepolo. In German, I think the room was called the Treppenhaus.

Other places definately worth visiting were the Marienberg fortress, which has a museum on the history of the town, and beautiful views of the townscape, and the Dom St. Killan, I think that's how you spell it, which was the most beautiful church I saw in the city.

In terms of getting there, I flew into Frankfurt from Paris, then took the train to Wurzburg, which took about 2 hours. I would recomend the train ride during the day, the lovely rolling countryside is definately worth seeing. I cheated a bit in Frankfurt by getting a cab to the train station. I was told there was a bus service, but I was tired so I just went for the easy option.

I stayed at the Alter Kranen, which was on the Main river. The room I got was pretty small, but I wasn't going to be there much, so it didn't matter. I chose it because it was wonderfully cheap (double rooms I think go for about 80 euro, I got a single for 55 euro). There was a tv and shower, so I think I got a good deal.

In terms of dining, the place I would really recommend is the Schloss Steinburg, where I had dinner on my last night in Wurzburg. German food is the speciality, reasonably priced, and the beer is excellent.

If you want a high energy, lots of activity kind of holiday, I don't think Wurzburg is for you. It's quite laid back, the kind of place for leasurly strolls around the old town. I also think it's a great place to go by yourself, as it was great to take the town at my own pace.

Thanks very much for posting this. I have heard for years about "how great" Wurzburg is but have yet to make it there. And the fact that you were sensible enough to use a modern convenience called a TAXI hardly qualifies as "cheating"...I'd call it smart at the very least!

What a beautiful post! I never thought about going to Wurzburg but I'm considering it now :)

Great description of Wuerzburg, but it's a bit misleading to call this city of 130,000 a small town. It's definitely worth a visit, though.

laverendrye, I'm amazed that there are 130,000 people living in Wurzburg, it didn't feel like that much at all! Still, I'm from a big city, so for me it was small (in a good way). Everything is relative, I suppose. It's great that Wurzburg has maintained the peace and quiet of a small town despite its size.

Thanks for this post Mariannah. It brought back memories. I visited Wuerzburg several times when I lived in Aschaffenburg, about half way between Frankfurt and Wuerzburg. It is a one hour drive through the Spessart, a small beautiful range of hills.

Wurzburg is the capital of Franken and also heart of the Franken wine anbaugebiete. On the banks of the Main (pronounced 'mine') River are vineyards wich produce Franken wine. The Silvaner grape is probably the best known, producing a dry white wine. It is bottled in a stubby flat sided bottle called a bocksbeutel, similar to the bottles for Mateus.

Wuerzburg is the northen city of the Romatic Road.

A google search for 'franken wine' will bring up plenty of information about Wuerzburg and the surrounding area.

For beer drinkers I recommend a little known beer called Lohr from a village of the same name, just north of Wuerzburg.

Mariannah...Thanks for this.

I'll be visiting Wurzburg this summer and I've read that it was badly bombed during the War and almost entirely re-built and/or restored. Did you feel it had been 'modernized'?

Also, you didn't comment on the extensive gardens along the line of the old wall - they're supposed to be unique for such a large town's center. Did you feel it was special?

Sadly, the whole region known as Franconia is neglected by most foreign travellers to Germany.

It is a delightful area to explore: from the little corner to the south-east of Würzburg (Mainbernheim, Iphofen, Marktbreit, Ochsenfurt) to the towns along the Main to the west (Lohr, Karlstadt, Wertheim, Miltenberg, Aschaffenburg) and then into the Spessart Hills, which stretch north and west of the Main at Wertheim, there are endless little treasures of landscape, and church and village architecture to be discovered by the traveller who can shake off the notion that visiting Germany means nothing more then seeing the Rhine and Mosel Munich and southern Bavaria. Not to mention the gorgeous wines and regional delicacies to be found in what is, by the way, the least expensive part of the country for the tourist.

Thanks for posting Mariannah. Sounds lovely.

harzer, we're booked for three nights at a gaestehaus in Iphofen for just the reasons you've described here (and in earlier posts as well). Thank you and we're looking forward to it!

TuckH, the gardens of Wurzburg are just lovely. I loved the Wurzburg Residenz gardens, perfect for a little rest after exploring the palace.

May I suggest also, since you'll be there in summer, look into the Mozart Concerts that are held this time of year in the Residenz, if you like classical music.

There are also many winebars selling local specialities throughout the old town, some of them historic buildings themselves. White wine from the Wurzburg region is a real treat.

I found out at the Wurzburg history Museum in the Marienburg Fortress that Wurzburg was quite damaged in WWII, but straight away the citizens rebuilt the main monuments. They've done an excellent job; the place still has the feel of the 18th Century about it.

I hope you enjoy your trip as much as I enjoyed mine!

I am very happy to report that I have been living and working in Wuerzburg for almost 3 years now. It is truly a lovely, friendly city and despite the fact that I have not yet reached my goal to become fluent in German, I have been able to feel settle in quite easily. The city has been miraculously restored and one does feel transported in time. By the way there is a train station right in the Frankfurt airport which has trains that go direct to Wuerzburg so there is no need to go to the Frankfurt main station to catch the train. Also this year is the 1300th anniversary of the city and there will be many celebrations! If anyone wants more information, just ask me.

To TuckH!

We were there several years ago and found a lovely "Ferienwohnung " on a farming property about a kilometre away on the road going east out of town. Friendly and quiet and very well-priced at around 50 Euros a night with a hearty country breakfast included.

Iphofen is not my discovery - I owe it to Rex (or was it Russ) for the tip-off.

But you can't go wrong in this whole region even if you fly blind as far as accommodation is concerned. But a car is a must.

Harzer

harzer...

We'll be staying in a farmhouse outside of Iphofen on the road to Birklingen: http://www.gaestehaus-duering.de/ ["Ferienwohnung für 3 Personen für 65.-€ pro Tag inclusive Frühstück"]. Does it seem familiar?

Actually, credit for the original tip goes to Ed and his and Julie's lovely site: www.twenj.com/bavaria.htm.

Of course we'll have a car for our three-week jaunt through southern Germany and some of Austria.

Your thread brings back happy memories. My favorite little town is Miltenberg. Check it out at miltenberg.de

Yep, Duering's was the very same place we stayed at!

We were absolutely delighted with the whole deal there. You really have something to look forward to.

We stayed something like four days and toured the immediate area, never getting more than 20km away from our base (except once, when we went across to Marktheidenfeld where we had lived for a year back in the eighties to say hello), and never coming home saying it had not been worthwhile excursion.

Mrs Duering will fill you in on all the local sights and good eating places, so you can temporarily put aside your guidebook.

Enjoy!

On March 16th in 1945, more than 80 percent of the buildings of Würzburg were destroyed. Not arguing about that it was the germans who brought destruction and death to the continent, the citizens of würzburg are still quite upset as well as traumatized about this militarilly useless attack of a city without any relevant industries or troops/barracks. But that was apparently Bomber Harris' and the British' well-deserved revenge for Coventry. As a result, the most famous buildings such as castles, churches and so on were reconstructed, but the normal houses in between unfortunately have been rebuilt in a 60ies greyish style. Nevertheless, the city has kept its charming character that is mainly due to its beautiful position by the river Main. After the attack, it was a "culture officer" of the american forces (they were only a couple of days away from the city during the attack), whose first thing to do after arriving was to put up a provisional roof on the burnt-out residence. He saved the world-largest fresco of Tiepolo (now Unesco world-heritage) from destruction by rain.

Watzmann, thanks for the background.

Would you (or anyone else) care to compare Wurzburg to Bamberg? Forced to choose between the two, which would you say has more architectural authenticity and scenic interest?

Thanks for posting a trip report on someplace different!

Although I now live in Wuerzburg and think it is a warm, charming city I would have to say that Bamberg, which is smaller in size and did not experience destruction during the war, is the more "authentic" of the two.