Two nights and a day in Würzburg...need sightseeing tips, restaurant and winetasting suggestions please!
 

Seven of us will be in Würzburg from the late afternoon of May 20th until the morning of May 22nd. I would love some recommendations of your top three places to see and any tips that might be helpful from past experience. We are also "foodies" and would love to eat at some great restaurants (not necessarily off the chart expensive) and taste some great Franconian wine. Thanks for your advice guys! :)

the Residenz is a great tour, and quite well'known. It is NOT the impressive building up on top of the bluff overlooking the river. The Rez is in the middle of town and is great to see.

Also, (I don't know how to spell it, so I'll type it phonetically) say
"vice-vine, troken" (dry white wine)
I think it would be spelled
Weis wine, trochen

The tour of the Residenz is definitely worth taking (the Versailles of Franconia), check online to see the time for the daily tour given in English. If you have access to a car, a small town, Iphofen, is between Wurzburg and Nurnburg.I have had a very good trocken Weisswein from the Hans Wirsching winery, which is produced here.

Two good places for wine tasting are the Julius Spital and the Buerger Spital; both have their own vinyards of the Wuerzburger Bocksbeutel wine (so named after the shape of the bottles in which it comes).

Don't miss the castle overlooking the city and the Mainfraenkische Museum. The best way to visit the castle is either take the city bus up, or a cab, and then walk back into the city. Interesting to see the various nasty ways the Fuerstbischof (who lived in the castle) had to deter attackers, such as pouring liquid pitch through holes in the ceiling near the drawbridges.

PS: The Ratskeller in the city hall is a very good restaurant, with local specialties.

When you visit the Residenz, be sure to see the Court Chapel. It's beautiful.

Go to the Bürgerspital restaurant for dinner and try a few of their own wines. Then you can tell everyone afterwards that you spent the whole night in hospital - because that's what the Bürgerspital (= "citizen's hospital") actually used to be.
My personal favourite is their dry Silvaner from Würzburger Stein.
Just a warning - good Franconian wines tend to be veeeeerryy dry.

My favorite tourist stop in Würzburg is the Mainfränkisches Museum at the castle (Marienburg Festung) across the river overlooking the city. My favorite piece of German Art: "Grieving Mary" (Trauernde Maria) by Tilman Riemenschneider is there.

There is also the Käppele across the river has great views of the city and stations of the cross along the walk up.

The restaurant at the St. Josef hotel is very good basic food with a decent wine list for meat and homemade-noodles types (my wife and I).

The Residenz is room after room of lavish baroque decoration. My wife loved it.

Strolling the pedestrian zone and market square with a bag of freshly roasted almonds (Mandeln - availble at a stand in the square) is my favorite memory of the city.

My not so great slides:

http://mcchelsea.smugmug.com/gallery/1401769

Regards, Gary

If you have a car, I'd highly recommend driving to Iphofen and tasting at the Weingut Hans Wirsching. We tasted there this past weekend and they were very generous with the tastings. Wirsching is a great producer of Franconian wines. Try the special "S" series of dry (trocken) wines--both Silvaner and Riesling, as well as the Dornfelder (red wine). If you have the $$, spring for the Eiswein. Just yummy!