18 Best Hotels in The Romantic Road, Germany

This bright and modern recent addition to historic downtown Würzburg offers numerous amenities, including a gym and perks as part of the international Marriott chain. Thoughtful service and a modern vibe make it popular with business guests during the week. Pets and service animals are welcome, and there is both a restaurant and a lobby bar.

Directly below the castle, this is one of the town's oldest inns, family-run and with updated, airy rooms that are tidy and comfortable. Geraniums flower most of the year from its balconies. The two restaurants here both have sturdy, round tables and colorful frescoed walls and offer an extensive menu of regional dishes.

This hotel's rococo facade has welcomed guests since 1408—which also is the name of the hotel restaurant—but only recently a part of the Best Western chain for bookings and other perks. Rooms are all individually decorated and furnished in an English country-house style. The spacious lobby, with an open fireplace and beckoning bar, sets the tone, and there's an attractive winter garden where you can enjoy a cup of coffee.

At this exquisite little hotel most rooms have a stunning, wide-angle view into the romantic Tauber Valley, and they also have plush furnishings, with antiques or fine reproductions, including four poster beds. There are three family apartments available for rent that are separate from the hotel. Breakfast is served on the terrace on top of the town wall in good weather, with a grand view of the surroundings. The Steinway Cellar holds a grand piano, and there is a small spa area for all guests.

Just around the corner from Augsburg's cathedral, this snug, quiet hotel has personality to spare, with a long history of hosting official church visitors, and a recent renovation that's provided good modern amenities. Ask for one of the attic rooms, where you'll sleep under beam ceilings and wake to a rooftop view of the city. Or try for one of the rooms on the top floor that have a small terrace facing the cathedral. A garden terrace borders the old city walls, and in summer you'll have your breakfast in the garden under old chestnut trees.

The modern Greifensteiner offers comfortable, individually furnished rooms in a quiet corner of the city, just off the market square. The Fränkische Stuben has excellent cuisine with mostly Franconian specialties; various meal plans are available with room reservations. There's also a bar in the basement wine cellar, dating from the 1300s, that's an ideal place to sample local varieties.

The upscale Hezelhof combines three charming, timber-frame buildings from the 16th century that are renovated inside to provide comfortable modern rooms with designer furnishings.

Sister hotels (both family-owned) that are adjoined, the two buildings have unique decor; some of the rooms have vintage furniture, antique paintings, and dolls. Located just behind the old historic Rathaus on the fringe of the Old Town, if you take a room toward the front, look up from your window and you'll see the Münster (cathedral). The hotels are located directly at the Danube Bike Path.

This 13th-century castle 18 miles east of Rothenburg has been converted into a hotel and maintains a high standard of comfort within its original medieval walls without sacrificing the atmosphere. Logs are often burning in the fireplace of the entrance hall, illuminating an original Tin Lizzy Model T Ford from 1917. The restaurant Zur Remise serves venison from the castle's own hunting grounds, and the hotel will organize guided hiking tours, including with Theobald von Colmberg. The original castle chapel is a popular spot for weddings, and the castle often books out for them in summer.

As you step into this medieval inn with a facade of half-timber gables and flower boxes, an old sturdy bar gives you a chance to register while sitting down and enjoying a drink. The rooms are modern, but outfitted with antique accessories and furniture, including one with a romantic four-poster bed. Dinner is served beneath heavy oak beams in the restaurant.

It's fitting that the prettiest small town in Germany should have one of the prettiest small hotels in its center, which has been welcoming guests for more than 600 years. Each room is different, with its own charming color scheme; most with antique furniture. Try for a room on the top floor toward the back, overlooking the Old Town and the Tauber River valley. Breakfast is in a sunny and elegant room with  a lovely view of the garden. In summer you'll want to eat on the terrace, surrounded by flowers.

A family-run hotel right on main street pays homage to traditional Bavarian style with rooms uniquely decorated in tribute to local sites—you can stay in the King Ludwig room, which has pictures of him on the walls, or a Spitzweg-decorated room based on a Biedermeier-era artist who painted in Füssen. Its restaurant serves an interesting variety of seasonal and local specialties like duck's legs or Maultaschen.

Formerly the Steigenberger Drei Mohren, this continues to be a five-star hotel where kings, princes, Napoléon, and the Duke of Wellington have enjoyed more than 300 years of attentive service. Rooms have been modernized and a spa area added without detracting from the 500-year-old building's traditional luxury. Though some rooms are on the small side, modern furnishings make this a top-notch choice for both business and leisure travelers. Dining options include the gourmet restaurant Sartory, with one Michelin star, and the bistro Maximilian's, with an open kitchen and a popular Sunday brunch. There's also a lobby bar, 3M.

With a convenient location between the two Schwangau castles, the Müller fits beautifully into the stunning landscape, its creamy Bavarian Baroque facade a contrast to the forested mountain slopes. Although the lobby is modern, the rest of the hotel has a major baroque influence, from the finely furnished bedrooms to the restaurant lit by chandeliers. The mahogany-panel, glazed veranda (with open fireplace) provides a magnificent view of Hohenschwangau Castle. Round out your day with a local specialty such as the Allgäuer Lendentopf (sirloin) served with Spätzle.

Master chefs in the service of the Holy Roman Emperor were the inspiration for the name of this historic hotel, occupying one of the oldest trader's houses in Rothenburg, which has been operated by the same energetic family for five generations. Rooms are furnished in a stylish mixture of old and new; light veneer pieces share space with heavy oak bedsteads and painted cupboards. You can have meals on the tree-covered terrace overlooking a square or late-night meals and drinks at the Lõchle wine tavern. They also rent out apartments nearby.

The Markusturm began as a 13th-century customs house, an integral part of the city defense wall, and has been an inn for more than 500 years, operated as a luxurious small hotel for the last four generations by the Berger family. Some rooms have beams, others have historic painted bedsteads, and some have valuable antiques from the Middle Ages, such as ceramic heating units (now just decorative), four-poster beds, even one with an in-room tub. Try to get a reservation for dinner when you arrive, since the beamed, elegant restaurant does fill up. The fish is excellent. Along with well-selected wines, you can also enjoy your dinner with three kinds of house-brewed beer. In summer head for the patio.

A century of family tradition embraces guests at this superb hotel combining the surroundings of a grand alpine hotel with the intimacy of a bed-and-breakfast. In a small valley below the ruins of Falkenstein Castle, it's romantic, but also good for families, with a playground and open fields where kids can frolic. The comfortable rooms, many with kitchenettes, are individually decorated. If time allows, spend a few days relaxing in the spa and heated pools looking out to the Alps, cozying up to the fire, and enjoying refined food—you can even spend a night in a tree house in the woods (reserve ahead).

Set atop vineyards and overlooking the towers of Würzburg, the Schloss Steinburg offers regal manor rooms as well as crisp and serene modern lodgings. The castle was first built in 1898 over the ruins of a medieval monastery; the Bezold family have expanded upon it over the last 75 years. The oldest rooms have many original details intact while the newer rooms are closer to the hotel's spa, which has panoramic views of the old city. The restaurant serves regional as well as more pan-European dishes.