Germany
Landkreis Schwäbisch Hall

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    • Day 11

      Rothenburg Museum (and shop)

      October 6, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

      Housed in an old monastery, the building was as interesting as the exhibits (which were surprisingly varied and included a hell of a weaponry collection). Note the painting with my door from earlier (I got excited about that lol). Also a few pics from a really, really neat shop off the main market square -- it's like Ren Fair in a store!Read more

    • Day 10

      Plönlein/Toppler Castle

      December 18, 2022 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 23 °F

      Did you know Rothenburg de Tauber is the start of the romantic road, which is what the Grimm Brothers used as inspiration for many of their stories? Well neither did we. In fact, in town there are two spots that were used as inspiration for tales.

      The first is Plönlein which is a famous split in the road that was part of the inspiration for Pinocchio.

      The second is Toppler Castle. While it may not look it, this tower is over 80 feet tall. We will let you take a guess which fairytale this castle inspired.

      The third you won’t recognize…because it’s just a cool looking bridge we found!
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    • Day 16

      Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

      April 9, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

      We left Mittenwald this morning and on our way to Miltenberg we stopped to explore the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a German town in northern Bavaria known for its medieval architecture. Half-timbered houses line the cobblestone lanes of its old town and the town walls include many preserved gate houses and towers, plus a covered walkway on top. Today it is one of only three towns in Germany that still have completely intact city walls.

      It was a very pretty town but boy was it crowded, especially after the towns we had already been to. And with me not feeling very well it was hard to really enjoy it and embrace the business. It was surprising it was so busy as being Easter Sunday all the shops, excluding cafes and restaurants, were closed.

      We did find a very traditional restaurant to have a very traditional lunch before stopping to buy a Schneeballen (which means snow ball). This pastry treat is typical of the region and has been made for the past 400 years so we just had to try one. Not sure we would rush out to try another one - it was a deep-fried pastry made from shortcut pastry sprinkled with icing sugar or coated with chocolate for a more modern version. Interesting and great to try something that has such a long history.

      We did enjoy our stop here, admiring the beautiful buildings, the lovely Easter displays and the vibrant squares. It is a town that would be nice to visit after all the day tourist leave (and yes, I know we are day tourists and contributed to the crowds).
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    • Day 48

      Rothenburg

      October 8, 2022 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

      Rothenberg is one of those picture perfect postcard towns. While it received some bombing damage in WW2, it was the 30 Year's War in the 1600's that did a lot more damage to it. A lot of buildings from that time period have survived intact and make it a living museum. That's why hordes of tourists flock here. It's early October, so the high season is over and most of the rest of the tourists are day-trippers on tours. We're spending 2 nights which is plenty of time to soak up the views.

      Something about this town seemed so familiar, and then I found out it's the setting of "Vulgaria" in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the infamous Child Catcher! Yikes. I thinks some Madison 20 somethings are still having nightmares from when I dressed up as the Child Catcher one year for a Halloween party for kids. It was really me scaring the parents, which scared the kids.

      Anyhoo, the photos will give you a better picture than I can describe. The weather is perfect, a sunny early Autumn day, and after a few walks around the well-preserved town walls, we're chiling out after another delicious lunch. We're staying in a zimmer (room) above a restaurant. It's about 300 years old and we've got a really nice room. The floor is slanted a bit, which gives it a funhouse kind of feel, but we're not complaining. We opted for dinner on the first floor last night, and Deanne had half of a very large duck and I opted for more pork, a humongous pork shoulder with kraut and potato dumplings. My god, the portions are huge here.

      Breakfast below had the most fresh fruit we've seen anywhere on the trip and it was a welcome surprise. Of coure we also had the requisite cold cuts and cheese. Only a couple other people are staying here.

      About 75% of the town works in tourism of some sort here, so I think everyone breathes a sigh of relief in late fall before business picks up again for Christmas. They sell a lot of cuckoo clocks and Christmas memorabilia. We went to a few museums and took the famous Night Watchman's tour around town at night. It was a humorous take on what living here during the middle ages was like.

      More photos and videos are here.
      https://photos.app.goo.gl/HgSBYTT7H6jDAwgi7
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    • Day 3

      Rothenburg ob der Tauber

      June 2, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

      Die Nacht lief super und bis auf kurze Trinkstopps schlafen wir bis 08:15 Uhr sehr gut zu Dritt im Bett. Es gibt ein schönes Frühstück mit frischen lecker Brötchen und die gute Nachricht, wir dürfen das Vorzelt stehen lassen.

      Nach dem Frühstück spielen und tüddeln noch ein bisschen auf dem Platz rum und machen uns gegen 13 Uhr auf in die Stadt. Der Fußweg ist nur 1,8km lang, geht aber plötzlich steil Bergauf. Tobi muss da ganz schön den Kinderwagen schieben. Oben erwartet uns eine sehr schöne mittelalterliche Stadt. Wir schauen uns alles an. Besonders der Burggarten ist super idyllisch. Es gibt Kuchen und die örtliche Spezialität den Schneeballen, einen ziemlich trockenen Kuchenball mit Puderzucker :D. Auf dem Weg zurück, kommen wir in eine Pferdewagenparade (Lars interessiert das herzlich wenig, seine Libelle ist da viel interessanter).

      Den Abend lassen wir dann noch auf dem Campingplatz ausklingen. Lars schläft erstmal im Kinderwagen.
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    • Day 11

      Wurzburg and Rothenburg ob der Tauberg

      September 18, 2022 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 46 °F

      Bishop’s Palace and gardens in Wurzburg; Rothenburg walking tour and run around the top of the walled city walls.
      Shopping and lunch in Rothenburg, then bussed back to our mooring under the Fortress of Wurzburg-Gorgeous!Read more

    • Day 8

      Rothenburg

      September 16, 2022 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 50 °F

      Day Seven
      Breakfast at 9 AM in the hotel restaurant. Very nice breakfast scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, croissants, assorted jams and jellies. Top it off with hot tea and the meal was complete. The day was overcast and the forecast was for scattered storms and sunshine. We received mostly cloudy skies and rain. The temperature dropped throughout the day into evening. We spent more time shopping rather than sightseeing. Thanks Heather for the suggestion to see Käthe Wohlfahrt-Weihnachtsdorf. It is a muti-floor Christmas store. I have never seen anything like it. Well worth the time.
      We walked around the city shooting pictures like we were tourists. LOL.
      i had to take a picture of the most photographed house in Germany, which turned out not to be a secret with the tour busses. I waited for some time before I could get just the right shot.
      We ate Italian tonight for the first time on this trip. We had dinner at "Roma." What a great setting, service, and meal. Linda declared, "Best meal of the Trip."
      Getting to bed early as we head north beyond Franfurt to visit the German town and fortress, Braunfels.
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    • Day 2

      Von der Innentalsperre an die Tauber

      June 1, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

      Die erste Nacht im Camper war ziemlich frisch. Lars hatten wir recht früh ins Bettchen gelegt. Abends ist er dann aber nochmal aufgeschreckt und ließ sich erst gar nicht beruhigen. Zudem hatten wir ungefähr 10 Quadratcentimeter Bewegungsfreiheit, was die Sache nicht einfacher machte. Wir dachten schon dran in der Nacht noch nach Hause zu fahren, als er dann doch noch in dem Schlaf gekuschelt werden konnte. An eine Ablage ins bereits aufgebaute Reisebett war nicht zu denken. Also haben wir zu Dritt im 1,4 Bett genächtigt. Lars in der Mitte.
      Das hat dann aber besser als gedacht geklappt. Am nächsten Morgen sind wir relativ fit. Lars sieht man die Nacht noch an aber wir sind alle gut gelaunt.

      Nach einem Ausgiebigen Frühstück und kleinen Pläuschen mit dem Platzwart geht's wieder ans Packen und wir machen uns um 12 wieder auf den Weg weiter Richtung Süden.

      Kurz vor der Autobahn Auffahrt tanken wir nochmal und gönnen uns 2 Cheesburger und einen Schokomilchschake bei MC Donalds. So kanns weitergehen :D.

      Wir haben uns einen kleinen Campingplatz bei Rothenburg op de Tauber ausgeguckt und haben Glück und bekommen trotz Bayrischer Pfingstferien (mal wieder genau getroffen) noch einen netten Platz.

      Nach 4 Stunden Fahrt und gefühlt 100 Baustellen erreichen wir das idyllische Örtchen. Fix wird alles aufgebaut, auch das Vorzelt und der kleine Ort Dewagen erkundet. Weil Lars so gut schläft, gehen wir noch in ein uriges Lokal und essen Spätzle und Wildgulasch. LECKER!

      Zurück auf dem Campingplatz, ist Lars wieder wach und will aber nicht im Vorzelt schlafen. Es geht dann für uns also relativ früh ins Bett. Heute läuft das Ganze aber schon routinierter.
      Leider entdeckt Kim, dass Folien nicht auf dem Platz ausgelegt werden dürfen und wir sehen uns schon morgens früh das Vorzelt wieder abbauen. Mal sehen, was die Betreiber sagen.
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    • Day 6

      Driving the Autobahn

      September 20, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

      Today we had our first real experience of driving on the legendary Autobahn. For those who don't know, this is the highway system in Germany that has no speed limit. And let me tell you, it lives up to the expectations.

      We started off in Munich and picked up our rental car. We had pre booked a Mercedes Benz C class (or something similar apparently) but they ended up giving us an Audi Q3 SUV. I was probably a little disappointed at the start since I had my mind set on something already, but it worked out fine and the vehicle definitely really gave 'er.

      We quickly got out of Munich and got onto the highway. The speed limit signs slowly built up until finally we got to 120. We didn't really know if this was an actual posted speed limit or the open section that we had heard of, so I kept it to 120 to 130. After a short bit, we got onto a secondary highway where the limit ranged from 50 to 70 to 100 depending if we were going through any little towns. There were also numerous passing lanes where I was able to test out the vehicles acceleration and get a feel for it.

      After the short mix up where my navigator missed a turnoff, we began the approach to Neuschwanstein where it became very curvy and tight. The general feel of speed limit is that everyone knows that within little towns it is around 50. And then in between (which can be short stretches) it goes up to 100.

      After the castle tour we headed back out onto the highway towards Rothenburg. However since we had barely eaten we needed to stop for some food. Our first idea was to find a small little restaurant in the town below the castle (Fussen). When we were driving through, it looked like a beautiful little town, but I didn't want to deal with (or pay for) parking. Luckily, we saw a sign for......McDonald's! And we both instantly were sold. It's always interesting to see how the menu differs in other countries. Saw a couple of things I hadn't seen for a while (Big and Tasty, McRib) and a couple new things (Happy Fries, McFreezy, and spring rolls).

      While we were stopped I was looking at the map on my phone and suggested to Brooke that we take a short detour to see some of the country side. Shortly after leaving we got off of the main highway and headed towards a town called Wald. The countryside was absolutely beautiful and it was lovely to see all of the little German towns. The fields mostly consisted of corn crops and grazing meadows for livestock. The roads we were driving on were incredibly twisty and fairly tight turns. Apparently the speed limit was likely 100 here, but I was barely able to keep it up at 80. I was definitely holding up traffic at times.

      After the detour we took another secondary highway and then got onto the A7 highway. This was where it really opened up and we had entered on the no speed limit Autobahn. Some general thoughts / experiences
      -It is a double lane highway for the most part. I would say that the average is about 130 to 140. The semi trucks go about 100 in the right lane. And I'm sure I got passed by cars in the 180 to 200 speed range on the left.
      -You don't really shoulder check while driving, you more so check a football field behind you to make sure that no one is coming up on you really fast
      -You definitely need to only use the left lane for when passing, get back over after clearing the car
      -Passing a long string of semis I would stay in the left the entire way and not dart back and forth in between them
      -The hardest part was judging when to move into the left lane when approaching a semi. There were times when I missed an opportunity to pass a semi and then got stuck behind them, had to slow way down, and then took a while for an opportunity to merge back in
      -Initially I was averaging 130 to 140 comfortably. Later on I was between 140 to 150 at a comfortable rate
      -Did not even think of turning on cruise control once because my speed was constantly changing
      -The road system really makes it seem that it isn't too crazy. The lanes are wide and the road curves with very wide turns. Brooke even agreed that it was not as crazy as she had expected and that at times the QE2 back home is crazier at times, probably because people are dumber.
      -There was one time where a car was coming up behind me in the distance and I noticed him flashing his beams really fast telling me to get over. I wasn't sure what to do since I was passing a couple of semis, then another car darted out behind me in front of the approaching car. Gave me some time to get over to the right lane.
      -The most wildest part was shortly after one of the other main highways merged onto the A7. This brought the traffic level up much higher. Then they had a passing lane form on a double lane highway (which I have never seen before). I'm pretty sure it opened up to four lanes and it was quite crazy for a short bit of time.
      -You really need to drive with 100% alertness the entire time. I was constantly checking all my mirrors for what was coming behind me, watching my speed, and looking what was coming up ahead. I was quite drained by the end of it.
      -On the portions where I had an open and straight section of highway, I decided to see what the Audi could do. I believe I got 'er up to just before 170 before backing off.

      Finally we got off the highway onto the approach to Rothenburg. We missed the turn off into the walled part of the city and found our way in another way. The streets are tight cobblestone roads and it was like driving inside of a castle. Definitely got lost trying to find our hotel, and then it magically appeared. Glad to hear that the hotel will park our car for us, because I was not wanting to have to deal with that.

      Went and found some German food and a well deserved beer to finish off the day.

      Tyler and Brooke
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    • Day 7

      Rothenburg ob der Tauber

      September 21, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

      We woke up this morning in Rothenburg and took our time getting ready for the day. Had a excellent breakfast at the hotel consisting of some standard European fare, made to order eggs, and delightful waffles. I actually held off on completely stuffing myself for reasons to come very shortly.

      Stepping outside into the cobblestone streets, we found ourselves in a foggy crisp morning. We wandered off towards the main square to begin our day of exploring. There are many cute shops in the town and the first one we wandered into was a teddy bear shop, which had an impressive selection of teddy bears.

      Heading south, we saw a bakery that had the Rothenburg treat, schneeballe (snowball)! This consists of strips of pastry dough formed together into a ball. The outside is then traditionally coated with icing sugar or cinnamon/sugar (also less traditional options coated with chocolate). I had heard about these earlier and immediately got one to snack on. It was quite tasty, a little hard to bite through, and very messy at the end.

      Wandering along, we found the famous Christmas store featuring Kathy Wolfahrt ornaments. It was like walking into December! Brooke spent some time looking through the store, finding a handful of great Christmas ornaments (some for maybe our first Christmas tree?). Afterwards we meandered back to our hotel to drop them off.

      Aside - the fact that our hotel was quite central made it very effective to quickly go up to our room to drop off our bag, grab a coat, sit down for a bit. Loved it!

      While we were waiting in the hotel lobby and consulting the map, we overheard the hotel staff talking to another guest. She was asking where to find the best schneeballen, and the staff was very clear to not go to Diller since they are too much of a chain and the balls are like rocks. Looking down at my bag...we totally went to Diller. Darn! Guess we'll have to sample some more.

      Next we walked to the east side of the town and climbed up the steps to the town wall. You can actually walk along the entire town wall and take in the village that way. We found it very enjoyable! You can also see some of the homes/yards of the locals from up there. Walked all the way to the southern end and headed north back up the main road. We found ourselves in the most famous (and most popular) spot to take a picture in Rothenburg, the Plonlein/Siebers tower. It wasn't too hard to get some good pictures from the south side, but on the other side it was absolutely flooded with tourists, especially asians! They were everywhere and we chose to try and come back another time.

      We stopped quickly at the hotel to ask for a lunch recommendation since we wanted something that was not on the main road. He suggested a simple place called Spätzle Schwob, which was just around the corner. The sun was just starting to come out for the first time on our trip, so we chose to sit outside and loved it! Brooke had Roulade and I had schnitzel, both with Spätzle of course!

      When we were finishing up lunch, I asked the server where the best schneeballe in town would be. She gave us the recommendation of a little bakery called Beisbart which was over by the church. We found our way over there and I selected a hazelnut coated schneeballe. Both of us agreed that it was way better than the first one we had. The dough was soft yet still crunchy, however it still got really messy especially with the hazelnut outside.

      Walking north, we found our way actually out of the city walls. There was a path that we followed and later noticed that it was a trail that leads all around the outside of the city walls. We enjoyed the view of the valley (so lush with green forest all around) and also randomly played on a children's playground. Found our way back into the city and walked through Burggarten (garden area on the west side of the city), which had excellent views overlooking the cliff and valley that the town is built on.

      Heading back into the center of the town, we decided to go back to the main photo-op place (Plonlein/Siebers tower) and see if we could get a photo together. It was still really busy with other tourists and the sun was at a weird angle, casting shadows everywhere and almost directly into the camera. We were not successful (as in I gave up early because I didn't want to deal with crowds) and thought to come back later when the sun was behind the buildings. So instead we shopped around a bit and Brooke found a bottle of wine for a gift.

      Stopped off at the hotel to drop off the bottle of wine and take a moment to sit down. This turned into a short nap (even I closed my eyes for a bit, Brooke was out like a light). I also did some research about what we hadn't seen in Rothenburg yet. Doing so, I noticed that a lot of people commented that it is best to get the photo-op spot if you go really early in the morning before the tour buses show up. We agreed that that sounded like a good idea and decided to try tomorrow morning before we leave.

      After our rest we walked over to the main square to look at the town hall. We noticed that you could climb up to the top of the bell tower (for a small fee) and it looked like a great view. We started the climb up to the top and it was a moderate wide staircase at the start. Towards the end it became very tight and steep. The very last hurdle was a really steep ladder and a small hole you had to clamber through to reach the top. Once we were up there the view was incredible! We could see all edges of the town and all the German red hatched roof tops. It was totally worth the climb and admission! Since it was not overly crowded we ended up taking a lot of time to enjoy the view and take pictures.

      Once back down on street level we walked towards a portion of the town we hadn't seen yet. This included stopping to take pictures in front of a different tower since the sun was hitting it perfectly. We climbed back up onto the city wall and walked towards the north end of town. Our plan was to look for a place to eat in that area. This became quite an ordeal because we were both in an indecisive mood and couldn't agree on anything. We had been going hard all day and really needed to eat! Ended up walking pretty much all the way across town and eventually landed on a place called Roter Hahn. We shared a pork with spätzle and garlic cream sauce and some Nuremberg sausages with sauerkraut and potato pancakes, as well as a side of red cabbage and one beer. It was way too much food! Oops. I really had to step up to the plate and pack it in since our hotel did not have a mini fridge.

      After eating so much, another quick nap was in order (or more so, time to digest). Back to the hotel we went to lie down before our evening plans. We were wanting to go on the Night Watchmen tour which we had heard about and knew it was highly rated.

      The Night Watchmen tour runs every night at 8pm and starts from the town square where everyone meets. The tour guide is the last remaining Night Watchman of Rothenburg and he approached the crowd in full garb carrying his lantern and weapon. The tour consisted of the Watchman telling us stories of the history of Rothenburg, why the Night Watchmen existed, the dark Middle Ages, the prosperity of Rothenburg in the Renaissance and Reformation period, how the town fell into despair, and how the town was mostly spared during the 2nd world war. All throughout this he guided us through a few parts of Rothenburg. There were probably close to 200 people on the tour, but we were able to hear him quite well. It was very well done and we were quite pleased we went on the tour, highly recommend it!

      Afterwards we finished off the night at the Landwehr Bräu restaurant for a drink of the local beer, our new favourite. (we also realized on Brooke's Fitbit app that the day before at Neuschwanstein we were 2 flights of stairs off from getting the medal for 100 flights of stairs in a day, darn!)

      Tyler & Brooke
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Landkreis Schwäbisch Hall, Landkreis Schwabisch Hall

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