I planned our trip to Germany for over seven years! So I saw the storybook town of Rothenburg, Germany mentioned a lot (A LOT!).
Rothenburg (Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, officially), is an extremely popular tourist destination in the Bavarian region, close to Munich and Nuremberg. It is a perfectly preserved medieval town that’s been featured in movies and inspired Walt Disney.
It is not easy to get to, however. I really wanted to visit, but we didn’t have time to take the three trains to get there and stay overnight. So I found a day trip tour from Munich, and I booked it (10 months ahead of time!).
If you want to visit Rothenburg, Germany, this guide will tell you how to get there, what to do there, and if it’s worth just visiting for a few hours on a tour from Munich.
Year visited: 2025
Time of Year: December
What’s in this Article:
- About Rothenburg, Germany
- How to Get to Rothenburg
- Stop at Harburg Castle Review
- Things to Do in Rothenburg
- Is It Worth the Day Trip?
- Movies Filmed in Rothenburg
About Rothenburg, Germany
The official name of the town is Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber. “Rothenburg” means “red castle,” and there are several towns in Germany with that same name. The full name means “red castle by the Tauber River.”
Rothenburg no longer has a red castle, but of course, the name has stuck. In German, they do not pronounce the “th” sound, so the name sounds like “Rote-ten-burg.”
Where is Rothenburg?
Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber is in Bavaria, a region of southern Germany. It is about an hour west of Nuremberg, 2 hours southeast of Frankfurt, and 2 1/2 hours northwest of Munich.
History of Rothenburg
Just a little fun fact about Rothenburg… because it is so important to the city they literally designed their glockenspiel after it…
According to legend, the mayor saved the city of Rothenburg during the 30 Years’ War by winning a bet that he could chug a whole draught of wine in one go. Their glockenspiel is literally two men facing each other, and one (the mayor) slowly lifting his beer stein, drinking it, then slowly putting it back down.
Way to go, Mr. Mayor!
Best Time of Year to Visit Rothenburg
Literally ANY TIME OF YEAR is good to visit Rothenburg, Germany! The town is so cute and worth wandering around in any season.
Summer is beautiful, and the “Romantic Road” you take to get there will be at its best, but Christmas in Rothenburg is so magical! However, if you’re not here at Christmastime, the Christmas store and museum are open year round, so you can still get your fill of holiday magic.
How to Get to Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber
By Train
You can get to Rothenburg via public transportation by train, however, there are no direct trains from any major city. If you are planning to stay overnight, you will want to get a train to Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber (make sure it’s the correct Rothenburg), but you will have to change trains a few times from your original destination.
- Good to Know: Learn more about train travel in Germany.
By Tour
The best way to get to Rothenburg for a day trip to take a guided tour. This is the tour that we took from Munich.
With a tour, you don’t have control over how much time you get in the town, but it is by far the easiest way to do a day trip. Some tours will add other stops as well. Our tour from Munich included a stop at Harburg Castle on the way to Rothenburg.
Stop at Harburg Castle Review
If you take the guided tour from Munich, it stops at Harburg Castle on the way to Rothenburg. You do not have to go into the castle if you don’t want to, but I think it is worth it to go in.
The tour was not expensive, only about $10 per person. The tour guide came around on the bus to ask if we wanted to buy tickets and then we paid him right there (cash or card accepted).
Before we went, I thought I would have preferred if they would skip the castle and spend more time in Rothenburg. But the castle was fun to see, and the tour was interesting (though very cold in December!!). It was nice to stop and get off the bus, and I felt like we did have enough time in Rothenburg still.
- Good to Know: The tour guide was hyper stressed out, saying we had to hurry, hurry, hurry so we would have enough time in Rothenburg. I think he did this to try to keep people from dallying too long in the gift shop or taking pictures, but he made it seem like we were in dire danger of not having our allotted time in Rothenburg. It was fine. We had plenty of time. So don’t stress out when he (or she) does that.
Harburg Castle Tour
Just some quick things to know about the tour:
- You do not have to do the tour, but if you choose not to, you have to sit on the bus. You cannot walk around the castle grounds.
- There are free bathrooms available to use at the castle. You will have time before or after the tour to use them (don’t let the tour guide stress you out about the time!).
- There is a small gift shop here, but not really worth seeing.
- Tickets cost $10 per person when we went in December 2025.
- It was incredibly cold in December, and not a lot of the tour was indoors.
- The tour was interesting, and fun to see. It lasted about 1/2 an hour.
Things to Do in Rothenburg, Germany
The main attraction of the day is of course a visit to the beautiful medieval town of Rothenburg, Germany. It is so cute and magical and absolutely worth visiting!
I think a day trip is plenty of time to see the best sites, though of course there are more things you can do if you stay longer. Here are some of the best things to do in Rothernburg:
German Christmas Museum
Our first stop when we arrived (after walking through the town and getting lots of pictures… but our first official stop) was the German Christmas Museum.
There is a small museum full of unique ornaments and Christmas history. It’s fairly cheap and won’t take long to go through, so I thought it was worth it (especially since we were in Germany for Christmas!). But if you want to skip the museum, there is still plenty to see here!
You see, this is the famous German Christmas shop! There are rooms upon rooms full of Christmas ornaments and decorations. It was incredible! One could easily get lost in here.
Stopping in the Christmas store is an absolute must-do in Rothenburg.
Medieval Crime Museum
We did not visit the Medieval Crime Museum, but that might be more your thing if wandering endless rows of Christmas ornaments isn’t fun for you (or even if it is!).
It’s definitely a unique and interesting museum to visit in the medieval town of Rothenburg.
Walk the City Walls
You won’t have time on a day trip to Rothenburg to walk the entire city walls, but you can at least climb up and walk a portion of them and enjoy the view!
We did not get a chance to do this, because I totally forgot about the walls as soon as I saw what was inside the walls (AKA the adorable town itself)! But it would definitely be fun to do.
Check with your tour guide for a good spot to climb up on the city walls and take a look around.
Eat a Schneeball
Rothenburg is famous for “schneeballs.” Schneeball means “snowball,” and it’s a little pastry that resembles a snowball (perfect for visiting at Christmastime, but you can eat them any time of year!).
A schneeball is like random scraps of leftover pie crust were rolled together into a ball shape. And then covered with different toppings. Cinnamon or powdered sugar are the most popular, but there are other flavors like chocolate or lemon.
And when I say little… they’re actually huge. A true schneeball is so large I didn’t even know how to bite it! But we found a bakery where they were selling mini ones, which was ideal for trying multiple flavors. We each bought one, and loved them so much we immediately stopped at the next bakery to get more.
- Good to Know: You can find schneeballs at literally any bakery in Rothenburg. They’re all over. And also at the Christmas market. And also at other Christmas markets around Germany.
- Pro Tip: Get mini ones so you can try more flavors!
- Some people find them too dry, or especially like to get a drink with them (coffee, hot chocolate, etc.), but we liked them as is.
See the Glockenspiel… “Show”
As I mentioned above, Rothenburg has a glockenspiel show (like the famous one in Munich), but literally all it is are two men, one of whom drinks a mug of wine.
That’s it. That’s literally all that happens.
I, personally, think it is a waste of time to stare up at the clock on the town hall for 10 minutes waiting for something exciting to happen. But if you want to, you can see the glockenspiel show right in the town square every hour.
Wander the Cobbled Streets
Honestly, just wandering around the adorable streets is one of the best things to do in Rothenburg, Germany. It truly feels like being in a real life Disney World (Walt was definitely inspired by the town)!
Everywhere you turn are magical photo opportunities, and it is so much fun to just walk around and take it all in.
- Pro Tip: Just turn off to any side street to get a photo without people in it. Most people stick to the main street, but all the side streets are just as picturesque.
- Good to Know: The most famous photo spot in Rothenburg is the Plönlein. You will walk right past it to get from the parking lot where the bus drops you off into the center of town.
Visit all the Specialty Shops
The streets of Rothenburg are just lined with unique shops to visit. And the window displays are magical, especially at Christmastime!
In addition to all the bakeries (there are a lot!), some of the best stores we visited were a teddy bear shop and a medieval themed store.
Christmas Market
Of course if you are visiting Rothenburg at Christmastime, you have to wander through the Christmas market. It is right in the main square, just outside of the Christmas museum and surrounded by fun shops to visit, so you can’t miss it.
It’s not a huge market, but since you’re there, you have to at least take a look. This is also where we ate lunch, and the crepe I got here was by far my favorite one that I had on our trip (I had four).
Is It Worth Taking a Day Trip to Rothenburg?
Unfortunately, you won’t have time for everything on a day trip to Rothenburg, but it is definitely worth visiting!
This was one of my favorite places we visited in Germany, even though we were only here for a few hours. It was so magical, and looked just like Disney World. Yet it still felt authentic and not overly touristy to me.
I did not feel overwhelmed by crowds, or like I missed out on anything. I would definitely recommend taking a day tour to Rothenburg.
What We Did in Rothenburg
Here is what we had time for on our day trip to Rothenburg:
- Toured the German Christmas Museum.
- Wandered through the Kaethe-Wohlfahrt Christmas shop (and bought lots of ornaments!).
- Explored the Christmas market (we ate lunch here).
- Watched the glockenspiel show (you can skip this!).
- Bought some schneeballs. Ate them. Loved them. Found another bakery and bought some more.
- Visited a couple of the shops on the way back to the bus.
- Took lots of pictures!
Movies Filmed in Rothenburg
Rothenburg looks like a movie set. You can easily imagine yourself in a film as you walk up and down the cobbled streets.
Here are some of the movies that have been filmed in or inspired by Rothenburg:
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: This was honestly one of my favorite movies growing up! Parts of it were filmed in Rothenburg, and of course you can also recognize Neuschwanstein Castle, another good Munich day trip.
- Pinnochio: Although the story is set in Italy, Walt Disney used the town of Rothenburg as inspiration for his 1940 animated classic. Which, if I’m being honest, was (and is!) one of my least favorite movies growing up…
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: The town briefly appears in the first part of the final Harry Potter movies, when Grindelwald steals the Elder Wand in a flashback scene.
Any more questions?
If you have any more questions about visiting Rothenburg, Germany (or any tips from your own trip!), feel free to email me or comment below.
Planning a trip to Germany?
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- How to Visit Neuschwanstein Castle in Winter
Julia is a travel blogger with a Bachelor’s Degree in photography from Indiana Wesleyan University. She worked as a professional photo-retoucher for seven and a half years, before leaving the company to work in the travel industry. She now works at a historic 1800’s hotel. When she’s not working, she’s reading fantasy novels or classic literature, and planning trips to magical destinations.
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