Würzburg

Tiepolo at the Residenz and the Marienberg fortress

Two or three days in Würzburg cover the Residenz, the fortress and the wine taverns. Day one is for the Residenz and Tiepolo's frescoes, the cathedral and the Marktplatz; day two for the Festung Marienberg, the Käppele and the Röntgen memorial; day three for Veitshöchheim or Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Day one, morning. Go to the Residenz at opening time and join the first English tour. The staircase, the White Hall in stucco and the gilded Imperial Hall come in that order, with Tiepolo's frescoes as the climax. Afterwards visit the court church in the south wing, then walk the Hofgarten with its terraces and clipped yews.

Afternoon. Walk down Hofstraße to the cathedral of St. Kilian and the Neumünster next door, built over the grave of the Irish missionary saints. Cross to the Marktplatz to see the Marienkapelle and the Falkenhaus with its rococo stucco facade.

Evening. Wine on the Alte Mainbrücke, then dinner in the Bürgerspital or Juliusspital wine taverns.

Day two, morning. Climb to the Festung Marienberg through the vineyards. Inside the walls stands the Marienkirche, dating from around 706 and among the oldest churches in Germany. The Prince's Garden on the bastions looks over the river and the roofs.

Afternoon. Come down and walk south along the west bank to the Käppele, then cross back to visit the room where Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895, preserved at the university building on Röntgenring.

Day three. Take a boat or bike to Veitshöchheim, or ride the train to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, further down the Romantic Road, which begins here in Würzburg.

Balthasar Neumann designed the Residenz for the Schönborn prince-bishops; the shell stood by 1744 and the interiors were finished in 1780. Tiepolo and his sons painted the staircase ceiling in 1752 and 1753, about 580 m² and described as the largest continuous ceiling fresco in the world. The bombing of 16 March 1945 wrecked the side wings, yet the staircase, the White Hall and the Imperial Hall survived with their frescoes and stucco; the Mirror Cabinet you see is a replica completed in 1987. UNESCO listed the palace in 1981.

The Käppele, Neumann's pilgrimage church on the Nikolausberg, was built between 1748 and 1750. A stairway of 247 or 265 steps, depending on how you count, climbs to it past stations of the cross, and Matthäus Günther painted its ceiling frescoes in 1781.

Silvaner in the Bocksbeutel, Meefischli and Blaue Zipfel

Würzburg's main event at the table is Franconian wine, above all dry Silvaner in the flattened Bocksbeutel bottle, from vineyards such as the Würzburger Stein. The Juliusspital and Bürgerspital run wine taverns, and the dishes to match are Meefischli, small fried Main fish, Blaue Zipfel sausages and Schäufele.

Franconian cooking is hearty and wine-friendly. The local river fish dish is Meefischli, tiny fish from the Main fried whole and eaten head and all with a glass of white. Blaue Zipfel are pork sausages poached in a sour broth of vinegar and onions, which turns them slightly blue; Schäufele, roast pork shoulder with crackling and dumplings, is the Sunday classic. In autumn, onion tart arrives with Federweißer, the cloudy, half-fermented new wine.

The wine itself is the main event. Franconia's signature grape is Silvaner, dry, earthy and mineral, and the best bottles come in the round, flattened Bocksbeutel. The Würzburger Stein, the steep vineyard behind the station, is one of the most famous sites in Germany.

Three big estates are in town. The Juliusspital, a hospital foundation of 1576, and the Bürgerspital, founded in 1316 for the town's elderly, both run atmospheric wine taverns serving regional dishes, and both sell wine at their shops. The Staatlicher Hofkeller keeps barrels in the vaulted cellars beneath the Residenz and runs tastings there.

The student side of town eats cheaply around Sanderstraße, with Asian and Mediterranean places and late cafés. For a snack on the move, the bratwurst stand by the Marienkapelle on the Marktplatz is a local institution.

Africa Festival, Mozartfest and Kiliani in the summer months

Late May and early June bring the Africa Festival, the Mozartfest and the Weindorf, July has the two-week Kiliani-Volksfest, and late summer and autumn are wine-festival season in the Main villages.

Weather is dry by German standards. Highs reach 26 °C in midsummer and fall to 4 °C in January, with nights just below freezing.

The festival calendar starts in late May and early June with the Africa Festival, one of the largest celebrations of African music and culture in Europe, held over four days beside the Main. Around the same time the Mozartfest brings classical concerts into the Residenz, including candlelit evenings in the Imperial Hall, and the Weindorf sets up wine stalls on the Marktplatz.

In July comes the Kiliani-Volksfest, a two-week fair named after the city's patron saint, St. Kilian, with beer tents and rides on the Talavera meadow. Late summer and autumn are wine-festival season in the villages along the Main, while in town the vineyards turn gold.

Short trips work well. Veitshöchheim has a rococo garden full of sandstone statues. Further along the river, Sommerhausen and Randersacker are walled wine villages with taverns open in season. Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the walled town on the Romantic Road, is about an hour away by regional train, and Bamberg just over an hour to the east.