Small Towns in Germany

As you climb through the labyrinth of Marburg's narrow winding streets, it's easy to believe that the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were inspired by their surroundings when they were students at the university here.

Often overlooked as simply the starting point for tours of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles, Fussen is well worth exploring for its other tourist attractions, too. The fortress that guarded a Roman river crossing grew to become the Hohes Schloss, now mostly from the 14th century. The exterior is painted with trompe l'oeil windows and an elaborate façade, and inside is a museum with six centuries of art. Views from the battlements and tower are spectacular.

Deep in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) region, Annaberg-Buchholz celebrates Christmas all year-round. In fact, as is true of other Erzgebirge towns, it's the mainstay of the economy, replacing the extensive mines whose empty tunnels still burrow through the hills.

Still an important seaport on the Baltic Sea, Wismar was formerly part of the powerful Hanseatic League, whose ships and ports ruled the entire Baltic region in the Middle Ages. So much of its medieval architecture and harbor survive that Wismar was named, along with the neighboring ports of Rostock and Stralsund, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A highlight on both the German Half-Timbered Road and the Castle Road, Esslingen became a major trading center in the Middle Ages as a crossing point on the Neckar for medieval traders.

In the heart of the Mosel Valley, the twin towns of Bernkastel and Kues face each other across the river below vine-covered hillsides. Bordering Bernkastel's medieval Marktplatz are well-preserved gabled and half-timbered houses and the Renaissance Rathaus, a town hall built in 1608.

A stop along the German Half-Timbered Road, Schiltach owes its early prosperity to the Kinzig River, which was a major transport route for the Black Forest's timber trade from the 13th century. The river also provided power for the sawmills, and its banks were a good location for tanning animal hides.

Few small towns in Germany are better known than Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, which along with neighboring Dinkelsbühl is the highlight of Germany's oldest tourist route, the Romantic Road or Romantische Straße.

The most remarkable feature of Quedlinburg's half-timbered buildings–apart from the sheer number of them, reputed to be the most of any town in Germany–is their progression through the history of the style.

With its streets of half-timbered houses, steeply pitched red roofs, and pointed spires, Bad Wimpfen could be the poster child for a Black Forest towns (as it indeed is–you may recognize it from tourist brochures). Remnants of the town walls still seem to hold one side in its place on its hilltop beside the Neckar River.