Munich, Bavaria & the Black Forest

The largest city on the Romantic Road (and Bavaria's third largest), Augsburg is also one of Germany’s oldest, founded by the stepchildren of Roman emperor Augustus over 2000 years ago. As  an independent city state from the 13th century, it was also one of its wealthiest, free to  raise its own taxes, with public coffers bulging on the proceeds of the  textile trade. Banking families such as the Fuggers and the Welsers  even bankrolled entire countries and helped out the odd skint monarch. However, from the 16th century,  religious strife and economic decline plagued the city. Augsburg finally  joined the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806.
Shaped by Romans, medieval artisans,  bankers, traders and, more recently, industry and  technology, this attractive city  of spires and cobbles is an easy day trip from Munich or an engaging  stop on the Romantic Road, though one with a grittier, less quaint atmosphere than others along the route.

Augsburg

Baden-Baden's curative waters and air of old-world luxury have attracted royals, the rich and celebrities over the years – Barack Obama and Bismarck, Queen Victoria and Victoria Beckham included. This Black Forest town boasts grand colonnaded buildings and whimsically turreted art nouveau villas spread across the hillsides and framed by forested mountains. The bon vivant spirit of France, just across the border, is tangible in the town’s open-air cafes, chic boutiques and pristine gardens fringing the Oos River. And with its temple-like thermal baths – which put the Baden (bathe) in Baden – and palatial casino, the allure of this grand dame of German spa towns is as timeless as it is enduring.

Baden-Baden

A disarmingly beautiful architectural masterpiece with an almost complete absence of modern eyesores, Bamberg's entire Altstadt is a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of Bavaria's unmissables. Generally regarded as one of Germany's most attractive settlements, the town is bisected by rivers and canals and was built by archbishops on seven hills, earning it the inevitable sobriquet of ‘Franconian Rome’. Students inject some liveliness into its streets, pavement cafes, pubs and no fewer than 10 breweries cooking up Bamberg's famous smoked beer, but it's usually wide-eyed tourists who can be seen filing through its narrow medieval streets. The town can be tackled as a day trip from Nuremberg, but, to really do it justice and to experience the romantically lit streets once most visitors have left, consider an overnight stay.

Bamberg

From the cloud-shredding Alps to the fertile Danube plain, the Free State of Bavaria is a place that keeps its clichéd promises. Story-book castles bequeathed by an oddball king poke through dark forest, cowbells tinkle in flower-filled meadows, the thwack of palm on Lederhosen accompanies the clump of frothy stein on timber bench, and medieval walled towns go about their time-warped business. But diverse Bavaria offers much more than the chocolate-box idyll. Learn about Bavaria’s state-of-the-art motor industry in Ingolstadt, discover its Nazi past in Nuremberg and Berchtesgaden, sip world-class wines in Würzburg, get on the Wagner trail in Bayreuth or seek out countless kiddy attractions across the state. Destinations are often described as possessing ‘something for everyone’, but in Bavaria’s case this is no exaggeration. And, whatever you do in Germany’s southeast, every occasion is infused with that untranslatable feel-good air of Gemütlichkeit (cosiness) that makes exploring the region such an easygoing experience.

Bavaria

Stretching west from Germany’s remote southeastern corner to the  Allgäu region near Lake Constance, the Bavarian Alps (Bayerische Alpen)  form a stunningly beautiful natural divide along the Austrian border.  Ranges further south may be higher, but these mountains shoot up from  the foothills so abruptly that the impact is all the more dramatic. The  region is pocked with quaint frescoed villages, spas and health  retreats, and possibilities for skiing, snowboarding, hiking, canoeing  and paragliding – much of it year-round. The ski season lasts from about  late December until April, while summer activities stretch from late  May to November. One of the largest resorts in the area is  Garmisch-Partenkirchen, one of urban Bavaria’s favourite getaways. Berchtesgaden, Füssen and Oberstdorf are also good bases.

Bavarian Alps

Plunging deep into Austria and framed by six high-rise mountain ranges, the Berchtesgadener Land is a drop-dead-gorgeous corner of Bavaria steeped in myths and legends. Local lore has it that angels given the task of distributing the earth’s wonders were startled by God’s order to get a shift on and dropped them all here by accident. These most definitely included the Watzmann (2713m), Germany’s second-highest mountain, and the pristine Königssee, perhaps Germany’s most photogenic body of water.

Much of the area is protected by law within the Berchtesgaden National Park, which was declared a biosphere reserve by Unesco in 1990. The village of Berchtesgaden is the obvious base for hiking circuits into the park.

Away from the trails, the area has a more sinister aspect – the mountaintop Eagle’s Nest was a lodge built for Hitler and is now a major dark-tourism destination while the Dokumentation Obersalzberg chronicles the region’s Nazi past.

Berchtesgaden

Rising above vineyards and the Rhine, Breisach is where the Black Forest spills into Alsace. Given its geographical and cultural proximity to France, it’s little surprise that the locals share their neighbours’ passion for a good bottle of plonk. From the cobbled streets lined with pastel-painted houses you’d never guess that 85% of the town was flattened in WWII, so successful has been the reconstruction.

Breisach

The Chiemsee is Bavaria's biggest lake (if you don't count Bodensee which is only partially in the state) and its natural beauty and water sports make the area popular with de-stressing city dwellers – many affluent Munich residents own weekend retreats by its shimmering waters. However, the vast majority of foreign visitors arrive at the shores of the Bavarian Sea – as Chiemsee is often called – in search of King Ludwig II’s Schloss Herrenchiemsee.

The towns of Prien am Chiemsee and, about 5km south, Bernau am Chiemsee (both on the Munich–Salzburg rail line) are good bases for exploring the lake. Of the two towns, Prien is by far the larger and livelier.

Chiemsee

Sitting plump at the foot of the Black Forest’s wooded slopes and vineyards, Freiburg is a sunny, cheerful university town, its medieval Altstadt a story-book tableau of gabled townhouses, cobblestone lanes and cafe-rimmed plazas. Party-loving students spice up the local nightlife.

Blessed with 2000 hours of annual sunshine, this is Germany’s warmest city. Indeed, while neighbouring hilltop villages are still shovelling snow, the trees in Freiburg are clouds of white blossom, and locals are already imbibing in canal-side beer gardens. This eco-trailblazer has shrewdly tapped into that natural energy to generate nearly as much solar power as the whole of Britain, making it one of the country’s greenest cities.

Freiburg

Nestled at the foot of the Alps, tourist-busy Füssen is the southern climax of the Romantic Road, with the nearby castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau the highlight of many a southern Germany trip. But having 'done' the country's most popular tourist route and seen Ludwig II's fantasy palaces, there are several other reasons to linger longer in the area. The town of Füssen is worth half a day's exploration and, from here, you can easily escape from the crowds into a landscape of gentle hiking trails and Alpine vistas.

Füssen

The double-barrelled resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is blessed with a fabled setting just a snowball’s throw from the Alps and is a top hang-out for outdoorsy types, skiing fans and day-trippers from Munich. To say you ‘wintered in Garmisch’ still has an aristocratic ring, and the area offers some of the best skiing in the land, including runs on Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitze (2962m).

The towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen were merged for the 1936 Winter Olympics and, to this day, host international skiing events. Each retains its own distinct character: Garmisch has a more 21st-century feel, while Partenkirchen has retained its old-world Alpine village vibe.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Sidling up to the Swiss border, bisected by the Rhine and outlined by the Alps, Konstanz sits prettily on the northwestern shore of Lake Constance. Roman emperors, medieval traders and the bishops of the 15th-century Council of Constance have all left their mark on this alley-woven town, mercifully spared from the WWII bombings that obliterated other German cities. When the sun comes out, Konstanz is a feel-good university town with a lively buzz and upbeat bar scene, particularly in the cobbled Altstadt and the harbour, where the voluptuous Imperia turns. In summer the locals, nicknamed Seehasen (lake hares), head outdoors to the leafy promenade and enjoy lazy days in lakefront lidos.