Schloss Weikersheim (schloss-weikersheim.de; adult 60/80min tour €9/11, family €22.50/27.50, gardens only adult/child/family €5/2.50/12.50) is the finest palace on the entire Romantic Road. Renaissance to the core, it's surrounded by beautiful formal gardens inspired by Versailles. Looking a little like an oversized Bavarian country manor, the exterior of this three-gabled masterpiece is less elaborate than grand and harmonious. The interior is more richly decorated, with notable nods to the baroque styles that lay just around the historical corner.
Highlights include the enormous Knights Hall dating from around 1600 and over 40m long. The rich decor here includes a huge painted ceiling, each panel depicting a hunting scene, and the amazingly ornate fireplace. The unforgettable rococo mirror cabinet, with its gilt-and-red decor, is also part of the guided tour, after which you can wander the elegantly laid-out gardens. Note the eclectic collection of statues – from Apollo and Diana to symbolic allegories of the planets (Mercury, Saturn, Venus and Mars), to the rather enigmatic Weikersheimer Zwerge (Weikersheim dwarfs) each one of whom represents a member of Count Carl Ludwig's court.
