German castle road – Let’s explore here

The German castle road is a beautiful road trip from Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg through to Bayreuth, Bavaria. The journey takes in loads of stunning castles, as well as some really interesting ruins, but also a whole host of pretty German towns and villages. It’s an excellent road that caters very well for the mass of tourists that travel the route every year.

The castle road is around 440 miles (708 km) long, although you can easily adapt it to take in the castle and towns that you’re particularly interested in. The route that we’ve detailed here is not the full extent of the castle road, but does take in most of the castles between Mannheim and Bayreuth. The route has also now been extended to further east into Czechia, although that route is not detailed here.

A lot of the route is clearly marked with signposts, helping you to ensure that you’re continuing on the castle route. Although some newer roads have been constructed over the originals, so it’s still easy to get way-laid from time to time. We found the people along the route to be incredibly friendly and approachable though, so a very relaxing journey all in all.

Accommodation is plentiful along the route, although some were clearly taking the fame of the route into their pricing. We found it best to look around off the direct route!

Map of the German castle road route

Where route does the German castle road take?

The castle road travels generally west to east from Mannheim to Roth, through the following places:

Mannheim (Mannheim Palace) – Schwetzingen (Schwetzingen Castle) – Heidelberg (Heidelberg Castle) – Neckargemünd (Bergfeste Dilsberg) – Neckarsteinach (Schadeck, Hinterburg, Mittelburg and Vorderburg Castles) – Hirschhorn / Neckar (Hirschhorn Castle) – Eberbach (Eberbach Castle) – Zwingenberg (Zwingenburg castle) – Neckargerach (Minneburg) – Binau (Dauchstein Castle) – Obrigheim (Neuburg Castle) – Mosbach – Neckarzimmern (Hornberg Castle) – Haßmersheim-Neckarmühlbach (Guttenberg Castle) – Gundelsheim (Horneck Castle) – Bad Rappenau (Heinsheim Castle, Ehrenberg Castle) – Bad Wimpfen (Kaiserpfalz Wimpfen) – Heilbronn – Weinsberg (Weibertreu ruins) – Jagsthausen (Götzenburg) – Öhringen (Öhringen Castle) – Neuenstein (Neuenstein Castle) – Waldenburg (Waldenburg Castle) – Schwäbisch Hall (Comburg) – Kirchberg an der Jagst (Kirchberg Castle) – Langenburg (Langenburg Castle) – Rothenburg ob der Tauber – Ansbach (Margravial Residence and Colmberg Castle) – Abenberg (Abenberg Castle) – Roth (Ratibor Castle)

The castle road then travels generally northwards to Heldburg, before heading on to the final destination in Bayreuth. The route journeys through the following places:

Nürnberg (Nuremberg Castle) – Franconian Switzerland (Egloffstein Castle, Gößweinstein Castle, Waischenfeld Castle, Aufsess Castle, Schloss Greifenstein) – Ahorntal (Rabenstein Castle) – Bamberg (Altenburg Castle) – Rentweinsdorf (Schloss Rentweinsdorf) – Ebern (Rotenhan Castle ruins) – Pfarrweisach (Lichtenstein Castle) – Maroldsweisach (Altenstein Castle) – Heldburg (Heldburg Fortress) – Coburg (Ehrenburg Palace, Veste Coburg, Callenberg Castle) – Lichtenfels (Lichtenfels Castle) – Kronach (Rosenberg Fortress) – Kulmbach (Plassenburg) – Bayreuth

More information on this road trip and photographs of places we visited can be found on the Germany page.

We’re also creating blogs for each country when we have data, or we can find decent wifi, and we have enough power!

If you’d like any information on any of these places, please don’t hesitate to contact us!