Traveling Huntleys

Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.

Michael Huntley

Rothenburg, Germany

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Last Updated: May 2026

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is one of the most remarkably preserved medieval towns in the world — a place where the Middle Ages didn’t merely leave traces but essentially survived intact, with a nearly complete circuit of fortified walls, half-timbered houses crowding cobblestone lanes, and a market square that looks much as it did five centuries ago. From Würzburg, the route took us from wine country toward beer country — a transition from Franconia’s vineyard-covered slopes toward Bavaria. Rothenburg is an inland town rather than a river stop, so we arrived by excursion bus, and Sandy and I spent the day completely absorbed in its fairy-tale atmosphere. Very few places in the world deliver on their reputation as completely as Rothenburg does.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber café with scooter and flower boxes, Germany
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Würzburg, Germany

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Last Updated: May 2026

Würzburg sits in the heart of Franconian wine country along the Main River — a city of extraordinary depth, where a magnificent Baroque palace, a medieval hilltop fortress, and one of Germany’s most beautiful old bridges coexist with a vibrant university town energy and some of the finest white wines in the country. We arrived from Wertheim aboard the River Duchess, sailing upriver along the Main to dock in Würzburg. Sandy and I had been looking forward to this stop since Frankfurt — the Würzburger Residenz alone is worth the journey, and Würzburg delivered far more than even that world-class landmark. Its origins trace back to a Celtic settlement around 1000 BC, evolving through Roman, Frankish, and medieval influences to become one of Bavaria’s most significant religious and architectural treasures.

Ornate fountain, Würzburg city center, Germany
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Wertheim, Germany

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Last Updated: May 2026

Wertheim is one of those river cruise stops that catches you completely off guard — a small, immaculately preserved medieval town where the Tauber River flows into the Main, with half-timbered houses leaning over cobblestone streets, castle ruins on the hill, and a bakery that has been making pretzels since 1551. We arrived from Heidelberg aboard the River Duchess, sailing upriver to join the Main River and dock at Wertheim in Baden-Württemberg. Sandy and I spent an afternoon exploring, and Wertheim immediately became one of the most genuinely authentic stops of the entire cruise — the kind of place that feels entirely undiscovered, even though it has been here, largely unchanged, for 800 years.

Marktplatz main square, Wertheim, Germany
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Heidelberg, Germany

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Last Updated: May 2026

Heidelberg is one of those places that immediately justifies every superlative — a city of extraordinary depth where Germany’s oldest university, a dramatically ruined Renaissance castle, a storied medieval bridge, and a beautifully preserved Baroque old town all come together along the banks of the Neckar River. We arrived from Rüdesheim by continuing upriver on the Rhine to the Main River, docking in Frankfurt before taking a bus south to Heidelberg. Sandy and I had read about this city for years, and it exceeded everything we anticipated — the castle alone would justify the detour, but Heidelberg keeps delivering at every turn. First mentioned in 1196 with origins reaching back to Roman and Celtic settlements, the city’s medieval foundation is centered around the iconic Heidelberg Castle and the Church of the Holy Spirit, while centuries of academic life and Romantic-era poetry have layered it with a richness few German cities can match.

Neckar River valley from Heidelberg, Germany
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Rüdesheim, Germany

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Last Updated: May 2026

Rüdesheim am Rhein is one of the most celebrated stops along the Rhine — a quintessential German river town famous for Riesling wines, a spectacular concentration of medieval castles, and the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley. We arrived by riverboat from Cologne aboard Uniworld’s River Duchess, gliding into the town center with the old town, vineyards, and wine bars just steps from the dock. Sandy and I had been looking forward to this stop for weeks, and Rüdesheim delivered at every turn — from the dramatic fortress-studded hillsides of the Rhine Gorge to an extraordinary afternoon exploring the 12th-century Kloster Eberbach monastery, one of the most atmospheric places either of us has ever visited.

White castle above Rüdesheim, Germany
Castle at Rüdesheim, Germany
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Cologne, Germany

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Last Updated: May 2026

Cologne, Germany, is a vibrant city with a rich history that spans over 2,000 years. Founded in the 1st century AD as the Roman Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, it grew from a Roman settlement into a major medieval trading hub and today stands as the fourth-largest city in Germany, with about 1.1 million residents in the city proper. From Amsterdam we sailed upriver to Cologne, Germany.

Cologne, Germany, Rhine River
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