The motivation for this jaunt was a kind of mash up of wanting to visit Oktober Fest, but not wanting to deal with crowds, and a hankering for a proper German Christmas Market and a bit of snow. We searched long and hard for the right location – not wanting a city, but still wanting a place that was big enough to keep us occupied for a few days, with plenty of opportunity for beer and glühwein drinking. Like Goldilocks, when we saw the pics of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, we knew it was just right!

First though we had to contend with Ryanair and a two hour delay ostensibly due to poor weather, but no other carrier seemed to be affected! We had planned to overnight at the Allee Hotel in Neustadt an der Aisch simply because it was a convenient stopping off point between Nuremberg and Rothenburg and the hotel we wanted to stay in at Rothenburg only had availability from the Sunday night. As it turned out, with our delay, we didn’t get in to Neustadt until nearly 11pm, so we were glad we didn’t have another hour to travel onto Rothenburg that night. The Allee Hotel was everything we needed, large clean room, friendly bar for what remained of the evening and, in the morning, possibly the best all-inclusive buffet breakfast we have ever had. Suitably stuffed we headed back onto the road to Rothenburg.

We had read that parking was difficult, but our arrival coincided with the start of a blizzard, snarling up the car parks that ring the town. In the end we happened upon an on-street spot, just outside the walls, where we dumped the car, leaving it there for the remainder of our stay.

Our room for the duration was the fabulous Falcon’s Nest in the Hotel Kloster-Stueble. This more than lived up to the website pics and was a great base for exploring the town. We returned here more than once each day to warm up and escape the Christmas Market hustle and bustle and we were really glad to have a spacious room so close to the action.

Having already managed a glühwein in the Christmas Market for lunch (after that buffet breakfast we were on a strictly liquid diet!), we headed to the recommended Alt Fraenkishe Weinstube for dinner. We arrived right on the dot of 6pm for opening, but they were already fully booked. They offered us a table until 7.30pm which seemed fine, except they took an age to take our order and serve the food so we ended up gobbling down the last of our main course and declining desserts (too full anyway) or coffee (which we would otherwise have had). This was a bit of a shame as the food was really good and the atmosphere cosy and candlelit (almost too candlelit to be honest, making it hard to read the menu!) That’s not to say it wasn’t without its quirks though. The choice of music was ‘interesting’ – think Abba and Village People – not what you expect in a traditional Bavarian eatery. Furthermore, the delicious traditional meals came garnished with … a slice of pineapple, a grape, half a strawberry, a couple of blueberries, half a pear filled with cranberry sauce and a turret of whipped cream! It was as if they had realised we wouldn’t have time for dessert and had put it on the side of our main courses!

On day two we ran the full gamut of tourist experiences. As the snow had now turned to rain we started off with the Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas Shop to marvel at the expensive Christmas decorations – it is impressive that everything is handmade, but we can’t help but think that Christmas baubles are exactly what factory production was made for. In my humble opinion I’d rather go for something cheap and cheerful as the decorations only come out for such a short space of time and then get packed away in the attic with a few inevitable breakages each year. Buying expensive investment pieces for Christmas decorations seems a bit of a waste but plenty of people were still purchasing!

From there we walked the full circumference of the town walls – another good choice for wet weather as these are covered throughout. This gave a good overview of the town and lots of photo opportunities. Finally, as the afternoon brightened we gave the Christmas Market a good going over, fuelled by more glühwein and lebenskuchen.

The evening saw us trying the second place our research had picked out as recommended: Zur Höll. Again they were full, but this time they could fit us in at 8pm. Having seen skewers of delicious looking meat going past we quickly nabbed their offered table and returned at the allotted two hours later to a fabulous meal of wild boar stew with brussel sprout puree and bread dumpling (Beck) and roast goose breast with red cabbage and potato dumpling (Ben). This was German comfort food made with care and attention and we loved it. All was washed down with local dunkel bier (Ben) and Riesling (Beck) and we booked a table for the following night!

On our final full day in Rothenburg we were treated to blue skies and spent time revisiting spots from the previous few days for clear sky photos. We also took a longer stroll down to the amusingly named village of Detwang to help walk down last night’s feast and prepare us for a rematch that evening. Special mention should go to the Lebenslust Cafe a hip little music and arts venue where we escaped for coffees and snacks on a few occasions when the traditional Bavarian experience started to wear a little thin!

From Rothenburg we toured the little walled town of Dinkelsbühl – which made for a pleasant short detour and then headed on to Nuremberg for a night to take in a Christmas Market on a city scale. The dark evening sky, twinkling lights, good carol singers and lightly falling snow made this a magical experience and we ended up having a bit of a session, first in the Bratwurst Hausle, then in the Nurnberger Alm and finally in Hutt’n. It was a lot of fun and after all, German beer drinking was one of the main motivations for this trip!

With slightly sore heads in the morning, we avoided the 30euro buffet breakfast at our hotel, and headed out to find a cafe. We chanced upon a cute little Italian place and settled down to paninis and cappuccinos. The owner was extravagantly Italian and we chatted about our summer jaunt to Tuscany / Umbria et al. Next thing we are being proffered glasses of complimentary limoncello. It’s not even 11am and Ben has to drive to the airport, but it seems rude to refuse so we down the liquor for the sake of international relations. We learn a little about how the owner has ended up running a business in Germany rather than Italy, and again it makes us marvel at the stupidity of the UK, giving up the chance for free movement and flexibility of work across the whole of Europe through Brexit.

Despite the limoncello (or maybe because of it?!?) we manage to navigate our way into the centre of Nuremburg for one last mooch. The market is less attractive in the light of day, without the flakes of snow romantically falling and we quickly head up to the castle to take in the view of the city. A quick mention must also be made of the coffee shop Brewtiful where we stop for one last cuppa before the airport. Ben rates it the best cup of coffee he has had on the trip (apparently the beans are Rocko beans from Ethiopia – in case anyone is looking for a last minute Christmas present for Ben!)

We head back to Nuremberg airport for perhaps the smoothest car rental return process ever experienced and return home to accept a delivery of Erdinger, Innis & Gunn and Little Creatures ready for Christmas, so our taste for beer not so much satisfied, but perhaps diversified!