Hi, I visited Rothenburg a couple of days after Easter and the weather was amazing but it was quite busy- dozens of tourists everywhere! Could anyone suggest a better time to visit Rothenburg, when the weather would still be good (i.e.: not constant rain or extreme cold), but there wouldn%26#39;t be so many tourists around?
Thank you.
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Avoid the weekends and try to spend a night there. Most tourists are on a day trip, so in the evening it will be far less crowded.
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I would guess that Rothenburg may have one of the highest tourists to natives ratios in Germany. Rothenburg makes its living on tourists. We really like the town but %26quot;for better and for worse%26quot; it is touristy.
There are other places in Germany with a great atmosphere that are not so touristy. You might do better to ask about those. I would offer Regensburg and Bamberg for your consideration. They are easily googled. Wikipedia does a good job on each. They have plenty of tourist sights but fewer tourists. Both are university towns with industries other than tourism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regensburg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamberg
Regards, Gary
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A bit like asking %26quot;when can I visit Vegas and avoid the gamblers%26quot;, I%26#39;m afraid.
However, I agree with altamiro; once the tour buses go, the town becomes quiet enough to cope with comfortably.
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September is beautiful, not too hot, less tourists. Go early in the morning - leave by noonish, or late in the afternoon.
Have fun!
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Personally, I like February. Very few tourists, and the precipitation if it occurs is likely to be snow. I%26#39;ve visited in the morning, walked the whole town walls before running into the first tourist on them just before leaving early in the afternoon. And the weather in Germany in Winter may be less than freezing, but certainly not extreme cold.
But Trikist is right, there are plenty of excellent places to visit all over Germany where there will be few German tourists and possibly no foreign ones, even in the middle of summer. How much more enjoyable, and a more %26quot;real%26quot; German experience. Just two weeks ago we revisited well preserved medieval Bebenhausen Monastery near Tuebingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Besides our party of five, I think that there were about 8 other tourists who certainly didn%26#39;t interfere with our enjoyment of this very pleasant interesting place. Such a place crowded with tourists (especially American and Japanese) just isn%26#39;t enjoyable. I don%26#39;t like the feeling that I%26#39;m visiting Disneyland!
Germany has over 30,000 castles and palaces alone, there%26#39;s plenty of excellent places to visit, you don%26#39;t have to choose the ones frequented by foreign visitors when there are so many other excellent places out there, and they%26#39;re not that hard to find. Not too far to Rothenburg%26#39;s SW is Vellberg, a small completely walled town, what a pleasant contrast to Rothenburg!!!! Just contact tourist offices which usually have an internet address of the form www.PLACENAME.de, just insert the actual place name. They are all happy to send you their excellent free information.
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Marcopolko and Altamiro are right--- there is no such thing as a time when Rothenburg doesn%26#39;t have a lot of tourists--- but February is good-- just remember that in Germany %26quot;there is no such thing as bad weather, just people who dress badly for the weather%26quot;. If you stayed there overnight, and liked the hotel, e-mail or write them and ask them the same question-- when do they see less tourists? You might want to ask when the many festivals occur so you don%26#39;t arrive just as they start the Ritterslager (Knights Camp, Shepards dance, etc when it is Really! crowded.
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Hi,
We went to Rothenburg in late October. We had very nice weather... warm afternoons and chilly nights. It was pretty busy during the day, but after dinner, about 7pm, it was very quiet. Very nice to walk around feeling like we had the town to ourselves.
Paul
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Thank you all for your replies!! (I apologise for posting the same topic twice by accident). Actually, we want to get married in Rotheburg, that%26#39;s why I was trying to find out which month it would be best, with an OK weather but not too many people around.
We actually thought about February too but my only concern is with guests%26#39; flying over and driving down there (not as comfortable as it would be in spring or summer). Anyway, I guess all months have their pros and cons, like you said..
Thank you again!
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Rain occurs throughout all seasons so there is absolutely no way of naming a %26quot;best month%26quot;. The weather is always a question of good or bad luck, weather statistics are useless because each year is different. You%26#39;ll have no other choice but set a date and risk it.
By the way, there is an old saying that rain on the bridal veil means the marriage will be a happy one!
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First, I%26#39;m not too certain how easy it will be for you to marry in Germany. Marriages are a civil ceremony. For a church service you might have to have some sort of ties with the church. I was married in a religious ceremony in February to my German wife, an enjoyable time, but got sick from the ceremony as I was only wearing a suit and the guests were in their top coats! At least my wife could take the cold, because in these hundreds of years old churches, they don%26#39;t heat them in winter. (I can well remember visiting another old church to see their creche figures after Christmas with deep snow on the ground, it was cold outside, but entering the church was like entering a deep freeze!!!!!)
But February is a great time to visit Germany and see the tourist highlights, as most places that are crammed with tourists in slightly warmer weather, will be almost empty of them. Then there%26#39;s the likelihood of snow rather than rain, and you can see much more of the sights because they aren%26#39;t hidden behind foliage (can%26#39;t see the forest for the trees!).
