Romantic Road celebrates 75 years: A tourist treasure in Pfaffenwinkel

Romantic Road celebrates 75 years: A tourist treasure in Pfaffenwinkel

The Romantic Road, a 460 kilometer long holiday route in Germany, will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2025. The route stretches from Würzburg to Füssen and leads through particularly beautiful regions in southern Germany. The six rural communities in Pfaffenwinkel - Hohenfurch, Schongau, Peiting, Rottenbuch, Wildsteig and Steingaden - are central points along this tourist attraction, which was established in the years after the Second World War to make Germany more attractive as a holiday destination. This reports Mercury.

The main goals of the Romantic Road were to improve Germany's tourist image abroad and to promote tourism as an important industry. The route connects numerous medieval towns, sights and charming landscapes that attract visitors. Susanne Lengger, managing director of the Pfaffenwinkel Tourism Association, emphasizes the importance of this road for the region's popularity. Andreas Schmid from the tourism association is also sure that without the Romantic Road, the Pfaffenwinkel would hardly be known abroad.

International significance and friendships

In the 1990s, the region experienced a heyday when numerous tourists from Japan visited the Romantic Road. This international interest led to friendships, for example between the Pfaffenwinkel and Brazil and Japan. There are partnerships in the Pfaffenwinkel, such as between Rottenbuch and Ivoti (Brazil) and Peiting and Tsumagoi (Japan). The Romantic Road has even found imitations in other countries, including Japan (since 1982), Brazil (since 1998), South Korea (since 2009) and Taiwan.

The celebrations for the 75th anniversary will be held decentrally in the member communities of the Romantic Road and will particularly focus on cycling. The “Romantic Road Coach”, a long-distance bus that ran from Frankfurt to Füssen until ten years ago, was discontinued due to declining occupancy. Nevertheless, the Romantic Road has evolved over the last 75 years. The surrounding infrastructure has improved and the travel behavior of tourists has changed.

The cycling and hiking trails

Numerous cycling and hiking trails have been established along the route to meet the needs of tourists. The “Romantic Tour” is a long-distance cycle path that is part of the Bavaria network and the Germany cycle network (D9) and extends over 424 kilometers. The route was carefully planned to offer cyclists special experiences. There are alternative routes and several sections are unpaved, which means they are only partially suitable for racing bikes. Along the way, the routes are signposted according to the ADFC guidelines. Green signs with the Romantic Road logo and a bicycle symbol also show the way.

Visitors are recommended to allow enough time for the Klosterland Pfaffenwinkel to enjoy the Rococo gems along the cycle path, as by Pfaffen angle highlighted. The Romantic Road remains not only an important cultural heritage, but also a living part of the history of tourism in Germany.