We plan to drive from Meersburg to Ludwigsburg, stopping at Sigmaringen. What roadways should we take, and what scenic towns should we stop to visit? We have 2 days for this segment of our trip, and like palaces, castles, non-touristy small towns.
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From Meersburg to Sigmaringen first go to Mühlhofen/Uhldingen and then inland to Salem (palace there), and then on to Heiligenberg (another palace), then Pfullendorf, then to Sigmaringen (another very large palace- www.hohenzollern.com ).
From Sigmaringen ( www.sigmaringen.de probably only in German), I have two suggestions. One is to head west along the Danube River with its idyllic gorge through the Swabian Alb ( www.schwaebischealb.de ) with lots of castles and palaces perched atop the cliffs to Tuttlingen. There is a nice monastery at Beuren along the way. Then to Rottweil which is a pleasant town. Then take Hwy 27 to Balingen (water palace) and on to Hechingen for Hohenzollern Castle ( www.burg-hohenzollern.com ), fairytale like, perched atop a hill outlier of the Alb, and one of Germany%26#39;s most significant castles being the family seat of the hohenzollerns of Prussian kings and German emperors. Then on to Tuebingen ( www.tuebingen.de ), just a wonderful town with hilly cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, castle, interesting nontourist shops, and one of Europe%26#39;s oldest universities. Visit the charming well-preserved medieval monastey Bebenhausen (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ) just north of it, and most importantly at this time (because of the traffic jams caused by road works on the B27 heading toward Stuttgart) continue to Waldenbuch. There are museums for the manufacture of chocolate and art in the form of squares (their candy bar shape), at the Ritter SPORT factory there, and a large sales area for their discounted chocolate products.
Continue through Stuttgart ( www.stuttgart-tourist.de ) on Hwy 27. Particularly the Mercedes Benz but also the Porsche Museums are excellent to visit, Stuttgart is after all where the automobile was invented. There%26#39;s a lot of other things to see and do, but not in your time frame. Ludwigsburg ( www.ludwigsburg.de ) with its excellent palace (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ) is a short distance past Stuttgart.
Another option from Sigmaringen would be to head NE to Riedlingen (a pleasant town) along the Danube, and then take Hwy 312 to Zwiefalten (again re-entering the Alb) with its magnificent monastery church. Turn off for Hayingen and follow the signs for the Grosse Lauter River at Hayingen. Before Hayingen you will pass a cave that can be only entered by boat, the Friedrichshöhle and also Wimsenhöhle. After Hayingen you will be driving along the idyllic Grosse Lauter River valley with one of the highest concentrations of castle ruins in Germany (almost all are visitable). Along this stretch you can also rent a canoe ( www.kanutouren.com only in German) for a trip on the river%26#39;s placid waters.
Then you will come to Germany%26#39;s oldest state stables, the world-famous Marbach ( www.gestuet-marbach.de ), where you can visit the magnificent stallions close-up in their stalls, and the mares and colts will be out in the fields. A little while later at Gomadingen you will run into a highway that will take you toward Reutlingen. At Offenhausen, in front of the horse museum, there is an inn that has excellent food, and nextdoor in a quiet pool in the former monastery garden is a pool that is the source of the Grosse Lauter River. That might be a nice place to stay if you don%26#39;t mind being out in the middle of nowhere.
Then continue on, and there are two caves nearby which will be signposted, the Bärenhöhle (with its prehistoric cave bear skeleton), and then the Nebelhöhle which is close to another fairytale-like castle, Schloss Lichtenstein ( www.schloss-lichtenstein.de only in German), where they recently just finished filming Sleeping Beauty. Then continue on through Reutlingen to Tuebingen where you rejoin the other proposed route.
At Gomadingen, it%26#39;s possible also to head for the lovely mountain valley spa town of Bad Urach ( www.badurach.de ), and then visit the largest castle (fortress) ruin of the Alb, Hohenneuffen (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ), quite impressive. Then head to Nürtingen and the A8 toward Stuttgart. On this route you can also turn off to visit the well preserved medieval old town center of Esslingen ( www.esslingen.de ). Then to Stuttgart and then the B27 to Ludwigsburg.
Personally, I prefer the second option leaving out Bad Urach and on. But whatever way you choose to go, all these are excellent routes with more than enough to see and do in your short time and all pleasant drives. Do the other things some other time. Just select the one that you think would be the most interesting, and see things along it that interest you. The problem is that if you stop everwhere, you%26#39;ll have a hard time getting to where you are going.
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Excellent recommendations - thanks so much for all of your replies to my many questions.
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