Roth

Roth is a small Franconian town on the Rednitz River in Bavaria, just south of Nuremberg, that most international travellers would never encounter were it not for its position on the Main-Danube Canal — that extraordinary feat of German engineering that connects the Rhine, Main, and Danube river systems. Roth's history extends far deeper than its role as a canal waypoint. The town was first documented in 1060, and its compact medieval centre — half-timbered houses clustered around a market square, a baroque palace, and a Gothic church — preserves a Franconian character that the larger cities of the region have largely lost to modernisation.

The centrepiece of Roth is Schloss Ratibor, a Renaissance palace built in 1535 by Margrave Georg von Brandenburg-Ansbach. The palace now houses the municipal museum, where displays trace the town's development from a medieval market settlement to a centre of the wire-drawing industry — a trade that made Roth prosperous in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and that is commemorated in the Fabrikmuseum, one of Germany's most engaging industrial heritage museums, set in a beautifully preserved wire-drawing mill on the Rednitz.

Franconian cuisine is among the most satisfying in Germany, and Roth is an excellent place to experience it. The Franconian Bratwurst — shorter, thinner, and more delicately seasoned than its Thuringian cousin — is grilled over beechwood embers and served with sauerkraut and the distinctively dark Franconian bread. Schaeufele, a crispy-skinned roasted pork shoulder served with dumplings and dark beer gravy, is the Sunday-lunch standard. The local beer culture is extraordinary: Franconia claims the highest density of breweries in the world, and Roth sits within easy reach of dozens of small, family-run operations producing lagers, kellerbiers, and the dark, malty rauchbier for which the region is famous.

From Roth, the surrounding region offers a richness of excursions. Nuremberg, just twenty kilometres north, delivers the monumental medieval Kaiserburg castle, the Albrecht Durer House, and the sombre Nuremberg Trials Memorial. The Franconian Switzerland nature park offers some of Bavaria's best hiking. The walled medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber is an hour's drive along the Romantic Road. And the Main-Danube Canal itself, with its system of locks and aqueducts, is an engineering attraction in its own right.

Roth is a port of call for Avalon Waterways, Tauck, and Uniworld River Cruises on their Rhine-Main-Danube itineraries. Ships dock along the canal, from which the town centre and Schloss Ratibor are within easy walking distance. The best time to visit is May through October, when the beer gardens are open, the Franconian countryside is at its greenest, and the canal traffic provides a constant backdrop of nautical activity.