On the Burgenstrasse website, there is a fine collection of castles with wonderful day trip options from Rothenburg. Alternatively, you could turn your stay into a few days and put together your own individual route.

“A walk through the Taubertal is a walk through German history”, wrote Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl in an essay published in 1865. The city of Rothenburg is praised in this description as a first-class art and cultural monument. The beauties of Rothenburg and its surroundings became known and famous through the poets and painters of the Romantic period. The confining medieval cityscape high above the deeply engaved Taubertal Valley, captivates visitors interested in art and architecture as well as the rich, eventful history of the former Free Imperial City.

Stations on Burgenstrasse include:

Mannheim
Schwetzingen
Heidelberg
Bad Wimpfen
Heilbronn
Schwäbisch Hall
Rothenburg o.d.T.
Ansbach
Nürnberg
Bamberg
Coburg
Kronach
Kulmbach
Bayreuth