Discover the Main-Tauber District

In the Main-Tauber District, specific things to discover range from bookable wine tastings in a former Cistercian monastery to castles, museums and cycling tours of very different lengths. Palaces and gardens add their own cultural highlights. You can plan your trip around the themes that interest you most. When choosing accommodation, it helps to first decide which places and experiences you want to shape your stay.

Wine and culture at Bronnbach Monastery

At Bronnbach Monastery, you can book wine tastings at the Vinothek Taubertal. More than 20 vintners and wineries present selected wines from Baden, Württemberg and Franconia. These three wine-growing regions give the tasting a broad regional scope and make Bronnbach a specific destination for travelers interested in wine.

Bronnbach Monastery is a former Cistercian monastery in the Main-Tauber District. The Bronnbach Kultouren program includes concerts, readings, exhibitions, wine and culinary events, as well as lectures. The program thus brings together a range of cultural events at this location. If you plan to travel for a particular event, check its dates in advance.

Palaces, castles and museums

Weikersheim Palace was built around 1600 on the site of a moated castle. The Renaissance Knights’ Hall is 40 meters long and 12 meters wide; life-size animal sculptures and a freestanding ceiling with hunting scenes define the room. The palace also features fully preserved Baroque living quarters. The palace garden is a lovely place for a leisurely stroll. Together, the rooms and garden offer different insights into the palace’s architecture and design.

Several historical themes come together at the Teutonic Order Castle in Bad Mergentheim. From 1525 to 1809, it was the residence of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order. Today, it houses a museum covering around 3,000 square meters, dedicated to the 800-year history of the Teutonic Order and the history of the town. The museum also includes the Mörike Cabinet, a collection of dollhouses, the Adelsheim Antiquities Collection and an exhibition about the Neolithic period in the Tauber Valley. The history of the Order and the town is presented alongside literature, historical collections and prehistory.

Ahorn also offers a variety of historical and cultural points of interest. The former Bettendorf Castle was built in 1566 and extensively restored in 2009. Today, it serves as the seat of the municipal administration and is considered a cultural monument of special significance. The local history museum in Berolzheim and the Refugium with its oriental garden in Schillingstadt are also among the sights in the municipality of Ahorn.

Other examples illustrate the diversity of the district’s architectural and museum heritage: Wertheim Castle stands high above Wertheim’s old town, at the confluence of the Tauber and Main rivers; the stone castle ruins date from the 13th century. The great hall of Gamburg Castle in Werbach-Gamburg dates from the 12th century and is considered unique in Europe. The Tauber-Franconian Landscape Museum is now housed in the Electoral Mainz Palace in Tauberbischofsheim. The ruins, great hall and palace museum each offer a different focus for a cultural and historical itinerary.

The little palace in Wertheim’s Hofgarten is an 18th-century Rococo building surrounded by an English landscape park. It once served as the Wertheim counts’ summer residence. Together with the palace garden in Weikersheim, which is ideal for a leisurely stroll, it offers another perspective on the connection between architecture and gardens—this time through a historic building that was used as a summer residence.

Cycling routes and landscape

The Main-Tauber District cycling experience map lists 18 circular and point-to-point tours ranging from 24 to 240 kilometers. They include the five-star cycle route “The Classic,” the Tauber Valley Cycle Route, the Wine Cycle Tour and the Main-Tauber-Franconian Cycling Route Eight. The listed distances help you choose tours according to the length you want to ride. Check the tour information before setting off.

Another way to explore the landscape is the Ahorn Forest, which covers around 2,000 hectares between the Lovely Tauber Valley and the Odenwald. Cycling and hiking trails, as well as walking routes, run through the forest. While the cycling experience map specifies the distances of individual tours, the Ahorn Forest is a vast landscape with several designated ways to explore it.

Consider which places and activities you want to shape your stay most, and use them to guide your further search.

Discover more destinations

Grünsfeld, Schwarzenbronn, Freudenberg am Main, Assamstadt, Bad Mergentheim, Bieberehren, Boxberg, Creglingen, Großrinderfeld, Igersheim, Königheim, Kreuzwertheim, Külsheim, Neubrunn, Niederstetten, Tauberbischofsheim, Weikersheim, Wertheim, Wittighausen, Reicholzheim, Werbach, Ahorn, Lauda-Königshofen.

For the overview of the wider region: Baden-Württemberg.