Give the first day to the world heritage old town: the Stone Bridge, St. Peter's Cathedral, and bratwurst off the beechwood grill at the Wurstkuchl beside the water. Give the second to the Thurn und Taxis palace, the Museum of Bavarian History and a boat downstream to Walhalla. A third day buys the Danube Gorge and Weltenburg Abbey.
Germany's best preserved medieval city sits on the northernmost bend of the Danube, 984 listed buildings deep and small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes. Two thousand years run from a Roman gate to a Gothic cathedral to the bridge that made the city rich.
Built between 1135 and 1146 and the oldest stone bridge still standing in Germany, roughly 300 m of it across the Danube. Traffic is long gone, so it is walkers and cyclists now. Cross from the Stadtamhof bank at dusk, with the cathedral filling the far end.
Bavaria's only Gothic cathedral, begun around 1273 and given its spires under Ludwig I in the 1860s. Entry is free. Come to a Sunday mass in term time and the Domspatzen sing it, from a choir school the bishop founded in 975.
A cookshop has fed the bridge builders and everyone since from this spot, which makes it plausibly the oldest continuously working restaurant anywhere. The order is six or eight finger-length bratwurst off the beechwood grill, sauerkraut, house mustard.
The Perpetual Imperial Diet sat in this hall from 1663 until the Holy Roman Empire ended in 1806, which makes it the closest thing that empire had to a parliament building. The tour takes in the chamber, the envoys' seating order and the medieval torture chamber below.
A postal fortune bought a Benedictine abbey and turned it into a residence of more than 500 rooms, still lived in by the Thurn und Taxis family. Visits cover the state rooms, the medieval cloister and the neo-Gothic crypt chapel where the family is buried.
Bavaria from 1800 to now, in a purpose-built hall on the Danube that opened in 2019 and is the newest thing in a city where most buildings predate the printing press. Closed on Mondays outside public holidays.
Ludwig I put a Doric temple on a terrace above the Danube and filled it with busts of German-speaking greats, opened in 1842 after twelve years of building. It is 11 km downstream, and the arrival is half of it: take the boat, then climb.
Above Kelheim the river narrows between limestone cliffs, and the 45-minute boat through it lands at Bavaria's oldest monastery. The Asam brothers built the church. The courtyard beer garden pours the abbey's own dark beer.
The north gate of Castra Regina, the legionary fortress Marcus Aurelius ordered here in 179, still standing in a wall behind the bishop's palace. An arch and a tower of Roman ashlar at street level, free, and easy to walk straight past.
Under the square lie a Roman officers' quarter, the medieval Jewish quarter razed in 1519, and a wartime bunker, excavated and shown as an underground walk. Above it, Dani Karavan's white sculpture traces the footprint of the lost synagogue.
Founded by Irish monks around 1090. The carved Scots Portal is why you come.
Ludwig I's rotunda over the river, and the pier for the gorge boats.
Two weeks of beer tents, a brewery parade and rides on the Dultplatz by the Europakanal.
The old town turns into stages and street kitchens for a long weekend.
Four days of free jazz on the squares, in courtyards and along the riverbank.
Open-air concerts in the courtyard of St. Emmeram Palace, drawing tens of thousands.
The autumn fair on the same ground, running from late August into mid-September.
The city's oldest Christmas market, more than 200 years of it, around the Neupfarrkirche.
Advent by torchlight in the Thurn und Taxis palace courtyard. Entry is ticketed.
A craft and design market in the old town, running through to 23 December.
About 100 km south and the practical gateway: a direct train runs from Terminal 1 to Regensburg Hauptbahnhof roughly hourly.
The other way in, about 100 km northwest, with a change in Nuremberg for the train east. Regensburg has no airport of its own.
Regensburg Hauptbahnhof sits on the Munich to Prague run. Munich is about an hour and a half away, Nuremberg about the same.
The city's own smoked pork sausage, eaten hot or cold and known here as a Knacker.
Finger-length sausages grilled over beechwood, six or eight to a plate.
The same sausage sliced into oil, vinegar, onion and mustard.
Roast pork under dark beer gravy, with a dumpling and a fold of sauerkraut.
Bread dumplings made from stale rolls, the standard partner to anything with sauce.
Ripe camembert beaten with butter, paprika and onion, spread on a pretzel.
Veal sausage eaten before noon, with sweet mustard and a wheat beer.
A steamed yeast dumpling with a caramelised base, served in vanilla sauce.
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