The Romantic Road (or Romantische Strasse) is one of Germany's most famous tourist routes—a road that travels between the towns of Würzburg in Franconia and Füssen in the Bavarian Alps. However, the beauty of the scenery wanes after leaving Rothenburg, so this itinerary deviates from the traditional route. Rather than traveling the entire 340-kilometer stretch of the Romantic Road, this itinerary samples the northern highlights of Germany's most traveled route and then detours west at Rothenberg to incorporate the attractive city of Schwäbisch Hall and the picturesque university city of Heidelberg. (The southernmost portion of the Romantic Road is included in the Bavarian itinerary.)