The route from Messel to Regensburg begins on the eastern flank of the Rhine valley, south of the main metropolis Frankfurt and east of Darmstadt.

The Messel pit with its extraordinary and unique 47 million year old mammalian skeleton treasure, safeguarded within the oilshale deposit, is the only UNESCO natural heritage in Germany. Travelling from Messel to Würzburg it’s worthwile to make a detour to the largest land monument within Central Europe, which is the Limes. The antique border rampart stretches across a longitude of 550 km.

In many places, for example in Stockstadt and Aschaffenburg, parts of the Germania-Superior/Rhaetian Limes have been reconstructed on a scale of 1:1 and in archeological parcs they have been made accessible to the public. After this short detour you will reach the residence town of Würzburg. Apart from the golden baroque of the Residence Palace, the former palace of the prince-bishops, the town has a lot more to offer: The many rustic wine bars are evidence of ethnic winemaker tradition and together with the Franconian cuisine, they form a culinary-historical total work of art.

Then you travel further through the Steigerwald natural park to Bamberg. The gorgeous and completely preserved Old Town enables each visitor to make a trip to the past, which can easily stop within the Middle Ages or in the prime of the baroque era. The final stage of this tour leads you past the Franconian Switzerland, numerous caves and orchard meadows into the 2000 year old Roman town of Regensburg.