Rothenberg Travel Guide
A detailed destination guide for your next Germany vacation
Rothenberg Overview
Rothenberg is a community in the Odenwaldkreis in Hesse, Germany. Rothenberg lies at elevations between 200 and 500 m in the southern Odenwald in the Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald, 7 km north of Hirschhorn on the Neckar. The main centre lies in the south of the municipal area as a high settlement in a clearing 430 m high on the ridge of the otherwise wooded Hirschhorner Höhe.
The municipal area stretches northwestwards along the Finkenbach. Many tourists visit Rothenberg because of the wonderful nature and because of so many possibilities to do sports (swimming, riding bikes, riding horses, hiking, gliding). Rothenberg borders in the north on the town of Beerfelden, in the east on the town of Eberbach (Rhein-Neckar-Kreis in Baden-Württemberg), in the south on the town of Hirschhorn (Bergstraße district) and in the west on the town of Eberbach (outlying centre of Brombach) and the community of Wald-Michelbach (Wald-Michelbach vacation rentals | Wald-Michelbach travel guide) (Bergstraße district).
Where to stay in Rothenberg?
Check out our selection of hand-selected and quality Rothenberg vacation rentals and holiday apartments.
Things to See in Rothenberg
Rothenberg and its outlying centres are rich in cultural monuments. Besides the Old Lutheran Schwarze Kirche (“Black Church”) from 1883 and the Evangelische Pfarrkirche (“Evangelical Parish Church”) from 1880, several timber-frame houses in particular may be named, such as the Forsthaus Saubuche (“Sow Beech Forest House”) near the outlying centre of Raubach. There are moreover many smaller cultural monuments such as wells, border stones and rows of standing stone slabs (Stellsteinreihen in German), believed to once have been cattle-driving ways. One of these can be found at Ober-Hainbrunn.
About the turn of the 20th century, complaints were mounting among dwellers in the upper village about the water supply’s shortcomings. The spring of the Großer Brunnen (“Great Spring”) on the slope of the Gammelsbach valley gave forth enough water; so the state authorities in the Grand Duchy of Hesse put the Kulturinspektion Darmstadt (Darmstadt vacation rentals | Darmstadt travel guide) in charge and they found the solution to the water supply problem by furnishing two water motors, delivered by the Zurich machine factory Schmid. Each of the technically interesting motors drives a three-cylinder pump. One comes from the year 1902 and the other is two years newer. Today the historic pumphouse between Kortelshütte and Rothenberg is run by a circle of technically enthusiastic idealists.
Furthermore, in the Rothenberg hamlet of Hinterbach can be found the Odenwald’s last maintained hydraulic ram.
The Rothenberg Heights are worthy of recommendation for hiking and walks. From the heights, the Odenwald’s highest mountain, the Katzenbuckel, can be seen.
[ source: wikipedia ]
Maps and Driving Directions to Rothenberg
Bundesstraße 37 lies about 8 km away in Hirschhorn. Bundesstraße 45 lies about 12 km away in Beerfelden. The Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr railway line in Hirschhorn lies about 8 km away.
Einhaus Wald-Michelbach
[ source: Wikipedia]
Related Sites
We collected some useful links related to Rothenberg. If you know a few more sites not listed here, or also know some insider tips or point of interests for this destination? Please share and submit your Germany travel tip. If approved it will be shown on this page!
- Homepage of Rothenberg: Rothenberg (official home page)
- Wikipedia: Rothenberg
More about the History of Rothenberg
Rothenberg went, as Rodenberg, in 1535, along with the villages of Ober-Hainbrunn and Unter-Finkenbach, and Vogt rights in Moosbrunn, as an Imperial fief to the Lords of Hirschhorn. After they died out in 1632, ownership passed to Otto von Kronberg, and after the Counts of Kronberg died out in 1704 to the Barons of Degenfeld-Schaumburg. Through marriage, ownership was held from 1786 to 1801 by the Counts of Erbach-Fürstenau and then lastly to the Counts of Rothberg. By the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine, Rothenberg and the other villages, but not Moosbrunn, passed along with the County of Erbach in 1806 to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1835, Rothenberg was, with 1,098 inhabitants the third biggest village in the Landratsbezirk (roughly “administrative region”). When in the course of industrialization traffic routes were being expanded, this handicraft and market community’s high elevation, which did not favor transport, became a curse. There was no industrial development, and the community’s population figures fell. To this day, the community is strongly characterized by agriculture. In 1971, the hitherto self-governing communities of Ober-Finkenbach and Raubach were amalgamated. The hamlets of Kortelshütte and Hinterbach were established in the 18th century as settling communities for newcomers and those without property. Kortelshütte has developed itself since the early 20th century into a climatic spa after a highway link and new housing estates were built, while Hinterbach earned importance in the 1930s for its mineral springs.
[ source: wikipedia ]
What makes this Live Like a German Rothenberg Travel Guide special...
This Rothenberg travel guide provides you with an overview of Rothenberg, Rothenberg pictures, and a local travel guide that suggests many special trips, unique activities, and vacation ideas, that you can't find in a typical Germany travel guide.
Some of this information is compiled from popular and well-known sources (e.g., such as Wikipedia, Wikitravel, and great pictures from Flickr). However, what makes this Germany travel guide special is that most of the travel suggestions and insider tips are provided by local residents, property owners, and our readers, who share and submit their travel tips with us. All submissions are then editorially reviewed to ensure high quality. All this information is logically organized within this destination guide to make it easy for you to find things quickly.
In addition, the Rothenberg destination guide features restaurant recommendations, restaurant reviews, where to go for grocery shopping, sports activities, getting around, cultural events and highlights, entertainment, and health related information - so you are informed for your travel to Germany, and you can learn about all the cool things you can do during your Germany vacation!
