One day in Würzburg, in order

Morning at the palace, because it opens at nine from April to October and the 11am English tour is the natural spine of the day. Midday in the Court Church and the Court Garden, both free. Afternoon in the old town on foot. Evening with a glass of Franconian wine on the Alte Mainbrücke. Total spend on admissions: about ten euros, and nothing at all if nobody in your party is over eighteen.

The day, in order. Walk the twenty minutes up from the main station or take tram 1, 3 or 5 to “Dom”. Staterooms first. Join the 11am English tour, or a German one on the half hour, since it is already inside your ticket. Out through the Court Church, which is free, and into the Court Garden, which is free and stays open until dusk. Old town in the afternoon. The bridge at the end of it. One ticket, one tour, two free landmarks and a walk.

StartMain station, on foot or tram

Doors9 am, April–October

The tour11am in English

MiddayChurch and garden, free

AfternoonThe old town

EveningThe Alte Mainbrücke

Morning: get in before the middle of the day

From the main station it is about a twenty-minute walk, or tram 1, 3 or 5 to “Dom”, or buses 12, 14, 20 and 28 to “Mainfranken Theater”. Doors at 9 am from April to October and 10 am from November to March. Getting there early is worth more here than at most palaces, because the day is built around a tour departure rather than around a queue: be inside by half past ten and the 11am English tour falls into place with the staterooms already walked. Routes and parking are on getting to the Residenz.

Midday: the free part, which is also the quiet part

Out of the staterooms, into the Court Church, then the Court Garden. Both are free — the operator’s own words are that admission to the Court Church and the Court Garden is free — and the gardens were mainly created between 1759 and 1770. If it is a Tuesday to Saturday and the clock is before half past one, the antiquities of the Martin von Wagner Museum in the south wing are open and also free; after half past one the picture gallery takes over until five.

Insider tip

If you have a rail connection to catch, do the garden before the old town rather than after. It is the piece of the day most easily lost, and it is the piece that costs nothing.

Afternoon: the old town on foot

The standard guided walk is an hour and a half and stays outside every ticketed door, which is exactly what you want after a morning indoors. The road train does the same ground in forty minutes with an audio guide in six languages, for anyone whose legs have had enough of parquet. One reviewer of the tour that combines the old town with a tasting summed up its place in a day like this: “Was the perfect way to start our time in Wurzburg!” — a GetYourGuide traveller from the United States, on Würzburg Old Town Tour with Wine Tasting on the Alte Mainbrücke.

Note the ordering there. They used it to open their visit rather than to close it, which works just as well if you would rather see the palace in the afternoon light and have the town explained first.

Evening: the bridge

The Brückenschoppen is the compressed version and the local one: a sixty-minute guided tour with certified guides and 0.1 litre of Franconian wine on the Alte Mainbrücke, meeting at the tourist information in the Falkenhaus. The two-hour old-town tour ends with three Franconian wines, 0.1 litre each, for participants sixteen and over. Either closes the day where the town does.

The standard walk

Check dates for the old town and the wine tasting

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure on most tours — book now, decide later.

If you have a second day, the Romantic Road coach leaves the main station from the long-distance bus platform and runs seven and a half hours to Rothenburg and back; the comparison is on Romantic Road day trips. If you have half a day rather than a whole one, how long you need inside is the page that cuts it down.

Frequently asked questions

How do you spend one day in Würzburg?

Palace in the morning, timed around the 11am English tour that is already inside your ticket; the free Court Church and Court Garden at midday; the old town on foot in the afternoon; a glass of Franconian wine on the Alte Mainbrücke in the evening. Admissions come to about ten euros; see the tickets page.

Is one day enough for Würzburg?

For the palace and the old town, yes. A Romantic Road coach day runs seven and a half hours from here and needs a day of its own, and the wine tours at the family winery in the town run one to three hours. What else fills the time is on things to do beyond the palace.

What time should I get to the Residence?

Half past ten is comfortable in summer: the doors open at 9 am from April to October, and that leaves the staterooms walked before the 11am English tour. In winter the doors open at 10 am and the last German tour goes at 3.30 pm. See opening hours.