Radwanderweg Vom Main zur Rhön Etappe 3

The third stage (52 km) of the 265-kilometer multi-day tour along the Rhön-Franconian rivers.

From Aubstadt, head to Höchheim in the Milz valley, then along a small road to Rappershausen, where Unterfranken's only bicycle school hostel is located. Passing through Behrungen, Hendungen, and Oberstreu, you reach Mellrichstadt in the Streu valley, one of the oldest towns in the region. On the city wall above the Streu, the houses are lined up like pearls on a string. The route then leads past Stockheim to the former Saxon-Weimar exclave Ostheim vor der Rhön. This old administrative town was, until the end of World War II, the administrative center for three other Thuringian locations. The most impressive building is the fortified church with its surrounding gaden (storage houses) and five well-preserved towers. The organ building museum and the old town with the town hall are also worth visiting. The tour continues past old half-timbered villages until reaching Fladungen, the former Würzburg administrative town, passing through the museum station to the Franconian Open-Air Museum. Also worth seeing are the old town and the Rhön Museum in the old administrative building.

 

Length: 52.1 km

Elevation gain: 435 m

Duration: 3:28 h

Highest point: 416 m

Start location: Bad Königshofen

Characteristics: easy to moderate multi-day cycling tour on mostly very good paths

Getting there: by car via the A 71, exit Bad Neustadt Nord; by train from Schweinfurt or Erfurt to Mellrichstadt or Bad Neustadt

Experience value: high (great nature and landscape experience)

Worth seeing: Mellrichstadt, Ostheim old town with fortified church and organ building museum, Fladungen old town with Rhön Museum and Franconian Open-Air MuseumSignage: The route is marked with white and green signs indicating destinations and distances

Literature: Jochen Heinke 'By Bike and Luggage from the Main to the Rhön' Parzellers Buchverlag Fulda ISBN 978-3-7900-0393-2; Fritsch cycling map Nature Park and Biosphere Reserve Rhön ISBN3-86116-568-6