Franconia (Franken) makes up the northern portion of Bavaria, bordering on Thuringia, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg. Highland forest ranges, which span the entire width of the province, cover about half of it but the chief attractions are urban. Nürnberg , Bavaria's second city, is a particularly evocative place, with its heady reminders of the very best and the very worst of German culture. Within easy reach are Erlangen , with its famous university, and the courtly town of Ansbach , while to the north lie Wagner's Bayreuth, Coburg , the town from which the British royal family originally descended, and the artistic treasure chest of Bamberg . Further west are the old episcopal residential cities of Aschaffenburg and Würzburg . The latter is the starting point of Germany's most popular tourist route, the Romantic Road , whose highlights include the magnificently well-preserved medieval towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbühl .

 

Franconia takes its name from the Frankish tribes of whose territory it formed a major part. In the tenth century it was made into a duchy which stretched all the way to the Rhine, but this was later split into two and the name retained only for the eastern half. Although the prince-bishops of Würzburg styled themselves dukes of Franconia, they ruled only a small part of its traditional territory: the ambitious Hohenzollern dynasty established two principalities on Franconian soil, while several of the towns, most significantly Nürnberg, became city-states. Political fragmentation later spawned a religious split within the old province, as the Hohenzollerns and the Free Imperial Cities became enthusiastic supporters of the Reformation, while the prince-bishoprics remained loyal to Catholicism. This division was in turn reflected in architecture, with the plain lines and sombre colours of Lutheran Baroque standing in potent contrast to the sumptuousness favoured in the Catholic lands. In 1803, the centuries of division came to an end when most of what was historically regarded as Franconia was absorbed into the new Bavarian kingdom. It was subsequently divided into three administrative provinces, which still exist today: Middle Franconia (Mittelfranken), Upper Franconia (Oberfranken) and Lower Franconia (Unterfranken).

Even after two centuries as part of Bavaria, the people still cling to their regional heritage and often only grudgingly see themselves as Bavarian. Certainly their dress, food and dialect are quite different. No one wears Lederhosen here, and Nürnberg is one of a very few cities in this conservative state with a strong socialist pedigree. Old divisions within Franconia linger on, not least in drinking habits, with the central and western areas staunch beer zones, while the district around Würzburg is very much a wine area.