Regensburg

Old town with Stadtamhof Regensburg is the answer for anyone tired of German old towns rebuilt after 1945. Its medieval center came through the Second World War largely untouched, so the tall patrician tower houses, the Gothic cathedral and the tangle of lanes behind them are the real fabric, not a postwar copy. The Stone Bridge, built in the twelfth century and for about 800 years the city's only crossing of the Danube, leads over to the Stadtamhof quarter and is now reserved for people on foot and bicycles. It is a working university city rather than a showpiece, which keeps the streets lived in and the crowds manageable outside river-cruise stops.