Balthasar Neumann was a military engineer before he was an architect, and it shows in the Würzburg Residence, a palace so confidently engineered that its great staircase vault, with no central support, was said to be impossible. It was built for the prince-bishops of Würzburg in the early eighteenth century, with the main construction running from about 1720 to the mid-1740s. The ceiling above the stairs carries a fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, which is among the largest in the world and depicts the four continents. UNESCO listed the whole ensemble in 1981, court gardens included.
The city around it sits on the Main river in Franconia, wine country in every sense. The slopes just outside town are terraced with vines, and the local speciality is Franken wine poured into a flat, rounded bottle called the Bocksbeutel. A glass of Silvaner on the Old Main Bridge, with the fortress looking down from across the water, is the kind of evening that should be on every rider's list. Würzburg was heavily bombed in March 1945 and the Residence was badly damaged, yet it was patiently restored, which is part of why it feels so lived-in today.
Practically, this is a proper city of well over a hundred thousand people, so fuel, food and parking are not a problem, although the centre is busy and tram-ridden. The Residence stands on the edge of the old town, so you can leave the bike in a nearby car park and walk. Allow time for the gardens at the back, which are quieter than the palace and good for shade on a hot afternoon.
The riding nearby is excellent in an unhurried way. The Main valley opens out in long loops with vineyards on one side and river on the other, and the roads that climb the hills toward the Steigerwald or Spessart turn properly curvy. Spring blossom and autumn harvest are the best months, and a weekday keeps the traffic down. Start early, because the town fills with tour groups by mid-morning.