Bayreuth

Bayreuth's Baroque character comes almost entirely from one person: Margravine Wilhelmine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, an 18th-century patron of the arts whose legacy still defines the city. Her Margravial Opera House, built 1744-1748 and UNESCO-listed since 2012, is the best-preserved freestanding Baroque court theater anywhere -- an ornate wood-and-canvas interior built to rival the great opera houses of Vienna and Dresden. A century later, Richard Wagner arrived and built his own theater on the Green Hill just outside the old town: the Festspielhaus, purpose-built with three storeys of mechanical works hidden below the stage to accommodate his massive theatrical sets. It remains the venue for the annual Bayreuth Festival, drawing Wagner devotees from around the world every summer. Wagner's actual home, not far from the Hofgarten, still stands and now houses the Richard Wagner Museum. If you have extra time, the Sanspareil rock garden -- another Wilhelmine legacy, about 16 miles outside town near Hollfeld -- is worth the detour: naturally fantastic rock formations paired with a deliberately ruined-looking stone theater.