Schongau is a small Bavarian town on the Lech river, about 60 kilometres southwest of Munich, with one of the best-preserved medieval town walls in southern Germany. The old town sits on a hill above the river bend, ringed by towers and a largely intact circuit of walls that you can walk around in under an hour. It's not a major tourist destination — most visitors to the area head straight to Neuschwanstein — but it rewards a quiet morning or afternoon.
The Ballenhaus, a 15th-century granary on the market square, is the most striking building in town, and the parish church of Maria Himmelfahrt has fine Rococo frescoes by Matthäus Günther. The Lech valley below makes for good cycling and walking, and the town is on the Romantic Road cycling route, which brings a steady trickle of tourers through in summer. Three kilometres west, the Romanesque basilica of St Michael in Altenstadt is the finest Romanesque church in Upper Bavaria.
For a base in the Bavarian Alps foothills, Schongau is less crowded and cheaper than Füssen to the south, with access to the same mountains and to Neuschwanstein about 25 kilometres away.