Any recommendation between Rudesheim, Rhine Valley and Munich?

"I am looking for lovely cultural towns (i prefer villages than cities) and scenery spots If possible scenic routes too."

"Cultural towns" - that usually means larger places with opera houses and such, not villages. If you are interested in small villages and scenery, then I think you'd be smart to head in the direction of Würzburg. Würzburg is roughly mid-way between Rüdesheim and Munich on the Main River. I'm not saying that you must stay there - with over 130,000 residents, it is no village - but Würzburg is an attractive small city with lots of hotel choices, and Würzburg is a train hub that makes it easy to visit some very nice old-world villages.

Iphofen (25 minutes by direct train from W'burg on the train route to Nuremberg.) The scenery on this route is quite nice as you approach Iphofen. Find tons of photos of gorgeous Iphofen HERE. And HERE is a brochure in English for Iphofen. The train to Iphofen stops in Kitzingen about 5 minutes before Iphofen - Kitzingen is also a nice place to visit - PHOTO here.
Have a look at the Würzburg - Iphofen train route.

Ochsenfurt and Marktbreit are also within 25 minutes of Würzburg on a different train route. These very attractive old-world Main River villages are often overlooked. See photos below.
Marktbreit scene
Marktbreit tower
Marktbreit town hall
Here's the train route map for Würzburg to Ochsenfurt and Marktbreit.
Ochsenfurt buildings
Ochsenfurt town wall

It is possible to stay in these smaller towns too, of course, but maybe a little less convenient for the train traveler overall than Würzburg. Rick Steves has hotel recommendations for Würzburg. The Hotel Regina and a hostel as well are right across from the main station.

Rothenburg is also a possible day trip from Würzburg - it's about 1.25 hours each way. But the other towns mentioned above are much less touristy.

I second Russ's recommendations above with one addition -- Dettelbach. Another sleepy little wine village that we loved wandering around on one of our trips to Germany. We stayed in Iphofen and can highly recommend it as a non touristy place to spend some time.

We have also spent time in Bad Wimpfen and Schwabisch Hall and found them both to be gems. We were very surprised at the many lovely buildings in Bad Wimpfen, considering its small size, and the lack of American tourists.

There are so many charming villages in that part of Germany that you can hardly go wrong.

Thank You so much for the recommendations guys :D really appreciate it. Marktbreit does look really pretty in pics to me. btw Russ, yup you're right cultural should mean the bigger towns with more 'advanced' cultural lives. What I mean is more into the native traditional villages and your recommendations are spot on.

Cheers

We took Russ' suggestions above for our trip last fall and were completely charmed. We've been to the southern part of Germany six times in the past five years and in my opinion these little towns can more than hold their own with the more popular places you have listed above. Iphofen was a particular favourite of ours.

If you are looking for recommendations within the places you have listed above, I'd choose Dinkelsbuhl over Nordlingen (aside from the city walls, we found the drive there more interesting than the town itself) and would highly recommend Heppenheim (although it is really out of the way if you are basing in Rothenburg) and Schwabisch Hall ... but we always gravitate to smaller towns.

Hi Chris,

thanks so much for the recommendation. With the time I have, I could pick at most 4towns and I am highly considering Dinkelsbuehl.

Also I am interested in Bamberg. it looks so pretty next to the Regnitz and its uphill area. I've suggested many times before about Bamberg but I was hesitant as the route is a bit further to the East, perhaps if my next route is Nurnberg then Munich, it would be good but I'd skip Nurnberg this time due to limited time.

Hi Chris,

forget to ask, which route do you take reaching Dinkelsbuehl. I am looking for scenic route too

TIA