Berlin to Munich - Where to stop in between?

Quedlinburg fits the bill for authentic, old German towns. Plus it is a good base to visit the Hartz Mountains.

Noerdlingen is a walled old town on the Romantic Road that sits in an ancient asteroid impact crater. The stones used to build its church contain "shocked quartz", evidence of an asteroid impact.

I haven’t been to Germany, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I have studied the Rick Steves book and other guidebooks quite a bit. :)

If your priority is small-town charm, you could leave Berlin, spend a day in Leipzig, and end in Bamberg, then spend the day in Rothenburg with a brief visit to another town (Nordlingen, Dinkelsbuhl, and Augsburg are popular choices) before ending in Munich.

However, as others have warned me, it’s probably not realistic to spend a lot of time on the Romantic Road if you’re trying to see a lot in one day. You may just want to take the highway to move quickly from Rothenburg to Augsburg, say, even if it’s less scenic.

Others who have actually been to Germany may have better advice! :)

P.S. Other cool places to visit in the area include Bayreuth and Nuremberg.

I would take the direct Autobahn Berlin-Munich via Nürnberg and take below into consideration:

• Wittenberg
• Dessau (Bauhaus Museum)
• Leipzig
• Weimar
• Erfurt
• Bamberg
• Nürnberg

Bamberg is my recommendation. It is a charming small city with UNESCO world heritage old town.

Bamberg is also famous for is smoked beer. Multiple breweries and beer gardens after you have parked your car at the end of the day.

I can add Magdeburg, Halle (Saale), Gera, Jena, Regensburg, Bamberg, Giessen, Marburg, Kassel, Gottingen, Eisenach and Harz mountains (Landschaftsschutzgebiet Harz und südliches Harzvorland) for the rest.