We are traveling to Germany and want to spend a day to Rothenburg. WE would love to hear of good tours and are willing to go on a private tour to the small German Town outside of Munich like Rothenburg. Maybe we should even rent a car. Just a thought but we would rather go with someone that knows the way.
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It's pretty self-explanatory. Just go there and wander around. You walk along the wall, go to Kathe Wohlfahrt and buy some Christmas ornaments, go watch the mechanical clock at noon in the Rathausplatz. Get a schneeball at the bakery in the square (right hand side as you're looking at the clock--if it's still there!) for me.
Rothenburg odT is a bit of a slog from Munich - about 3-1/2 hours each way by train with several changes, probably about 3 hrs each way driving also. I'm not familiar with any particular tours but from what I've seen they are long day tours (10-12 hours) and I don't know how much time you actually have there, but you have a LOT of time on the bus. It's a good place to stop if it's on your way but not as a day trip from Munich unless you don't mind the long travel time each way and a long long day.
I'm sure someone will chime in with comparable villages to visit that are much closer to Munich. I have a hunch that not too many people here take organized day tours from Munich as most of the common places of interest are fairly easy to do on your own.
A private tour would be great but out of my budget so never researched them. I did a day trip on my own by train from Munich to Regensburg, then to Passau, then back to Munich. It was a pretty long day but not horrible and the trains are easy to use. I tend to do a lot of research on a place before going and then do it on my own, but I have taken some nice local guided walking tours once I get to a place - just check with the TI in a town to see what's available for walking tours or google ahead of going.
Info on guided tours can be found here: https://tourismus.rothenburg.de/index.php?id=490
Walking tour at 2pm nearly every day. We did a guided tour by open air taxi of some kind that drove thru the streets and the perimeter of the old town. You can find them parked near the town square close to the Kathe Wohlfahrt shop.
I recommend the short tour of St Jacob's church that houses the famous Riemenschneider wood carving alter. Very informational.
Rothenburg is extremely touristy as well as very far from Munich. Crowds are Disneyesque.
I'd suggest an outing to adorable Mittenwald (in the Alps.) It's very easy to reach - 2 hours on just one train and you're there, with morning departures every hour from Munich.
This online guide will help you take a walking tour of the town; there's info also on the violin museum, the Leutasch gorge and the Karwendel lift: http://hastingshouse.typepad.com/hastings_house_us/travel_in_europe/
An even closer option is a visit to the well-preserved historic city of REGENSBURG, a UNESCO World Heritage town on the Danube. Again, one direct train, 1.5 hours from Munich. Take a city tour offered in English by the local tourist office.
Regensburg: 26 Euros round trip for two on a "Servus Ticket" day pass. Leave Munich at 9:01, return in pm.
Mittenwald: 26 Euros round trip for two on a "Regio-ticket Werdenfels" day pass. Leave Munich at 8:32 or 9:32.
Both day passes can be bought from a Munich station ticket machine.
I'd go with the Regensburg suggestion. It's been on the list of my places to visit but always a tad out of the way from where I was based. The attractive Landsberg am Lech and Murnau are even closer, not on the typical tourist radar.
Rothenburg is too far for a day trip, and I would not bother going through the effort of renting a car for one day.
I am a fan of Rothenburg and have often stayed there two nights. We have enjoyed it as well as a walking down into the Tauber Valley. Still, it seems too far for a day trip from Munich. German trains are nice but not for hours and hours of travel. I also think Regensburg or Landshut would make much closer and very interesting day trips. Regensburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its buildings and plazas. Wonderful city to walk.
I, too, am a fan of Rothenburg. People have mentioned some alternatives here, Landsberg, Mittenwald, but they aren't the same as Rothenburg. There are things that you can do that don't get you involved in the tourism culture. We spent half a day walking the Wehrgang on the wall and seeing the museum in one of the towers. There were hardly any "tourist" there. Also few at St. Jocobs church, with it's Riemenschneider Alter. We avoided Kathe Wohlfahrt's Christmas shop and the Crime and Punishment Museum - too touisty.
It would be a shame to visit Germany and not see Rothenburg, but it would be a trek from Munich for a day trip, but not impossible. If you used a 31 euro (for two) Bayern-Ticket and regional trains you couldn't get to Rothenburg before almost 1 PM, but with an advance purchase ticket using an ICE through Nürnberg you could easily arrive before noon. Combined with a Bayern-Ticket-Nacht and getting back to Munich late, you could make the trip for about 76 euro and spend about 7 hours in Rothenburg.
Nördlingen is another medieval, walled city, about half the travel time from Munich, and, like Rothenburg, has a wall with a walkable Wehrgang. It's kind of a less touristy version of Rothenburg, without a Christmas shop or Punishment Museum.
