Car trip from Munich to Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Is it just Rothenburg that you want to see? Then it's easier to take the train. The RR does not touch Munich. You would have to go to Landsberg am Lech or Augsburg to catch it and then it is a rather boring autobahn-like motorway as far as Donauwörth. Renting a car would worth it if you wanted to include Nördlingen and / or Dinkelsbühl but that would barely fit into a single day.

We've done the trip from Munich to Rothenberg both by car and train. I prefer the train. Driving is easy in Germany, but as stated - unless you plan on making other stops along the way the train is much easier.

There are people who berate car's on this website every time the
subject comes up.

I would rather think of it as offering a considered alternative to the typical knee-jerk, American paradigm that one must travel by car.

One of the differences between traveling in the United States and traveling in Germany is that, unlike the U.S., Germany has an effective, efficient system of rail transit, augmented by an extensive network of buses. I get so tired of having to go everywhere in this country by car. It's such a pleasant change in Germany to sit back and let the train (or bus) get me there while I watch the scenery, read, write in my journal, etc, without worry about traffic jams, getting lost, or photo radar. Several times I've fallen asleep on the train getting to my destination the first day after a pretty much sleepless night on the plane. I'm glad I wasn't driving.

There is a bus stop right outside Terminal 2 at MUC. From there it's an 18 minute bus ride to the Freising Bahnhof, from which you can catch trains to Rothenburg. Total time for the bus and trains is 4:08, less than half and hour longer than driving (according to ViaMichelin), and there is no time spent picking up a rental car. You can make the entire day's trip to Rothemburg by both the bus and trains for 31€ with a Bavarian Day Ticket (formerly called a Bayern-Ticket).

My thoughts on the Romantic Road:

In 2007, after listening to so many self-appointed experts claim you needed a car to do the Romantic Road, I did it, just to prove a point, that you don't need a car, using only public transportation. Since I had already been to Füssen three times, and because I was spending the night before in Oberammergau, having toured Linderhof the day before, I started my trip at Wieskirche (½ an hr from Füssen) at noon on the first day. I finished the trip in Würzburg in the afternoon of the fifth day.
So I spent about 100 hours, including four overnight stays, on the Road. In addition, I spent another 36 hours (2 nights) exploring Würzburg.

From Nördlingen to Weikersheim via Rothenburg, the connection is only by bus, and the buses more or less followed the Romantic Road, so I've experienced the Road, and I was not impressed. It's not the two-lane country road that makes the Romantic Road special, it's the towns along the way, and to really experience the towns on the Road, you need to spend more than a day traveling it.

To add to what I said above, as SLA pointed out, spending time on the Road would take away time on your arrival day in Rothenburg and really wouldn't allow sufficient time to visit any RR towns.

Leaving early enough from Rothenburg the next day to include the English tour of Dachau at 1:00 PM would take away time from your departure day from Rothenburg. At that point, why bother. Just get to Rothenburg by the fastest route (without having to wait to rent a car). Rothenburg, after all, is the most important town on the RR. Spend some time there in the afternoon, then leave in the morning at 9:08 AM, just barely in time for the English tour at 1 o'clock at the Dachau Memorial. After the Dachau tour, there are buses leaving Dachau every 20 minutes connecting to S-Bahn back to Munich.

We rented a car at the Munich airport and drove to Rothenburg; however, we did not drive the Romantic Road, we took the autobahn as much as we could which was a unique experience itself. We visited Dachau (but took the S-Bahn from Munich), and seems like it took us 2-3 hours to tour on our own. If I were you, I would drop the car back at the airport and take the S-Bahn into Munich. We did that and walked to Hotel Upland without any problems.

walked to Hotel Upland without any problems.

No need to walk (unless you want the exercise). There is a U-Bahn station (S4/S5) at the south entrance to the Hbf with its next stop at Theresienwiese, about a block from Uhland. A ticket from the airport to downtown would include the U-Bahn to your final destination.

This forum is so helpful. Thanks to everyone for your advice. It gives me some real ideas on how to go. I am glad that I could do car or train and not be too wrong. I was originally thinking that I would stop at some of the other cities on the Romantic Road but am now thinking that we probably don't have enough time. I have also been concerned on how tired I would be after my flight. Can I use the Bavarian Day Ticket to go from Rothenburg to Dachau? Is the ticket then good to get back to Munich?

If you want to drive in Germany, then spend time to learn how to drive in Germany. Once on the highway, it's a very dangerous place to try to learn.

Can I use the Bavarian Day Ticket to go from Rothenburg to Dachau? Is
the ticket then good to get back to Munich?

Yes, as long as you use only regional trains. Those are all that stop at Dachau Bhf.

I would never drive from Munich to Rothenburg just for one night, especially after just landing. Whilst I think Rothenburg is gorgeous to look at, despite the throngs of tourists ( a lot more than when I went, from what I read), Munich and it's vicinity has enough to cover your time before Salzburg.
If you do decide to drive, I don't know why one of the poster's thinks it's so dangerous to use the autobahn.