German Train Connection - Same day stopover

There are only a couple of regional connections from Nürnberg to Rothenburg odT, the most usual of which is via Ansbach. If you use a connection from Munich to Rothenburg via Nürnberg by ICE, it will include a regional train connection. If you buy a SparPreis ticket, the Munich to Nürnberg train will be set and the regional route from Nürnberg to Rothenburg will also be set (but you can use any regional trains that day on that route. However, if your ticket says Nürnberg to Ansbach to Rothenburg, you cannot go via Neustadt).

However, there is no big advantage by going from Munich to Nürnberg via ICE. There are Munich to Rothenburg connections that are all regional, going from Munich to Steinach via Treuchtlingen, and you can do the entire trip for less with a Bayern-Ticket. Or, you could go from Munich to Nürnberg on one of the bi-hourly REs that take the same route as the ICEs, then go any route to Rothenburg using a Bayern-Ticket.

Sparpreis tickets are always flexible as far as regional trains are concerned. You can replace a regional train by another one on the same day (possibly even the next day for trips > 100 km, though that might have changed). EDITed to add: ...and on the same route.
So yes, as long as Nuremberg to Rothenburg is on regional trains, your plan works. A specific connection will be stated on the ticket, but the only thing that counts is the routing information (on the left, upper third of the online ticket). You cannot replace a long-distance train with a regional train, though.

Alternatively, if you want to use long-distance trains between Nuremberg and Rothenburg as well (there are a few connections for which you use an IC train for part of the route), you can specify a stopover time when booking.

Pay attention when booking, the place is called Rothenburg ob der Tauber, with a u (there are several places called Rothenberg as well, none of which is a noteworthy tourist destination).

If your goal is to save money, consider a Bayren (Bavaria) regional day ticket which would cover travel between Munich, Nurnberg, and Rothenberg. The plus is that it is good for as many regional trains you want to take in a single day and it saves you more for each addition person in your party. The single person price is 25€ with each additional person only adding 6€. The con is that you can't use it before 9:00 on weekdays (no restriction on weekends) and you can't use it on ICE (adds 40 minutes to your trip from Munich to Nurnberg),

Thanks for so many fast replies.

So, first--for example -there is a Sparpreis fare starting at 8:55 from Munich, it's an ICE to Nuremberg, but the connections directly onward to Rothenburg (and I am aware of my typo!) are marked RB or RE. Thus, what is being said is we can always take that combination from Nuremberg later in the afternoon.

But even better appears that Bavaria fare. We can certainly make that work with the 9:01 (!) Regional to Nuremberg arriving 10:49, that gives us over 5 1/2 hours to wander and still get into Rothenburg by 6 PM.

Thanks so much for these great answers. I had found the "Add stopover" option just as these replies started coming, but I don't believe I would have found the Bavaria ticket option.

Apparently I am much better with airfares and ATM/credit card options!

Re the Regional Bavaria ticket: Does this need to be bought in advance, or can we get it for the same price when we arrive in Munich?

You can buy the Bayern Ticket right before the train departs. If you buy at a manned ticket window, there is a 2 EUR service charge. Otherwise, buy out of a vending machine or with the DB app on your smart phone.

Terrific!

I will add one more possibly stupid question. We subsequently go Nurenberg to Dresden. is there any ticket special for this? it looks like an express bus is significantly less expensive and not much slower.

You can take the regional trains using a Quer durchs Land Ticket for 52 EUR with a single train change in Hof in 4 1/2 hours. That is for M-F after 9 am. On weekends, its is a Schoenes Wochenende Ticket for 50 EUR and you can leave anytime. Like the Bayern Ticket, buy out of a vending machine to save the 2 EUR window service charge.

Assuming "we" is two people.

Please note, however, that traffic on the Nuremberg - Hof line (where you transfer to Dresden) is operated with so-called Pendolinos. So if you're prone to seasickness (like me) you'd better take the ICE via Leipzig. Saver fare tickets start at € 29.90 pp if booking asap.

I visited Rothenberg twice, once by train from Frankfurt. The train didn't go to the city, but our last leg of the trip was on a bus and it was slow.

Later, when we lived in Augsburg, we drove up the Romantic Road and visited Dinkelsbuel, Donauworth and other RR cities and towns. I strongly recommend taking a Romantic Road Tour. They have them from Munich.

I hate to get snarky on my own thread, but that last response is a classic example of the "Why don't they answer the question?" threads that periodically appear here. I was looking for advice on ticketing for our trip, and after all the excellent answers I received (thank you all!) there is now the new suggestion that we should not even be doing this but take a different trip. It was even stated that we were going on to Dresden from Nuremberg, which makes going up the Romantic Road, at a mininum, silly.