Help with planning family trip to southern Germany in August!

Rothenburg, Nordlingen, and Heidelberg are fairly close together driving wise. So is Wurzburg. I used to do day trips from W'burg to all three so doing two in one day should work out ok.

There are some places in the immediate vicinity of Pleidelsheim that might interest you.

Lauffen (walled town)
Besigheim (old-world town, see photos at this page in German)
Ludwigsburg on Tripadvisor
Ludwigsburg Palace
Guttenberg Castle and Raptor Center (free-flight demonstrations) near Gundelsheim
Schwäbisch Hall

"Since we are renting a car, we can do off-the-beaten track places with hopefully fewer crowds."
To avoid crowds your mode of transportation is much less important than where you're going. Expect lots of traffic in the Stuttgart metro area of course. Expect mobs in Rothenburg, which is on the beaten-within-an-inch -of-its-life track, a stop for every tour bus passing through Germany and where tourism is the only game in town - or just avoid the place. There's no shortage of other wonderful old places to visit. The Romantic Road route can clog up easily in August as well.

Traveling with a toddler is fun but you need to remember to relax your pace a little bit and be prepared to adapt to their moods. We've been to Europe (mostly southern Germany) many times with our two who are now 4.5 and 2.

Your plan of having a nap in the car after lunch is what we have often done. Usually it works ... sometimes not so well. Snacks are critical. I always have a bag of snacks and drinks with me (you will find fewer pre-packaged toddler snacks like granola bars, rice cakes, etc in Europe). I usually make a peanut butter sandwich each morning to take with us, too. The kids eat pretty much everything but there is something about the familiarity of a PB sandwich that can really tide them over when it is close to lunch and we want to see a little more of something 'boring'.

I strongly recommend taking your own car seat. It is a bit of a hassle but well worth the peace of mind - I did a lot of research before deciding to do this on our trips but I wasn't willing to take the risk of getting a seat that had been in an accident or not getting one at all. I strongly recommend getting a bag (we found one with backpack straps for CDN $35 on Amazon) to protect it, too. We didn't on our first trip and the seat got pretty beaten up on the flight over. At 2.5 I'd also suggest taking a good stroller, you may not always need it but will be glad for the times when you do.

Try to break up your mornings and afternoon with toddler-friendly things. You know toddlers, these don't have to be a big deal. My kids especially love chasing pigeons and splashing in fountains. Find out where the playgrounds are and make a point of spending half an hour there just for her. We have found many towns actually had pieces of playground equipment in the middle of the main squares, too. Most towns in Southern Germany have ice cream cafes (Eis Cafes) and these make a fun stop for everyone - ice cream for your daughter, espresso for the parents.

Many Biergartens have playgrounds right next to their outdoor seating, which has been a lifesaver when we wanted to have a leisurely lunch and an extra beer.

For a pretty, mostly medieval town, I recommend Schwabisch Hall. It is a little off the beaten tourist path, has a lovely old town centre with pedestrian zones where she can walk without fear of cars and a great playground very close to the town centre right beside the river. We had a fun encounter here with a fruit vendor - my son stole a peach from her stand and when I made him take it back she smiled and gave him an apple instead. It made for a fun story and another great memory!

I've had people say you should leave the kids behind because they will just take away from your trip. I disagree. Taking our kids can be a bit more challenging - we see less museums and more playgrounds - but it has always been enriching. We meet a lot more locals and have learned to slow down and savour each place instead of just checking off a list of 'must sees'.

Have fun and feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.

P.S. We've taken Russ' suggestions on several trips and they are always good.

"Since we are renting a car, we can do off-the-beaten track places"

Not a true statement for Germany. Germany has the most extensive rail system in Europe, with over 5,400 rail stations (1 for every 25 sq mi). In 15 years (21 weeks of travel), I've never rented a car in Germany, and 83% of my overnight stays have been in towns with less than 50,000 population. 62% of my overnights have been in towns with less than 10,000 people.

I lived near a few of your destinations, so here's some suggestions.

In Heidelberg, there's a small kid's amusement park on top of the mountain (castle side of the river). On the mountain on the opposite side of the river, you can visit a completely intact NS-era ampitheater. There's a nice little Biergarten just below here that has a small kids' playground. The zoo is also worth a look.

Michelstadt is one of the nicest towns in the Odenwald region (which is filled with nice little towns and scenery). Also take a look at nearby Lindenfels, which has a scenic castle ruin in the middle of the town.

If you can't make it to Rothenburg odT, Ladenburg is a decent substitute, as long as you don't mind a lack of trinket shops. It has a nearly intact wall, though.

Along the Neckar River, check out the fortified castle town of Dilsberg, Hirschhorn and Bad Wimpfen. Try a side trip up to the summit of Katzenbuckel, the highest mountain in the region. You can park the car about a 20 minute walk from the summit.

Thank you Jeff.

Here is a good example. Büdingen, a lovely, medieval walled town is quite easy to reach by train from Frankfurt, but here's the thing. You have to switch trains at Gelnhausen. On Sundays, you have 5 min. That means you jump off the train, run down steps, walk through a tunnel, back up steps and run down to another track. If you miss this train because you aren't fast enough with your stroller and senior citizen grandma, or your train is delayed by a couple of minutes, tough luck. The next train is in 2 hours and there is zip to do at this station. Perhaps while you are Büdingen or Gelnhausen, you would like to visit Ronneburg castle for the falcon show or medieval market or the Celtic museum/settlement in Glauberg? Neither one are very accessible by train or bus. Hessen Park Open air museum? Again, good luck getting there. I missed my bus there by 1 min. due to train delays and the next one was in 2 hours.
I do like using public transportation, and have done so for 28 years living in Germany, but it isn't always the best and I wouldn't dream of telling people that it is.

"there is more choice here between public transit and a private vehicle than there will ever be in the near future of the broad expanses of the USA."

My point exactly! In this country we have few transportation options. For really long distances, there are airplanes. Except on the eastern seaboard, usable rail is almost non-existent. The last time I was on a train in this country, except for Disneyland, was 1964. Other than that, about the only viable option is a car. If you want to go anywhere in this country you have to have a car. I'm tired of it. It's such a treat to be able to travel without being cramped in a tiny seat, having to stare at the road for hours on end. I look forward to traveling in Germany and being able to do other things, like watch the scenery, read, write in my journal, nap, etc, while getting to my destination.

A few weeks ago, I drove from Steamboat Springs back to Denver. I've already ridden most of the route on a bike, so I had already seen the scenery, but driving, I missed all of it. I wanted to get to my destination, so I wasn't going to stop, even if there had been a place on the narrow roads. For most of the trip a rail line paralleled our travel, but it's only used for freight, no passenger trains. I sure wish there had been a passenger train so I could have enjoyed the scenery.

It was the OP herself who said, "... renting a car, we can do off-the-beaten track places". Because a car is the only way to get around in this country, the car has become the American travel paradigm. Most Americans don't understand or appreciate that it's not the same in Europe.