I realize the "romantic road" has plenty of places to stop and see but we won't have time to stop everywhere. I'm looking for the 2-3 must-see places from Rothenburg on the way to Füssen (excluding Rothenburg and Füssen, of course).
Notice that we'll spend the night in Füssen, visit the castles there and drive around there as well, so I'm looking specifically for places between Rothenburg and Füssen.
Thanks!
I realize the "romantic road" has plenty of places to stop and see
You're right. In fact the Road itself is nothing special, just a two-lane country road clogged with truck and tourist traffic. It's the places along the road that make it special. Two of my favorite places to stop along the road are actually close (20 minutes by car or rail) together and about in the middle - Nördlingen and Harburg.
Nördlingen, is a walled town, similar to Rothenburg, but not as touristy. It has an intact wall completely surrounding the town with lots of Fachwerk buildings and a Wehrgang you can walk along. In the center of town is a church with a tower you can climb for a panoramic view of the town and the surrounding area.
In 2007, when I toured the Romantic Road, I spent about 20 hours in Nördlingen, including overnight, and hated to leave it.
If you want to tour an authentic castle, stop in Harburg. Harburg is called "Harburg (Schwaben)" to differentiate it from a borough with the same name in Hamburg, Above the town sits Burg Harburg, an intact castle that is almost a thousand years old.
One of my favorites along the way is Dinkelsbühl. Google it and see what you think.
I lived in Augsburg for four years and loved that wonderful 2000 year old city. It is on the Romantic Road. Plan on visiting the city center, Rathaus and the Fuggeri (a 17th Century housing area for the poor).
Nördlingen is a good one for a few hours, also Dinkelsbuhl is a small walled town like Rothenburg, but without all the tourists.
Don't forget, closer to Fussen, stop for a short visit to Oberammergau, where they hold the Passion Play every ten years.
Thanks for the replies. I'll check those places out and finalize my planning.
If you haven’t visited any rococo churches, stop,at the Wies church
Not on the Romantic Road, but Ulm. Ended up in an interesting club here without knowing years ago. Neuburg an der Donau... Spent New Years here one year. Dinner for One Play at a Brewery. Interesting Altstadt architecture.
If you haven’t visited any rococo churches, stop,at the Wies church
On the other hand, if you have visited any rococo churches, don't bother with Wieskirche. It's just one more over-the-top, gaudy church.
In 2007, I started my Romantic Road tour in Oberammergau. I know, it's not really on "the Road"; Füssen is the southern terminus of the Road, but I had already been to Füssen three times, so I spent the night in Oberammergau and took the bus in the morning to Wieskirche to start my journey on the Road.
I had an hour between buses at Wieskirche. I arrived at Wieskirche, took one look inside and said, "yeah, it's one more rococo church."
After a couple of minutes, I went across the road to a gasthof for lunch.
On that trip, I stopped at two rococo churches, Wieskirche and the chapel at Andechs. I have postcards from both, and I can't tell which is which without looking at the descriptions on the back of the cards.
I found Augsburg underwhelming. Nearly flattened during World War II, and now for the most part historic features painted onto plain buildings.
Ulm I thought was worth a stop to see the impossibly tall tallest church buyer in the world.
Dinkelsbuhl is great!
If you have a car and you're in Fussen, drive the extra 45 minutes up Tannheim in the Tannheimtal. Nearly unknown to English speaking tourists, and it could not be more of Tirolean mountain playground paradise.
I like Fussen, it's a stately handsome town. But the Tannheimtal is special.
Augsburg did have about half of its buildings destroyed or damaged in WWII. There was a ME 109 factory near Augsburg, where you can still see some craters from bombs dropped there.
Still, the Rathaus was completely rebuilt (the walls were not destroyed) to the way it was pre-war. The Cathedral has the oldest stain glass in Europe and The Fuggeri still stands (the oldest housing for the poor in Europe, 300 years old and still functioning).
Other cities in Germany had far more bomb damage. Frankfurt, the Ruhr region and Berlin were severely damaged. Cologne, aside from is famous cathedral was about the only thing undamaged. Berlin was a total wasteland. That doesn't make them undesirable to visit.
The difference between Rothenburg and Nördlingen, and Dinkelsbühl is that the walls surrounding Rothenburg and Nördlingen both have Wehrgangs you can walk on, whereas Dinkelsbühl doesn't. I love walking around a walled city on the Wehrgang. That was what disappointed me about Dinkelsbühl.
We stayed in Ellwangen(ca.60 km from Rothenburg) for the night on our way from the North to Füssen.
Not a great Tourist town but little Historic Center around the Market Square and St.Vitus Church.
https://www.ellwangen.de/index.php?id=16
https://www.ellwangen-tourismus.de/gaeste/startseite
There are points of interest at the outskirts of the town
like Schloss Ellwangen (Palace)
https://www.schloss-obellwangen.de/en/
and Wallfahrtskirche Schönenberg (nice church)
https://zuunsererliebenfrau-schoenenberg.drs.de/index.html
Little movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMcRVjrf1HU
