Neuschwanstein Castle to Rothenburg ob der Tauber

To have any idea of whether your plan is feasible, we'd need to know where you are starting from on the morning you will visit Neuschwenstein, and whether you will see both castles, or just the one.

I'm assuming that if you are allowing 4 hours, then you are planning to see both castles. So lunch time is going to fall somewhere in there, even if you have an early timed ticket. From there it's only 30 min or so to Wieskirche. It should take less than 30 min to see all there is to see at the church. From there it's about 3 hours to Rothenberg odT, without stopping. There is a faster route than the Romantic road, but only by 20 min or so. I don't think you will have much time to stop along he way just to walk around some little town if you want to get there before dark. Sunset will be anywhere from 6:00 to 6:30 pm, depending on how late in the month.

We will be starting from Ettal and then drive to Neuschwanstein Castle (the only castle we planned on covering).

If starting in Ettal, it's about a 45 min drive. But you have to factor the time needed to get from the parking lot up to the castle. This website shows your options and estimated time required to do that: https://neuschwansteintickets.com/accessibility.html

We were just at the castle a week ago on a Thursday with a Globus group and it was PACKED with people. It takes time to get up to the castle...if you don't buy a bus ticket the walk UP the hill would be a killer. Then once up there you have to wait for your specific time that your ticket says...if you miss that...well...you are done for the day! Make sure you buy your tickets ahead of time. It was raining the day we were there but luckily the fog went away and we did have a good view of the castle for a bit. You also need to walk down the hill which takes awhile...we ended up with a drenching rain on the way down. Have a poncho handy!

Just outside of Rothenburg is Castle Colmberg...a medieval castle that offers lodging in the restored rooms. It’s about a 10 minute drive to Rothenburg from there. We’ve spent the night there on a couple of different occasions. It might be an interesting experience for you to actually stay in a real castle.

Take the time to do the Romantic Road and enjoy the small towns on the way too Rothenburg. You need more than four hours to do it properly.

I know Neuschwanstein is a must see, but frankly it was underwhelming. It has little history to the place and is popular because it inspired Disney.