Nuremberg to Freiburg and Colmar, then to Frankfurt

Nürnberg to Freiburg. I wouldn't go over the boring motorway all the way but make a compromise:
take the motorway as far as Ulm and from there follow the upper Danube to Black Forrest and further on to Freiburg:

Ulm (magnificent gothic cathedral) - Blaubeuren (southern endpoint of the half timbered route; prehistorical UNESCO world heritage site) - Obermarchtal and / or Zwiefalten (baroque abbeys) - Sigmaringen (castle) - Beuron (baroque abbey) - Donauschingen (baroque residence, spring of the danube in the park) Titisee and / or Schluchsee - Freiburg.

Colmar is very small; 6 nights might be a long time. You are very near to Strasbourg which I prefer. Near Colmar, are the small picturesque towns of Riquewihr, Obernai and Bergheim which you may want to consider. If you want a guided tour of the wineries, we can highly recommend Marc at VinoRoute (www.vinoroute.fr).

Sla's advice is good, want to add that in Blaubeuren there's a fabulous pool/lake that's part of a cavern system called the "blautopf". It's also next to an old abbey, in addition to the aforementioned museum. Definitely worth a stop!

I was there last year. Turbingen is very worthwhile, as is Triberg and its waterfall, plus Gutach has a very worthwhile outdoor museum. This a trail of sorts through the Black Forest. I spent two trips in the Alsace. Colmar is worth a day or two. I loved staying in Eguisheim (hotel Nancy) and there are a number of driveable small villages...each different yet similar.

Thanks to everyone for their replies and suggestions. Is Rothenburg ob Der Tauber worth visiting? Rick has an interesting video. We'll be picking up our rental car on Nuremberg after a river cruise and not sure how far we want to drive the first day.
We booked a B&B in Colmar for six nights because it will be during the Christmas markets and it seems to be a good base for visiting the other villages along the wine route, perhaps even Basel or further west into France.
Thanks again for your input.

FYI, for the hand-held videos that he posts regularly on his blog, I'm sure that Rick just uses his iPhone, not a separate device. But apparently, the pros do have a mini-cam shown here for some traveling shots. Be careful about sticking your arm out the window!

Rothenburg o.d.T. is the most "touristy" stop along the way. Since you have a car, equally pretty towns to visit along the way are Dinkelsbuehl, Noerdlingen. They are just less visited than Rothenburg, which gets a lot of TV travelog coverage.

If you have 6 days in Colmar and only 2 days to get there, skip Freiburg, because that is one of the places you can day trip to from Colmar. The route sla gave you, you could take 6 days to make your way to Colmar. Since it sounds like December, all of these towns will have Christmas markets as well.

When we stayed in Ribeauville, we were able to find a small family hotel that had private parking. You have to remember that in any substantial town (or city, like Freiburg or Strasbourg, a car will be a hindrance at times. You did not give the month of travel - is it at the height of the season. One advantage of staying somewhere other than Freiburg in the BF is the KONUS travel card that's not available in Freiburg, as well as a more rural setting, which is why Germans go to the BF. But it depends if you are more interested in green spaces or history and wine.

If you can afford it, L'Auberge de L'Ill (that's EYE-EL-EL, a river) is a memorable Michelin-starred restaurant, reservation essential. One thing we missed in the area was the Chapel at Ronchamp by Le Corbusier.

I live on the East Coast US, but I would fly home from Basel, or even Zurich in this case. You didn't fill in your home in the Profile for your screen name. You don't mention places you want to see on the long way to Frankfurt.

How long do you have between Nuremberg and Freiburg? and how many between Colmar and Frankfurt? I assume that you go to Colmar from Freiburg.

Stephen, we have 2 nights between Rothenberg and Frieberg, and a week between Colmar and Frankfurt. We'll be in Colmar 6 nights in a B&B, and plan on using that as a base to visit the many vineyards and villages in Alsace. So we're looking for suggestions and route from Rothenberg to Frieberg, then Colmar to Frankfurt.

From R’burg you could go down the Romantic Road to Augsburg then over to Ulm ( night 1). Then along the Danube to the Grosse Lauter river and up it, eventually going to Tuebingen ( night 2) or you could continue along the Danube to Sigmaringen ( night 2). With this second route, then the next day go along the Danube ( this section west of Sigmaringen is very scenic ) to Donaueschingen and then to Freiburg. With the Tuebingen stop, you could continue along the Neckar to Villingen-Schwenningen before continuing to Freiburg.

From Colmar thru the Black Forest to Tuebingen ( if you didn’t go there as I suggested above ), Stuttgart, along the Neckar to Heidelberg, then to Mainz and the towns along the middle Rhine

thanks, I appreciate everyone's suggestions!