Rothenburg vs. Nuremburg Homebase

How long is it you plan to stay there? Honestly, I think a better base would be Nuremberg, because it’s the center of a hub of public transportation there and it would be much easier to make day trips from that city rather than Nuremberg.

Don’t get me wrong, Rothenburg is very charming and well worth a visit, but there’s probably enough to see in the town for maybe two days. You could, of course, do day trips from there, but it is a little bit more complicated and would require more transfers that would take more time.

Of course, I’m assuming that you are using public transportation. If you have a car, that would make a difference as It would make it easier for you to get to other places from Rothenburg on day trips. And if you found a place that you really like, sometimes that’s half the battle, so you may want to stay there.

It would be about 5 days… that’s helpful. Maybe I should look at Nuremberg. Yes, we are relying on the public transportation. Rothenburg appears more affordable, so that was appealing.

I found a lovely place to rent in Rothenburg and wondered if there’s
enough easy access out of there with plenty to see, to allow us to
stay in one place a little longer after traveling so much that month.

"Easy access"... to what? If you are using public transportation, Rothenburg may be a poor choice. Its train station is at the end of a trunk railway which takes you in just one direction... east to Steinach, where you must transfer to reach other destinations nearby. If you just want to stay in Rothenburg the whole time, you'll be OK. But certainly there are many better-located towns which provide a bit more to see and do and offer better access to nearby places of interest. If you need to get to Frankfurt airport from Rothenburg, I'd call Rothenburg unacceptable.

I suggest you focus on what kinds of things you would like to see and do during this "downtime" period, then look for a place which offers these things, preferably near FRA airport, if that's where you need to get after your stay. Maybe your family would enjoy a waterpark, or a place with easy bicycling, or a local festival...?? Give us a few hints at what you're looking for.

We prefer to do a mixture of historical sites/castles and pure fun like a waterpark, luges, shopping. That’s how we are structuring the rest of the trip. As we go, I’m working to see the highlights for the region that give a good taste of the history/culture and mixing in pure fun for preteens.

I wonder what your time on the Rhine involves.

The most obvious place for you IME might be Cochem on the Mosel River.

https://img.fotocommunity.com/reichsburg-cochem-mosel-d3c1f03b-fafb-44ea-ae46-aa69ba7ebdb7.jpg?height=1080

Moselbad waterpark/pool facility

Klotti Wildlife and Amusement Park

Reichsburg Castle

Cochem Chairlift

Mosel River cruise to Beilstein

But it could make sense to have your RHINE stay at the very end since it's so close to FRA airport; most west-bank Rhine towns have a direct train connection to FRA.

For a month's stay with day trips you may want to look at this comprehensive website for additional ideas.
https://www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/palace/index.htm

I would like to visit Rothenburg which is why I’d likely base in Nuremberg. While I love the idea of a stay, the multiple trains with luggage to get in - and out- made me decide I’d rather have a more central base to visit places smaller or less accessible without lugging my suitcase about,

I think as long as the idea of many trains for any “out” and more hours on day trips doesn’t sound bad it would be fun though.

I've been to Rothenburg 3 times, and I like it. But no it's not a good place to base yourself for more than a couple of days. The central town is quite small - you can leisurely walk across it in 15 minutes. It's pretty, but not a lot of actual things to see and do - it's a place to be. Agree that the rail access limits your ability to get around, and would eat up time.

Thank you for the input! We have to do the Rhine at the beginning so that my husband can be there. He is joining us for a portion of the month and wants to be part of the Rhine. So it would be a matter of priories in the Nuremberg / Rothenburg area or returning to Rhine could be good too with focus on Mosel. Or changing plans and making the trek up to Berlin.

One advantage of staying in Nuremberg is that you have easy access to some charming places like Regensburg, Würzburg, and Bamberg. All three are absolutely beautiful, with many things to see and do there in a day trip and are well worth visiting. They're very easy to get to from Nuremberg by train. You can also get a very inexpensive VGN train pass that will let you go to Bamberg and Würzburg, and even Rothenburg, from Nuremberg. You can't use it for Regensburg, but you can use the Bayern Pass, which has a good family discount on it.

I can't say easy access, but the Tauber river valley is nice. Röttingen, Weikersheim, Bad Mergentheim etc. to Wertheim on the Main River is nice. Maybe rent some e-bikes? Good food and wine. There is the Keltisches Oppidum Finsterlohr-Burgstall near Rothenburg across the Tauber. The Tauber river valley is not so touristy and has many nice places to see.

Nuremberg is a nice city and a good train hub - but I am reluctant to endorse it in your case since you appear to be looking to "stay put" for "family-fun" stuff on a low-key sightseeing schedule. Nuremberg is primarily a place for sightseeing. Outings from Nuremberg to Regensburg and Würzburg and Bamberg will each require 2 hours of transportation round trip on average... and these too are mainly places for active sightseeing. To me, this plan sounds like more "go-go-go" than you might have in mind.

You mentioned luges... You didn't mention where you are staying on the Rhine or when, but there's a summer bobsled run there in St. Goarshausen:

https://www.romantischer-rhein.de/en/a-sommerrodelbahn-loreley-bob-1

The east-bank railway, where St. Goarshausen is located, is currently closed for repairs, but if you are staying in one of the west-bank towns, you can use the ferry crossing in St. Goar to get across + a short bus ride to the Loreley plateau near the bobsled run.

I’ve stayed for 4 days a couple of times plus three shorter times. I have no problem filling time. The train goes every hour and there are plenty of places that can ve visited by train, depending of course on how long you want to be on a train.

Thank you, Russ, for the bobsled info. We are staying in Bacharach earlier in our month of travel and this is great information! We have planned several luges in the Black Forest and Bavaria regions.

I wouldn't use Rothenburg as a base, unless you rent a car.
Even then, why limit yourself to that one area. You can do Rothenburg in a full day or perhaps two.

Instead, do The Romantic Road, which included Rothenburg and several great medieval walled towns that are somewhat similar, but different. The other towns are not as overrun with tourists.

Check it out:
https://www.romanticroadgermany.com

It's not too hard to see the reason for the popularity - despite the modern roots of the idea, the tour combines the historic cities of Würzburg and Augsburg with the three medieval walled towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen, and then finishes off with the tourist highlights of Neuschwanstein Castle and the Alps.

Augsburg is not a town, but a city of over $350K, but worth a day. It is over 2000 years old.

I don't think Rothenburg is a good base because the train line that it's on is a rail cul-de-sac and it takes a long time to get anywhere. If you want to base in that area of northern Bavaria / Romantic Road, Nuremberg would be better. Don't miss Bamberg and Würzburg, they are fantastic!

Lavandula

Since you have five days, don't overlook a day trip to Wurzburg. The Prince Bishop's Residence alone is worth a visit. Especially the small chapel on one end. Now that I think about it. you could even use Wurzburg (as we have done) as a base a do day trips from there. I lived there for a time, and there are enough nearby things to fill up the time you have.