Scenic Drives

Recommend "Back Roads Germany" from DK publishing. Have seen used copies on Amazon for less than $5. Contains lots of off the beaten path scenic drives.

Bacharach to Colmar - from Strasbourg to Colmar, use Route du Vin

From C to F - Freiburg, Titisee, Donaueschingen, Tuttlingen, Sigmaringen, Meersburg, Friedrichshafen.

From F to R - Lindau, then the Deutsche Alpenstrasse to Fussen, Reutte

From Lindau, the Alpenstrasse goes to Sonthofen. From there is goes to Bad Hindelang, where it climbs up the face of a mountain on switchbacks. Great view, not for the timid. Instead of going through Füssen, go as far as Pfronten, then follow the rail line, the Ausserfernbahn, directly to Reutte. Actually, the entire stretch can be done by rail from Friedrichshofen to Lindau to Oberstaufen to Immenstadt to Sonthofen, then by bus to Pfronten, and rail to Reutte. I was not impressed, BTW, with Reutte; Pfronten is a much prettier location.

actually from Strasbourg to Colmar, I would only use the Route du Vin for the southern part. The northern part, imho, is not nearly as attractive and I have always used the autoroute.

Bacharach to Colmar: Let's compare and contrast the routes on each side of the Rhine. They are somewhat similar but have their own pluses and minuses.

Left bank (Bacharach side): South beyond Bingen, the landscape opens up and you drive through Germany's largest wine-producing region. At some points, the vineyards extend to the horizon in all directions. Around Worms, the Pfälzerwald mountain range rises to your right, and this mountain range continues down into France as the Vosges (where the peaks get much higher). The A61 roughly follows the Deutsche Weinstraße, which contains several attractive towns specializing in... well, wine. Some of the better towns to visit include Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße and Landau. Approaching the border with France, you drive through a long forest where there isn't much to see. Once you pick up the A35, the scenery opens up again. Wine towns, mountains and castles. I think this portion of the drive south of Karlsruhe is more scenic, but there is one major disadvantage. There are no manned rest stops. If nature calls, your only options are these awful, filthy, smelly, pod-like port-o-potties.

Right bank: You would need to cross the river either by ferry or at Wiesbaden/Mainz. If you cross by ferry, the scenery is better. Pick up A3, and at the Frankfurt airport, turn on A5 heading towards Karlsruhe. The western edge of the Odenwald mountains will arise and you'll see several castles and more attractive wine towns (particularly Bennsheim, Heppenheim and Weinheim). Heidelberg is worth a stop if you have enough time. Beyond Heidelberg, the scenery stops being interesting for a while. The northern edge of the Black Forest begins around Karlsruhe. As noted, the scenery is similar to the French side, but you can see the individual cute towns a little better from the road in France. However, when nature calls, German rest stops are immaculately clean. And the restaurants are quite good. The Black Forest is most impressive further south around Freiburg. You'll see this anyway on the route to Friedrichshafen.

Friedrichshafen to Reutte:It's a longer drive, but I think the route through the Alpine valley along S16 is more scenic. Simply because you're surrounded by the Alps, whereas the Alpenstraße runs along the edge.

And as others noted... Reutte is probably the least impressive town in a region filled with impressive towns. Why Rick Steves goes out of his way to highlight it is beyond me.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Great help for planning our route.

Steve