We are planning our first trip to Germany, and have a driving day between our stay near Munich (Feldafing) and Heidelberg. I was looking for suggestions for things to do on the way. We are primarily interested in palaces, small cities / towns, churches, and nature. Some of the ideas I had so far were:
Kloster Maulbronn
Residenzschloss Ludwigsburg
Schwabisch Hall
Ulm
Are these worth the visit, or any other places we should visit instead?
Ulm, Schwäbisch Hall, and Ludwigsburg are all on my list of places to visit, so I can't help you there :) But they are on my list for climbing the Ulm Munster, Schwäbisch Hall for the Fachwerk (Half Timbered Houses), and Ludwigsburg for some genealogy.
Places that we have enjoyed in the area are:
Stuttgart - Mercedes Museum is here. It is one of the best museums I have been to, I am not a huge car fan. Very well done and the cars there wow oh wow. I wish they would have fit in my suitcase. Porsche also has a museum there as well.
Böblingen - has another car place that my dad and hubby were like little kids in a candy shop. It is called Motor World. It took us a bit of looking to find. It is on an old air field.
Dinkelsbühl - a brightly colored walled city. Not a lot to do here, but we loved walking the loop around the inside of the wall city and finding the hidden gardens through the wall. We also found it interesting to see a speed limit for tanks to go through the gates in the wall.
Nördlingen - a city that is almost a perfect circle. It was built in a meteor crater. You can climb to the top of the church there as well as walk the wall.
Aalen - had a really cool Roman Lime Museum. It is in German, but they have an English Audio tour. You can also walk around in the remains of the Roman Barracks.
Giengen - if you have kids or are a kid at heart, we stopped here for the Steiff (German Stuffed Animals) Museum and gift shop.
Schwäbish Hall is a wonderful little town, although it doesn't take long to see. Minus all the trinket shops, tour buses and defensive wall, it has much of the same types of buildings that the hordes stampede to Rothenburg to see.
Maulbronn didn't blow me away. Most of the interiors that you can visit are rather bare. The surrounding town is also completely unremarkable.
If you have a few days in Heidelberg, make sure you drive up the Neckar River towards Bad Wimpfen. The scenery is fantastic.
Ditto for Schwabish Hall, although Tom's comments regarding Maulbronn are not putting me off, I'm planning on visiting this year. A straight drive will be a good 3 1\2 hours, not sure how much you want to cram in on the side. If I had to choose a lovely small town, I would stop in Bad Wimpfen. Depending on time and your personal preference for rate of travel, I would add Dinkelsbuhl beforehand. From Bad Wimpfen a nice, lazy drive by the Neckar to Heidelburg. Alot of castle ruins in this area.
Aalen - had a really cool Roman Lime Museum.
Please note that the Limes Museum will be closed for restauration till 2018.
The Romantic Road is great.
Rothenberg on the Tauber, Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen and Augsburg.
Thank you for all your great suggestions. I'll have some tough decisions to make.
Halfways between Ulm and Schäbisch Hall there is Schwäbisch Gmünd, a former Imperial City, which hosts, among other attractions, the biggest gothic hall church in Germany.
