stay at rothenburg or nearby not to touristy

Rothenburg. Cool place at night when the tour groups leave.

Stay in Rothenburg. It is a very pleasant place to be in mornings and evenings, when the day-trippers are gone. Lots of old interesting places to stay.

I agree. And walking the wall really early in the morning is a great thing to do too.

"Touristy" equals "tourist infrastructure". Pleasant hotels, nice restaurants, friendly pubs, fun things to do like the Nightwatchman Tour.

I agree - evening and mornings are the BEST time in Rothenburg!

Stay in town. It is very pleasant after the day trippers leave. On our last trip over there, we pretty much went directly between the cities you mentioned, so I can’t recommend any small towns in that area.

I agree with the others, stay in Rothenburg. We were there in September and had no issues at all with crowds, even during the day. The Night Watchman Tour is excellent, and that is where we saw the most people and we wondered where they all came from, lol. The Hotel Spitzweg is where we stayed and we absolutely loved it! Also, our best dinner of our two week trip was at Zur Holl, so take a look at that and book in advance if it looks good to you.

Another vote for Rothenburg. Stay within the wall if possible. Lots and lots of places to visit on you planned route,

p.s. I would break up your route into segments and post questions on each segment. I think you will get more info that way.

I always suggest Castle Colmberg if you want to spend the night in a real medieval castle. It's a very nice place and how many times do you get to spend the night in a real castle? It's about a 10-15 minute drive from Rothenburg

http://www.burg-colmberg.de/en/

We enjoyed our stay inside the walls of Rothenburg and my vote would be to do that. Walking the walls once the crowds have diminished is very enjoyable. Another vote that you have dinner at Zur Holl. It truly was a fun experience all around. It does book up well in advance, so reservations are highly recommended. As for lodging, check out Romantik Hotel Markusturm. Large rooms; great staff!

We got a nice Airbnb inside the walls at Rothenberg. We haven't been yet --- still coming up, but you might give that a try.

It sounds like you're driving from Rothenburg OdT to Stuttgart. If that's the case, try to take some to check out one or more of the great historic towns along the way. I'm partial to Schwabish Hall, Schwabish Gmund, Waiblingen, or you could go east towards Heilbronn then south along the Neckar for a scenic drive and some great towns including Lauffen, Marbach, and Besigheim.

All just as charming as Rothenburg but not touristy at all!

lazar.kathryns: What is the name of the place you found?

Definitely stay in Rothenburg. I suggest Gasthof Goldener Greifen. 600 year old former Mayor Toppler residence. Very nice Beirgarten and the food is excellent. It is literally steps from the City Center. Room #3 is a comfort double, and it is huge. It is on Untere Schmeidgasse which leads directly to das Plonlein.