4 days in Bavaria, Germany by car from Switzerland

The best scenery is to hug the Alps as much as possible. Between Zurich and Switzerland, be sure to check out one of the towns on the Bodensee, like Lindau or Ludwigshaffen.

The choice of whether or not to drive the Romantic Road should be based on if you want to see a particular site along the route. Otherwise (besides the view of the Alps and Neuschwanstein at the southern terminus), the scenery along the road is no better than dozens of other country roads in Bavaria.

my tip if you want to take the Romantic Road is get a map in advance of Germany with enough detail to show smaller roads (such as one of the Michelin maps) and figure out the route in advance. In Rick's book and elsewhere it says the route is "well marked" so last summer on a trip driving in Germany I figured "no problem, we'll pick up a brochure in the first town along the Road we encounter and will have no trouble following it." Well, signs were few and far between. And we were looking for them. And the placement made little sense; in the middle of nowhere in places where you couldn't go anywhere else unless you felt like driving thru fields, there would be the occasional sign about the Romantic Road. But where you needed them, such as at intersections out in the country, no signage.

Both helpful, thanks so much. I should have noted that we will be coming off of 4 full days spent in Murren so we will have had a great deal of Alps scenery there. I'm really interested in unique small German towns. It sounds as if those aren't hard to come by in Bavaria. So is it worth the trek all the way to Rothenburg?

What about wineries - any suggestions?

Thanks again!!

German wine country is the Rhineland. Bavaria is definately beer-land.