Romantic Road vs. Black Forest

The Romantic Road is not romantic. It is just a route that connects certain towns. Pick out which towns you want to see in both areas to make your decision. The Black Forest has the same amount of cute towns as the Romantic Road does, though the Half-Timbered Route has even more. With your 2 boys, perhaps consider the Castle Route or the Fairy Tale route so that they will have more fun. My personal recommendation would be to travel along the Rhine and visit many of the castles there. Exploring castle ruins can be fun for kids, going to a falcon show, putting on a knights helmet, riding a ship on the river, or even riding a train for the day. There are also lots of festivals in Germany in the summer time and if you go to one of the Medieval fests, your kids will have a blast. http://gogermany.about.com/od/sightsandattractions/a/faiyrtaleroad.htm http://www.germany.travel/en/leisure-and-recreation/scenic-routes/castle-road.html

Ditto what Jo said on the Romantic Road, it's only one of about a 100 Ferienstraßen (tourist theme roads) that criss-cross Germany, and if you ask me, it's far from the most interesting. Except for the very southern terminus, the scenery along the drive itself is nothing remarkable. It could be any country road in Germany. The towns highlighted along the route are very attractive, but well-preserved attractive towns aren't exactly rare in any region of Germany. I also think the Black Forest receives more attention than it's worth, but for a different reason. Similar forested low mountain ranges run throughout southern and central Germany. The Black Forest happens to be one of the more extensive ranges, and the southern portion rises higher than any other mountain range in Germany outside the Alps. But for the amount of time it takes to reach the south region (it's somewhat isolated from the rest of the country), you could be in the more impressive Alps. I'm not saying don't go to either. What are you doing on the rest of your trip? One might fit well in your overall itinerary. But if you have to travel far out of your way to visit either the Romantic Road or Black Forest... you've probably passed plenty of good alternatives along the way.

Thank you so much for the replies!
We will be in Orscholz for a few days then headed to Munich.

Another fun option is after looking around Orscholz, head south 2 hrs to Strasbourg, spend the night there or in a cute Alsatian wine route town (like Riquewihr, then head to the German side. There's a fun theme park called Europa Park. Take the kids there for the day. There's hotels right by the park. Then you can go to Munich by way of Karlsruhe, then east, just watch for traffic, it can be awful.

From Orscholz to Munich the Black Forest is more out of the way than the Romantik Road, so here's another suggestion: head east on the A8 to the A6 and continue east to the A7 and go south. En route you'll be very close to Heidelberg which is worth a look.
Going south on the A7 you can cut over to Dinkelsbuhl which is one of the best medieval towns on the Romantik road. From there continue south to Nordlingen, another well preserved medieval town which is still surrounded by walls (which the boys can walk on). From Nordlingen the R.R. goes south to Neuschwanstein Castle (Schwangau) which is a great place for kids to visit. Heading to Munich you could go via Oberammergau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (get a better view of the Bavarian Alps). There's a luge run near the Zugspitze which the kids would enjoy.

You didn't mention how old the boys are, but here's some "boy" friendly activities between Orscholz and Munich. There's Legoland near Ulm, the automobile museums in Stuttgart (can't remember if it's run by Mercedes or Porsche), the Odenwald Modelbahn (indoor model train layout)... and probably more stuff, but I have to go right now.

It's certainly not a reason to detour, but there's a mosaic of the Madison, WI capitol on the street in Freiburg because its one of their four "sister cities". And the waterways in the street would please the boys. Would the family like the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein? There's also a nice little Roman site just over the border in Switzerland, Augusta Raurica. Then you could see Stain am Rhein and the Rheinfall, on the way to Lake Konstanz and then to Munich. But you should judge carefully just how many medieval towns the boys can enjoy in three days! I think it's important to get the kids a giant cablecar ride, for example in Garmisch or Innsbruck. I'm sure there are many others. I don't think you're going near Koblenz, where there's a great fortress at the end of the cablecar, and the scenic Deutches Eck at the base station. But that's a "short" ride compared with the mountains noted just above.