Best stops driving southern Germany

The Castle Road and Romantic Road for the most part cover different territory. Please provide more information, such as where you're coming from and where you're going. Personally, I find the Romantic Road itself no more interesting than many other rural secondary roads in Germany. A few of the towns along the route are interesting, but driving it really isn't any more interesting than driving anywhere else in the country.

agree with the previous post and in fact the romantic road is not all that well marked so you'll likely wonder on the auto bahn at some point, but can navigate back on it if you insist. i did that 2 yrs ago, enjoyed certain section of it but not worth the time if you drive it entirely. i started from wulzburg all the way down to fussen. wulzburg is worth a night to see the palace and the town (bridge, castle), stop by rothenburg (everyone does that), one night in dinkelsbuhl (skip this if you don't have time), and one night in fussen. i did stop by nurnburg and a couple of small towns and castles on the way, all good places worth a hour or two. you can get a romantic road map easily which highlights all the towns you will pass.

I traveled south on the Romantic highway with my wife and adult son two years ago ending up in Munich on our way to Octoberfest. It is a confusing road as there are small brown signs occasionally marking the route, my son kept us on track with GPS pointing to the next town. We had a hard time with determining north vs south for the signs did not say and when we would make a short stop we would end up going the way we came from, thus reverting to GPS. Previuos comments regarding it is nothing out of the ordinary are true but if you are there for the first time....it's a great route to see typical German towns, farms etc... My wife was he'll bent on staying on the road as if there were something actually " Romantic" was going to appear or happen??? I suppose I could have pulled off the road and I could have fulfilled her fantacy but was my son would not appreciate. Maybe thirty years ago...
I can say I have driven it and it was on our way but I would not say you should make it your primary attraction. Regardless your going to have a great experience.

Three and a half years ago, I spent almost 5 days on the Romantic Road, traveling a few hours a day and visiting most of the small towns on the road. Some of the towns (like Nördlingen) looked interesting and were, some (Dinkelsbühl) were supposed to be interesting, but I was disappointed. A few (Landsberg, Feuchtwangen) surprised me by being interesting. Other than the towns, the road was a bore, the kind I would hate to drive in this country - two lane, slow, clogged with truck and farm traffic. I had no problem finding my way. The bus drivers knew it. During one section (Nördlingen to Feuchtwanger, it seemed the driver pulled over ever few km to stop in a town along the road. None of the towns made me want to stop there. I can't believe people drive a car thinking it gives them the flexibility to make side trips to these town. By the way, there is a not-oft visited section of the Romantic Road between Rothenburg and Würzburg. I found Bad Mergentheim, and the castle of the Teutonic Knights (Deutschordensmuseum) worth a stop.

Its so interesting to hear other peoples experiences on the same place... I have learned that there are so many things that go in to how I feel about a place. I don't know that I could spend days traveling the Romantic Road, but I have driven it many times and enjoyed it each time for different reasons. My last trip there was with my 10 year old grandson and one of his favorite places was Dinkelsbuhl. We stayed the nite in a quirky little guest house, there was a vending machine just outside out door where we could get beer, the owner helped him practice his German, we had a wonderful dinner of asparagus and boiled potatoes, we went to an outdoor cafe and wrapped up in the colorful red blankets while having out favorite lunch of goulash soup and we wandered the town together while he and I took pictures..... so that is my memory of Dinkelsbuhl.

These comments have been very interesting. I see that it is mostly the towns and not the roads that are interesting. Any other comments about towns on the Castle Road?

Romantic Road website.

Re the "Road' part. The Romantic Road was more interesting to me 20 or so years ago when you drove through the small villages and around farmyards. Now i find most of the travel is on motorway type roads and you get off the motorway for the villages. i am sure there must be a way to do it all on the minor roads, if you try. The villages and towns along the Romantic road all seem to have their own charm and attractions

"i am sure there must be a way to do it all on the minor roads" I'm sure there is, too. In comparing driving time to public transportation, I've looked up the route through all of the towns, and I seem to remember the "Michelin recommended" route basically follows one route, 24. I didn't do the entire Road by bus. The train parallels the Road between Landsberg and Nördlingen, stopping in Donauwörth and Harburg. Where there is good rail connections, the bus doesn't try to compete. However, for the three days on the bus, we were constantly on two lane roads, and I remember seeing that brown RR sign a lot. I kept a journal of my trip on the Romantic Road. You can read it here. I have comments about the various towns I visited. It was originally posted on geocities and I moved the text over when that site closed. There were more pictures, but I lost them.

I drove it, and although you had to watch for the signs, I think we only got turned around once...then just circled back. I have driven it in May and throughly enjoyed just driving through the countryside from village to village...I found it peaceful and relaxing. I also loved the fields of the bright yellow ??? Still don't know what that stuff is, I suppose I could look it up, but I am sure someone here will let me know. Also, I don't remember where the poppy fields were... maybe closer to Munich.

I was going to guess "Raps" or I think it is called in English, rape seed, which is used for oil.

I'm sure it is Rape Seed - its what Canola Oil is made from. FYI - "Canola" was a marketing ploy by some Canadians to avoid trying to sell something called "rape" to Americans. Ours in mid to south England has really popped out in the last 10 days. You will find it has a "distinctive" smell.

My favorite town on the Castle Road is Bad Wimpfen, high on a bluff over the Neckar River. It was the ancestral stronghold of the Hohenstaufens (Frederick Barbarosa, etc.) in the 12th and 13th centuries. The old town has city walls, a famous tower, several very nicely preserved/restored 12th century buildings, and lots of tiny little medieval houses. Everything within 10 minute walk of everything else. Lots of people do Zimmers. Stop at the TI at the train station on the main road before you turn up into the old town, get a list, and start dialing. We stayed right on the square, with free overnight public parking (although during the day it's pay and display).Good Greek restaurant right at the top of the old town with a terrace overlooking the river. Great overnight stop.