Germany Romantic Road

We traveled along the Southern Portion of the Romantic Road last Fall--traveling from Fussen (stay there instead of Reutte if you like walkable towns) to Rothenburg. From Rothenburg, we traveled to Munich for Oktoberfest--hence, I can't comment on the Northern route.

The drive from Fussen to Rothenburg was an easy day trip. We stayed in a hotel in Dinklesbuhl (just south of Rothenburg)--we LOVED the town and I would highly recommend staying there. But, do stay in the accomodations in Rick's books. We just showed up in Dinklesbuhl and wandered to find a place--all of Rick's recommended accommodations were full. We easily found a room in a hotel with a lot of character--albeit a bit more pricey than Rick's accomodations. It was in a great location just across from the intersection by the church. I'm not one to believe in ghosts, but I woke in the middle of the night to see what I believe to be a friendly ghost by my husband as he slept. Eek!

Hi Mea,

We stayed in a wonderful B&B type place just 15 minutes north of Rothenburg called the Zum Rappen. Wonderful, peaceful location amidst fields that stretch to the horizon. Beautiful rooms, great balconies and a terrific buffet breakfast.

www.romanticroad.com/zumrappen/

While in the area, be sure to see Herrgottskirche 1 mile south of Creglingen. The Alter of the Virgin Mary by Tilman Riemenschneider is an amazing wood carved masterpiece, as is his other wood carved alter in St. Jacobs Church in Rothenburg.

www.herrgottskirche.de

Also, spend an evening in Rothenburg, if for nothing else, to take the nightwatchmans tour. It starts at 8 pm and is entertaining, humourous and informative. It was the highlight of our trip in Rothenburg.

www.nightwatchman.de

Hope this helps.

Paul

Mea, how many days do you have for the Romantic road? In order to get back to the Rhine river valley to get to Straßburg it is about an two hours freeway ride from the Romantic Road. But due to the Odenwald and Black Forrest mountain ranges you've only got a few options to do so. 1) You leave Rom. Road just south of Dinkelsbühl and take A6 to Heidelberg. You might want to stay there for a day and/or do the 4-castles Neckar valley hike or boat ride. From there it's about an hour's drive to Speyer (cathedral!!) and another around 90mins - 2 hours to Straßburg. 2) You leave Rom. Road by Augsburg, take A8 to Stuttgart. It's a large city so I don't know if you'd like to visit it but it's very nice, huge down town castle and of course the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums. Depending on how much time you've got from Stuttgart you could take the direct freeway to Karlsruhe where you turn southbound on A5 to Kehl (German side of the river across from Straßburg. OR from Stuttgart you take...

...A81 southbound towards Villingen-Schweningen. You could take a side trip to visit the Neuschwanstein-like Hohenzollern castle (property of the Hohenzollern family, the family of the Prussian Kings and German Reich Emperors). From V.-S. you'd then drive thru the "Hell's Valley" (=Höllental), a cross-Black-Forrest-gorge/valley to Freiburg, which is a lovely city with great old downtown area, cathedral, student night life. From Freiburg you could cross the border to France close by Colmar and after having visited that nice little town you'd drive up to Straßburg. 3) If you'd continue the Rom. Road all the way down to Füssen you'd have to drive back the parallel A7 freeway all the way to the Augsburg altitude (Ulm, cathedral with tallest clock tower in the world!) and then follow either of my #2 suggestions...

Hi Mea,

If it makes any difference, you can also take a train from Würzburg to Rothenburg.

This link might help ...

...http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/int/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm

Gute Reise!.... P

Thank you for all your helpful information. We have decided, I think, to pick up rental car in Wurzburg and drive the Romantic Road to Rothenburg, staying in a Rick Steve's recommended hotel within the walls of Rothenburg. Next day, drive the castle road and stay in a castle near Mannheim....then the last day, which is Easter Sunday night we are unsure of which direction to go. We have France/Germany train passes, so can take a train somewhere. Either way, we train to Paris on Easter Monday to get into our apartment there. Any suggestions for Easter Sunday night?

While in Wurzburg be sure to tour the Prince Bishops Residence--especially the private chapel (Hof Kirche) on the side of the Residence as it is unbelievable. Be a shame to be in W'burg and miss it.

We were perfectly happy with Pension Poeschel in Rothenburg. Very comfy beds. We had a room for my wife and I, with a seperate room for our three kids. Toilets down the hall. I would certainly stay there again.

I was thinking of driving on part of the Romantic Road. Picking up a car in Munich, I'd like to drive along the Romantic Road to Rothenburg, then leave Rothenburg after 2 days via the highway to Salzburg.

Does anyone have an estimate on the driving time of the 2 routes? For the Romantic Road, especially, I want to leave early enough so I have time to stop along the way.

In Rothenberg (2005) we stayed at a bed & breakfast about 5 minute walk from the wall. I remember it being in a residential area - quiet an cozy. It was in Rick Steve's book or maybe the Graffiti wall, but I don't know if it's still listed.
Karin Weiß - http://www.haus-karin.de/engl.htm

Mea, my wife and stayed at Hotel-Url, which is located 2 blocks from the city square when we visited Rothenburg last July. The city square is also the place where you will catch the Nightwatchman tour (also recommended). The Hotel-Url has very nice rooms above a bakery/restaurant. We ate there several times. E-Mail: [email protected] We paid 61.20 Euro for the two of us for one night. Parking is available at no charge. The son of the owner, Robert, speaks excellent english. Dorsey