Is the Romantic Road worth a day or skip it? Rothenburg one night or two?

"Do we really need 1.5 days in Rothenburg? In other words, TWO nights or ONE? Is noon to noon sufficient or should we stay two nights?" No. One day is enough. "Is the road between Rothenburg and Fussen worth a day? Is the Romantic Road what it's cracked up to be? Or should we just race down to Fussen as fast as possible which would give us another day in Switzerland?" Only if you want to stop off at some of the towns along the route. If not, it's just a normal secondary road, like thousands of others in Germany. Germany has many Ferienstraßen (themed tourist routes) throughout the country. The point of them isn't the drive itself, it's the sites they link together. Given your tight timeframe, I would just jump on A7 and head down to the castles, unless there's something you really want to see along the way.

"(4): Is it best to drive all the way to our destination, Gimmelwald, or is it better to sleep in Interlacken and wake up and go up the mountain to Gimmelwald when it's nice and fresh in the morning?" You can't drive to Gimmelwald anyway. You have to park in the valley and take a cable car (or walk up a long trail). The cable car station is maybe a 15-20 minute drive from Interlaken.

"I want to see storybook medieval Germany... Can I do that in three days or should I do it in four? Is it better to steal a day from Bavaria and give it to Swizerland? (3+1)". Depends on what your idea of "storybook" and "medieval" are. If you mean the typical "Fachwerk" (half-timber) look, this is actually less typical of Bavaria, although there are plenty of examples. More common of the older sections of Bavarian towns, particularly in the south, are chalets, or brighly painted houses, often with murals and elaborate wood work. You can see a lot of this in Füssen, the Partenkirchen section of Garmish-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald, Nesselwang, Oberamergau and likely dozens more towns in southern Bavaria. If you want more Fachwerk, I can think of several good examples on your way to Rothenburg, some of which come complete with their own castles.

I'll answer your questions: (1) OF course there are things to see, but it all depends on how much time do you have. I wouldn't stop in a big city during a 8h driving time day trip, at most in a small place (there are plenty of them). If you want to stop somewhere overnight, I'd suggest Luxembourg instead of Strasbourg or Colmar (Colmar is very nice, but a bit out of the way) (2) People take different approaches to visit a place. Somebody fond on architecture and cuisine could easily spent 4 days there photographing, visiting, dining. There is no such thing as "how much time a place is worth" when it comes to cities with different possibilities. For basic sightseeing, 1 day might be enough, but as you will be driving from somewhere else, to sleep 2 nights might be a good strategy - if bored, just go to some nearby random rural road to explore the countryside. (3) Germany has many "named roads" (Alpenstraße, Romantischestraß etc.), but that is more like a touristic promotion strategy. Parts of the romantic road are actually a big expressway... I'd choose my route based, for instance, on scenic sectors indicated in Via Michelin maps more than on "named roads" by the German tourist office. But if you drive with tight timing, you will not enjoy much, always hurrying not to get behind schedule. (4) You can go straight to Gimmelwald (or the parking lot near it, exactly) and save yourself the hassle of yet-another-hotel-change (5) It all depends on your interests... 3 days or 30 days...

Forgot to make this recommendation... when you travel from Füssen to the Interlaken area, if you take the roads on the German side of the Alps (as opposed to the route through the Tyrol and Vorarlberg in Austria), consider stopping for lunch at the island town of Lindau on the Bodensee. If you have a clear day, the view from the harbor is stunning.

Grindelwald is accessible by car, Gimmelwald is not. The only "parking lot near" Gimmelwald is in Stechelberg, at the base of the Schilthorn/Piz Gloria cable car. www.gimmelwald.ch/en/journey.htm Perhaps you, Andre, were thinking about Grindelwald.

I would make sure you have at least ONE WHOLE DAY in Rothenburg. If this means only one night, then fine. I just spent 3 days and would have no problem staying there for 3 more days.

2. The only reason for two nights is too many one nighters can really wear you out. Try to schedule regular two-night, or longer, stops to keep your sanity. One night in Rothenburg is plenty. You want time to wander around a little, maybe walk the wall or climb a tower, and do the Nightwatchman's tour. With a second night you can add some other things (like the crime and punishment museum) or you can skip them and keep moving. 3. There are some other towns on the Romantic Road that are worth a stop, we chose Dinkelsbuhl and Nordlingen for short stops. After a short time on the Romantic Road, the vote was to get on the Autobahn and just stop at the places we want to see. If you go, park, visit the TI first, then see the top medieval sights in the town. A stop at the TI will actually save you time. If you wanted to skip them, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

I've been to Rothenburg 2 times, spending 1 and then 2 nights there. I love it. We filled our 2 nights up well with the local sites and Christmas market. Wouldn't to less than 2 nights.

A lot of this is opinion. Here is mine... QUESTION (1): lots... But with this itinerary I would go straight through. QUESTION (2): Noon to noon is sufficient. QUESTION (3): only if you stay the night in one of the smaller bavarian towns, otherwise go on to Switzerland. QUESTION (4): lauterbrunnen is the compromise between interlaken and gimmelwald. Consider dumping the car so you can do scenic rail from lucerne. QUESTION (5): I would protect this piece however necessary. Bavaria is my personal fave

I would agree with Andre that the Romantic Road is a tourist promotion, but not that parts of it are big expressways. I did most of the Romantic Road by buses in 2007, and those were two lane winding roads, mostly Bavarian roads B25 and B17. There is a big expressway from Wuerzburg to Fuessen, but it is not part of the Romantic Road. The highway does not go through many of the town designated as "on the Road". The actual Romantic Road is marked with special signs. The Road is nothing special. A few of the towns along the Romantic Road, particularly Rothenburg and Noerdlingen, should not be missed, but most are not "must sees".

Another opinion coming your way. If you are leaving Paris and arriving Rothenburg by noon you must be leaving very early. I would encourage you to take a breath and enjoy the places that you go rather than racing out of town too quickly. I did a mapquest to see their recommended route. I took you up to Mannheim. You could consider a short stop in Heidelberg or Schwetzingen...it would break up the trip, give you a place to stretch your legs and the castle in Heidelberg in nice or the Schloss gardens of Schwetzingern is beautiful. I also think you can see Rothenburg in 24 hours but if you don't arrive there until around 5pm then I would consider staying 2 nights and leaving first thing the next morning. Not sure what route you were planning to take into Switzerland but Lindau is a very pretty town and just west of there is a beautiful church in Birnau. If you want more storybook Germany Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partikirchen is nice but I think you need to add a day for that. So Day 1 is travel to Rothenburg, Day 2 is Rothenburg, Day 3 is Fussen/Neuschwanstein, Day 4 Mittenwald/Garmisch,
Day 5 travel to Swiss destination. Good luck with your decision.

If you get to Rothenburg early in the AM (i.e before 10am), then you can probably make it one night. I'm not a huge fan of one nighters, though, so I always try for two. When I don't, I usually regret it. I spent 3 days in Rothenburg, but wasn't bored. If you need sites (cathedrals, castles, museums, etc.), then you might run out of things to do. If you're into Europe for ambience and culture, though, 2 nights is the way to go.

My response is for the Rothenburg portion only. My husband and I stayed there for the New Years weekend and though we have been there several times over the years (we have lived in Bavaria for over eight years now) we finally stayed over night (two nights) in the old part of town (within the walls of the city) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We saw more than we ever have before. If you do a day trip only, you will find yourself with alot of other tourists. At night, the places slows down and it's just as pretty. Because we were there for New Years Day (2012) and it was a Sunday, practically everything was closed, so we decided to see the whole town, we walked all the way around the wall (walking on the wall is fantastic - great views) and going up in one of the towers (Rodertor) and getting the bird's eye view-from above it looks like a movie set! We took over 500 photos, there is so much to see. Within the walls, there is so much history and is such beautiful city, that you'll want to see as much as possible - there is some really nice museums (Criminal museum and Doll museum) and shops (Kathe Wohlfahrt), but if you are into going to night clubs, this is not the place for you. It's pretty quiet at night, peaceful. I wish I could have stayed longer. Even after seeing all of the town we still participated in the Night Watchman's Tour - we loved it! George had a way of pulling you into the stories and truly enjoying every minute of it. Before you even realized the hour had passed. Churches are beautiful, the Rathaus (City Hall) and all the half-timber houses, unforgettable!