Munich and the Romantic Road

The name of the town is "Rothenburg ob der Tauber." Knowing the correct spelling might be important for finding it on maps, etc.

"We are going to Munich in Feb for 11 days. We are staying in Munich for 3 days"

Confusing post.

Sounds like you mean 11 days in Germany. So you have 7 nights after Füssen?

Seems like you could easily see all the other towns you mention in a week.

General comments:

Rothenburg is one of a kind. Be sure to see it. 1-2 days is enough, but daytripping from there is an option.

Fasching (Karneval, German Mardi Gras) takes place near the end of Feb. in Munich and in many cities along the Rhine. Rosenmontag is the 23rd - the big parade day.

I suggest you spend 2 days in Rothenburg if you have that much time. Take a few hours each day to rest.

I have driven the Romantic Road from Fussen to Rothenburg and would prefer having the convenience of a car on that route so I can stop where I want to.

Riding the train may be cheaper, but stopping at interesting places is impossible.

Your confused? Me too! :-) Fly into Munich Feb 5. Stay 3 nights in Munich. Pick up rental car at Munich train station for our 1 night trip to Fussen. Leave Munich early, see castles and area, spend the night in Fussen at Hotel Kurcafe. Leave Fussen travel leisurely to Rothenburg, via Dinkesbuhl. Here is were it gets tricky IMO. Should we stay 3 nights in ROT and do a day trip to Wurzburg...OR, do 2 nights in ROT, spend 3 night in Nurnburg doing day trip to Bamberg? I was going to head back to Munich drop off car spend 2 nights there and daytip to Salzburg. But I think I will leav Salzburg for Vienna and Prague for a later spring trip.

I was just going to say the same thing. There is good public transportation on this route. You don't need a car.

I toured the Romantic Road for five days last October using public transportation, and I was happy not to have to drive. Considering the traffic I saw on it, I don't think it would be leisurely in any weather, but in the snow of winter it could be a nightmare.

You are arriving on the 5th and spending 3 nights (5th, 6th, 7th) in Munich, then traveling on the 8th (a Sunday) to Füssen. You could use a €27 Bayern-Ticket to Füssen and leave as early as you want to (no 9AM limit on weekends). You could use another Bayern-Ticket for the train to Rothenburg. If you want to stop somewhere on the Romantic Road, I'd stop in Nördlingen. I liked Nördlingen much better than Dinkelsbühl. I spent most of a day in Nördlingen and was sorry to leave; I was bored with Dinkelsbühl in two hours. However, if you want, you can take the train to Nördlingen and the bus from there to Dinkelsbühl, then the bus to Rothenburg.

Rothenburg to Würzburg is a simple day trip with the train and a Bayern-Ticket. Then you can use a Bayern-Ticket back to Munich. Four Bayern-Ticket is €108, much less than 4 or 5 days of car rental (plus fuel) and no worry about snow or parking.

And I would go ahead and put Salzburg on this itinerary than put it in with Vienna and Prague. Salzburg is much closer to Munich than it is to Vienna.

On my 2007 trip on the Romantic Road, I started around noon on the first day and arrived in Würzburg late on the fifth day - a little over 4 days of travel. Of that, only 1½ days were by train. The other part, almost 3 days, were by bus, so I saw a lot of the Romantic Road. The downside of the bus is that it pulls off the Romantic Road every few km to service a small town along side the main road. I never saw anything on these side trips "interesting" enough to have deviated from my plan. In my experience, "convenience", "flexibility", or "freedom" are just other words for "I don't want to plan." I exercise my "freedom" and "flexibility" in the planning phase; once I get there, my time is pretty much allocated.

But, what is the cost of "convenience". On my last trip, I spent about $2000 using public transportation vs. $2500 (based on an offer of a 2 weeek, $490 rental car, plus fuel, from the booking company that provided my air transportation) for having the convenience of a car. I figure I am now $500 ahead on saving for my next trip.

Wow, thanks for the replies. I really appreciate it. This is my first time to Germany, so I may not very good with the spelling, sorry. I have been all over France, UK, Italy, Ireland, but not Germany. Car vs. train is one of my dilemmas. Also Nurnburg as one of the bases because it is a city. If the weather is awful, there are Museums and other indoor activities. We love castles, museums, history.

Hello Judy. One hour in Rothenburg was sufficient time there for me. I recommend allocating more time for Wurzburg, if you want to walk in to the Bishop's palace and the Roccoco chapel and the fortress. And some people like being in the town there. I think Wurzburg is a good place for an overnight stop. I would stop for a visit at Rothenburg in the day of travelling from Munich to Wurzburg. The Wurzburg railroad train station is located at a major railroad junction.

If you are flying into Munich you could take train and rent car in Nurnberg airport and return to Munich or wherever you are flying out of. It takes 12 min on Ubahn from Nurnberg train station to airport. We are also going to Salzburg by way of Passau about 2 hrs from Nurnberg and another 2 hrs from Passau to Salzburg and we are not sure if we are stopping also at St, Gilgen. The train takes about same time. We are renting car in Nurnberg Germany through Skycars because we got the best rates(they include airport fees)and not in Salzburg to avoid drop off charge. Since you will be there in winter have you thought about Garmisch? There is Oberammergau, Linderhof Castle, Ettal Abbey,and Zugspitze, and skiing. These are all about 20 min away. You could even go to castles from Garmisch.
Rothenburg should not be that busy in February. I don't think watchman's tour is available February. Watchman tours is online for you to check. I think I would pick Wurzburg unless the night you are staying overnight is Saturday because Sunday you can attend services in St Jacob's church organ is wonderful.
If you are considering overnight in Fussen think about Hohenschwangau(village where castles are) castles are lighted until 10 or midnight in winter but if you want nightlife Fussen would be better.

We love Rothenburg and it needs two days to enjoy the evening to get away from the day trippers. I highly recommend staying at a B and B called Haus-Karin. (website www.haus-karin.de). This lady picked us up at the train station and took us to her house. She was a wealth of information for the area also. Wurzburg and Bamburg are also worthy of 2 night stays also. If time permits we always like to stay at least 2 nights in each place or else it just seems like you are rushing off to your next destination without enjoying what that town has to offer.

Thanks again for your input! Just took a walk with DH, and we think we are going to do 2 nights Rothenburg, 2 nights Wurzburg or Bamberg?, 2 nights Nurnburg, last night Munich near train station,,train to airport. I will look into the Karins B&B in ROT.

If you have to decide between W'burg and B'burg, my vote would be W'burg. Lived there and it is a great place. Be sure and see the chapel on one end of the residence as it is out of this world. It has it's own entrance so is easy to miss. Also, if the market on the big square is open, try the Wurtzburger Wurst on a roll with mustard (or two) -- makes a great cheap lunch. In R'burg try Glock for the lunch special with samples of 5 of the local wines. The night watchman's tour is a hoot! Contact me directly if you need detail.

We spent 1½ day (2 nights) in Rothenburg 5 years ago, but it was in the summer. We spent part of the first afternoon walking along the Tauber opposite Rothenburg and the next morning walking the wall. These were outdoor things. I'm not sure how much there is in Rothenburg in Feburary, but I would definitely spend at least one night.

Stay in Würzburg. You can go from Würzburg to Nürnberg via Bamberg in about 2 hrs via regional trains with a Bayern-Ticket for €27. You can leave Würzburg around 9:33, spend almost 7 hours in Bamberg, and still get to Nürnberg before 6 PM.

In Würzburg, I would definitely see the fortress (Festung Marienburg). I thought it was fascinating. As for the Residenz? I didn't spend very much time there; I thought it was too gaudy.

Some quick thoughts:

You have time for Salzburg. See it now and visit Vienna next time seperately.

Wurzburg is my favorite town on the Romantic Road but we all enjoyed Rothenberg. Rot doesn't need a long visit, possibly stay two nights with one long day to tour.

Car rental is probably the easiest way to navigate the Romantic Road. You can get to everywhere by train but may have to do more walking which isn't as fun when it's cold out.

Start at the TI at every stop, you will use your time more effectively.

Hmmm, rethinking the ROT 2 overnights. There is no night watchmans tour when we are there. Maybe we will just spend around 4 hours there, then go to Wurzburg instead for 2 nights, then Bamberg 2 nights and Nurnburg 2 nights.....pros? cons?

Bamberg is wonderful town. It has lost of history and the only pope buried north of the alps. There is a wonderful tour of new residenz in english make reservations through: /www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/palace/index.htm pick bamberg and new residenz for 1 and 1/2 hours 4 euros I have gone twice tour was different both times. It is one of better bargains I have found. I don't think it is going in Feb but also we took gondola ride in Bamberg it was great here is link: www.gondel.info it is only in german but if google it you can get translation. www.bamberg.info/www_tks/bamberg_eng_home_268_89_7_f.htm

has lots of info on bamberg. We stayed at hotel Brudermühle and liked it.

correction: Bamberg is wonderful town. It has lots of history

Oh my goodness who above said 1 hour in Rothenburg is enough?!

I stayed there for 2 days, 1 night and didn't want to leave. It's such a charming place and the people are so nice. I would say definitely spend 1-2 days. We did the hike down into the valley outside the walls to see Topplers little castle--i will never forget it!

My husband and I rented a car and drove the Romantic Road (from Frankfurt to Munich) for our honeymoon in Oct/Nov 2007. I personally peferred to have the convenience of a car rather than deal with public transport in the countryside. Once we got to Munich, however, we turned in the car and used public transportation.

You can get to everywhere by train ...

Actually, Brad, I think you mean by public transportation. Most of the Romantic Road is connected by bus. On my 4½ day trip on the RR last October, only one day, Landsberg to Nördlingen, and the last few hours from Bad Mergentheim into Würzburg were by train. However, the most interesting part of the Road, IMO, was the part from Landsberg to Nördlingen, and that was accessible by train. The rest of the way, the RR is connected by bus, but that is not so bad. It gave me a good look at the road itself and I was able to conclude that, 1) the road itself is not that interesting, it's the towns along the way, and 2) the bus turned off to every little Dorf along the way. I never saw anything I would have deviated for had I had a car.