Quaint lunch stop between Rothenburg and Fussen?

The really scenic route is, of course, the Romantic Road itself, mostly highway 24, but, unless you leave awfully early in the morning, it is probably too slow to get you to Füssen in time for afternoon castle tours. Take the autobahn. Or drive straight through to Hohenschwangau, book your tour at the kiosk, then have lunch at one of the quaint cafes in the village while you wait.

Okay~I'd certainly be interested in staying off the autobahn as much as possible.....and would like to stay on the Romantic Rd., if it's really that much more scenic and interesting. I'd like to pass through Dinkelsbuhl, Nordlingen, Landsberg, etc. We're probably more interested in having a "gestalt" visual experience, rather than stopping and delving. If we drive that route, how much time should we allow from Rothenburg au Tauber, to arrive at the ticket center in Hohenschwangau? (with a lunch stop somewhere midway.....?) Google Maps helps, but human input is always appreciated and valued..... Also~I don't really have a clue how to gauge the time needed to purchase the Neusch. tour tix before we can actually be on a tour. (I know tix can be purchased online, but then we might be locked into a time that we can't meet.....) If we don't make the final tour time for Neusch. Castle on Monday (which I imagine would be 4:00 or 4:30?), we could wait and do the one tour the next a.m., on the early side, and then head south over the Brenner Pass to Lago di Garda so that we can be there by late afternoon. (Maybe I need to post a separate question about the whole Neuschwanstein portion?) Does that sound like a plan that would allow for a more liesurely pace?

According to ViaMichelin, the driving time alone, not accounting for any stops or lunch, is 4h 7m. I too would be leery about picking a tour time. If you were taking the train and bus, you could use the train schedule to predict arrival time pretty closely, but on the road there are too many uncertainties. I did the Road in 2007 using public transportation - buses except for rail from Landsberg to Nöerdlingen. I mostly did a couple of hours a day traveling and the rest visiting, so I have no feel for the time to drive straight thru. My opinion of "the Road" - it's alright, mostly a 2 lane road through farm country, pretty but nothing special. As for line time, it's hard to say. I was there in January and in August, and I don't recall waiting a long time either day, probably less than half an hour, but others have reported long waits. I took this picture of the line at 11:27 on Aug. 30, 2008. There are several legs filled in the serpentine. I didn't wait around to time the line, but it didn't look like more than 20-30 min. There are quite a few ticket windows across the front.

just take the auto bahn to get close. the very last stretch of the romantic road leading to the castle passes a ski resort and some villages about 2-5 min from the castle you'll see a little church next to the road. if you have a clear day the view from here is beautify you can see the castle, mountains, grassland, cows, paragliders, etc, you can do picnic here.

Our plan would be leave Rothenburg by 9:00 a.m. or so, which may give us enough time to do the scenic Rom. Rd? Although, there seem to be mixed feelings about how "romantic" it really is.......6 hours.......even with farm equipment, etc., wouldn't that be enough to get down to Neuschw...? (or am I just dreaming....?) I'm in no hurry......not at this stage of my life......so I really want to enjoy the journey......