Romantic Road

" I suspect that it is called Romantic Road for a reason, yes?" The name originated from a regional tourism marketing board in the 1950s. Probably the most successful German marketing campaign ever. Its only one of about 100 designated themed roads in the country. The actual road itself is like any other rural secondary route. The intention of the designation is that it links together a string of towns with a certain theme, not that the road offers any particular scenery. So to me, it makes no difference driving the Romantic Road, driving the A7 Autobahn that runs parallel to it or taking a train.

If you are planning to have a car later anyway - like getting it in Rothenburg - then you might just as well get it in Munich and drive there. It's easy enough. But the R.Road, as Tom said, is just a handy name to connect a string of cute towns. The road itself is just an ordinary road. If you were NOT intending to get a car otherwise, then I would just take the train.

The towns follow a trade route. The route changed, leaving a bunch of them stuck in time (because the towns shrunk and there was no money to modernize). We drove the romantic road for a short while. As is mentioned it's a regular rural road, nothing particular special or scenic. After a short drive, everyone voted to use the Autobahn that runs the same direction and just stop in the towns we wanted to see. There is normally parking available in, or adjacent to, the old towns. When you get into the RR towns, stop first at the TI. You will save time looking around if you let them steer you toward the sights you are most interested in. I've also trained into Rothenburg on a separate trip. I was traveling from the Rhine, the changes would be different than Munich but it gets you there (or at least a short walk from the center). If you're renting a car anyway, I'd probably just get a car in Munich (save money by renting downtown rather than the airport) and drive.

We drove the Romantic Road last September. Was a great route to see old tradition German towns. Found the road signs to be a bit confusing GPS kept us on track. As mentioned above nothing particularly romantic ...