Rothenburg to Fussen via Romantic Road

I think driving the Romantic Road would take about five hours without stops. The drive itself is not that interesting, a narrow, winding, two lane road with a 50 mph speed limit, clogged with cars, trucks, buses, and farm equipment. It would be pointless to take that route unless you DID stop at some of the towns.

I spent 3 days between Wieskirche and Rothenburg in 2007. Traveling a few hours each day (with public transportation) and spending the rest of the time visiting sites (8). In my opinion, there is nothing south of Landsberg worth seeing, and that includes the overrated Wieskirche.

For an intermediate stop I would recommend Nördlingen, my favorite town on the road. Before Nördlingen, see Feuchtwangen and Dinkelsbühl; after Nördlingen, Donauwörth and Landsberg are worth a stop. With a car you might also consider a stop in Harburg (between Nördlingen and Donauwörth) to see the castle.

For a place to stay in Nördlingen, I would recommend Gasthof Zum Engel. It's just outside one of the town gates.

Having made that drive on both the Romantic Road and on the semi-parallel autobahn...

The towns along the Romantic Road are cute and fun, but the road itself can be very frustrating -- twisty, sometimes stop-and-go, potential of heavy traffic.

If 'a day' seemed about right to you before all this advice... here's how I'd spend that 'a day'...

Start out early (7am), driving the ~40 minutes to Dinkelsbuhl where I would have breakfast, see exactly 1 tourist site, then rent a bicycle and enjoy this cute little "mini Rothenburg" for about an hour.

About 11am head on down the road the roughly 40 minutes to Nordlingen. Have lunch, do some shopping, climb the gothic church tower.

In the afternoon, maybe 4:30, head down the road about 90 minutes to Ottobeuren. See the Benedictine Abbey and have dinner.

Late evening, 9:00 or 9:30pm drive the last 45 minutes to Fussen.

A very nice day can be spent stringing together 2 or 3 selected cities along the Road -- -- -- or you could easily spend 2-3 days in each of these towns (especially Ottobeuren in my opinion), but it sounds more like you want to "make the most of a travel day".

You asked if it is reasonable -- and I agree with another poster --- it is very reasonable, can be very relaxing, and September will be a beautiful time to make this drive.

I will offer a caveat to Lee's opinion. I would say it's no more interesting than any other country road in the region, other than the fact that it gets clogged with tourists in the summer.

If you really wanted to explore more than one or two towns along the way, probably spend the night somewhere en route. The one section of the route that really is special is the southern end, with the view of Fuessen, the Alps and Neuschwanstein. You'll want to see this in broad daylight.

We will be doing exactly the same thing in late June. I expect to do the trip in one day with 3-4 short stops. We have done the "let's stop in this cute town here" thing on several vacations and found that often these stops only require an hour or so of your time. The first cute town you see, maybe longer as you linger at the places selling souvenires. Then each additional visit gets progressively shorter as you realize "I've seen this before."

(sorry if that sounds a bit jaded - we still love it)

So even if it is a 5-hour drive, that gives you 5-7 hours to stroll cute towns and catch a bite to eat. Pretty easy.

You can't see very much in 7 hours.

I spent 6-7 hours "wandering" in Nördlingen alone (my favorite town), climbing the church tower, walking the Wehrgang. I spent another 3½ in Dinkelsbühl, and 3 hrs in Harburg (castle tour), just 3 of the 9 places I visited between Wieskirche and Rothenburg. That's why I think at least one overnight stop is necessary.

Of course, if all you want to do is check names off of a list....

People have a limited amount of time. Adding a day in one area takes away a day in another. Each person has to weigh his/her own priorities. Not everyone is going to make a hobby of visiting Germany every year. It might make perfect sense to add a day in between or it might be tragic to subtract a day from somewhere else. Only Donna knows. Her question was "would it be reasonable..." and to that I say yes.

Then, if that is your criteria, driving the ROAD is a waste of time. Take the motorway most of the way and save a couple of hours. Maybe make a side trip to Nördlingen, which, I concluded after my three day trip, is the only worthwhile site between Rothenburg and Füssen.

Actually, unless she arrives in Rothenburg very late on the first day, and leaves very early on the fourth day, I would say three nights in Rothenburg is a bit much. I arrived midday on the first day and left the morning of the third day (2 nights, 1½ days) and I felt that was enough. Spend the extra night on the road.