Small "base town" in the Odenwald

German Rail only shows two towns named Rothenberg, one is by Kassel, which is north of Darmstadt, the other is near Koeln. Which Rothenberg do you mean? OK, I found it on www.meine-stadt.de. It's maybe 20 km E of Mannheim. It's near Eberbach. Can't recommend anything. Closest I've been is Heidelberg.

OK Honey Cakes ;) For options on the edge of the Odenwald: Heidelberg is the largest town, by far the most well known, and has the most lodging and dining options. But if you want something smaller, here are some recommendations. Heppenheim, to the north of Heidelberg on the Bergstraße has a beautiful medieval town square, and a castle ruin overlooking it. It's small enough that you can quickly get aquainted, but large enough to host a generous ion of restaurants. Now, in the Odenwald itself, the towns tend to be much smaller. Two of the larger towns that might make good bases are Michelstadt and Erbach. I would give Michelstadt a slight edge for atmosphere. The most stunning town by far, though, is Lindenfels, but it's very small. Many of the towns in the Neckar Valley are quite scenic as well, including Neckargemund, Hirschhorn and Eberbach. I don't know if there's any lodgings, but it would be interesting to spend the night in the small castle town of Dilsberg. Since the main reason to visit the Odenwald is to hike, let me recommend some resources: http://www.wanderwalter.de/karte Even if you don't know German, I find the Rother Wanderführer a great resource for suggested hikes, although the maps in the book aren't ideal. The state of Hessen also publishes hiking maps of the entire region. You can find them at local book shops. With all due respect to Lee, this is one area of Germany where you really need a car. There's only a few rail lines, the buses don't travel very frequently and don't go near the trail heads.

I have no problem with someone using a car if there really isn't an alternative. I do object to the typical knee jerk reaction by Americans, without any research, that they must use a car because they don't know the public transportation possibilities. Renting a car when not necessary is just wasteful. In my eight trips to Germany I have seen everything I wanted to see without needing a car, and the last four trips, using car rental quotes and fuel cost estimates from ViaMichelin, vs actual transportation expenses, I have saved $1500.

Hi Lee... sorry about that... the Rothenberg that I mean is just a little north of Hirschhorn... and yes near Eberbach. I also plan to stay in Neckargemünd so I will cover Heidelberg...which I love.. and areas just north and east of Neckargemünd when staying there. Thanks Tom... Lindenfels is just the type of town I am looking for and I see they have a nice littlle web-site.... and yes am interested in all the wonderful hiking in all of the areas. Also looking for ruins, castles and such. Hope to include the gallows near Beerfelden, Rodenstein and Schnellerts ruins near Fränkisch-Crumbach, Schloss Reichenberg in Reichelsheim and Breuberg Castle..... I will have a car and want to travel to as many towns and sites as I can with in "the center area" using Darmstadt, the Main, B3, Neckargemünd and Walldürn as my stop here before you bite off more than you can chew....boundry. I am just starting my list of what I would like to see. So any other ideas would be appreciated.

Rodenstein is a decent ruin. Nothing too extraordinary, but there's a nice restaurant just below it. I didn't even know of Burg Breuberg's existence until a week ago when I drove by it for the first time. It looks pretty interesting from below. I've driven by Reichelsheim several times (it's on the way to Michelstadt from Lindenfels), but never visited. Looks fairly plain from the outside. I never heard of Schnellerts until reading your post. I would also recommend hiking up to the ruins overlooking Eberbach, then continue walking to the summit of Katzenbukel, which is the highest point in the Odenwald. Viewed from the surrounding landscape, the summit doesn't look very impressive, but if you ascend the tower on top, you see just how high you are. I was there on a completely clear day and I could see all the way to the Schwartzwald.

Thanks Tom for the Katzenbukel info... added to the list :) and the wanderwalter site showed a few Turms that I hadn't heard of either plus just some great looking spots to see to plan hikes around........ I have until May so anything else you can think of would be appreciated.