Time in Rothenbürg ob der Tauber

I found that one full day was fine for seeing Rothenburg. We arrived in the evening and stayed the first night. The next day was all spent in Rothenburg. That evening we took the Nightwatchman's tour-well worth it! We stayed that night and left the next morning. I like staying at least two nights in places, too. This worked well for Rothenburg, but if I arrived early on the first day or left late on the last, I think personally, it would have been too long.

At most, Rothenburg takes a few hours.

" Any "must see, must do, or must eat" suggestions along our itinerary would be greatly appreciated. We are traveling by train. Thanks!" I hope my comments don't come off too negatively here. I can take Rothenburg for a few hours. It has some handsomely-restored and well-preserved buildings, but sadly, it's been permanently tainted by international tourism and is "well on its way to becoming a medieval theme park," as Rick Steves points out. You're already hitting a real amusement park AND the Füssen "castles", which aren't castles at all but late 19th-century palaces where you'll be surrounded by thousands of international tourists (6,000 per day at Neuschwanstein.) So I would suggest that even though you too are tourists, you might want to see some less touristy places where Germans do more than just cater to tourists and where you'll see a little more of everyday life. Nördlingen is a beautiful historic old walled town similar to Rothenburg but far less touristy. Bad Windsheim (near Rothenburg) has an amazing open-air museum where you can walk through homes and other buildings decked out as they were centuries ago: FREILANDMUSEUM Marktbreit and Ochsenfurt are handsome wine villages with well-preserved town walls and buildings on narrow streets along the Main River south of Würzburg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLUgpoQIFHI All the towns above are easy to reach by train (The BAYERN TICKET is the way to go here - 30€ for a daypass gets your family nearly unlimited travel throughout Bavaria and to all the towns named above.)

I have no trouble finding enough to do in Rothenburg when staying more than one night - stayed 3 last time, 3 the time before. A place you might want to consider staying is this fewo http://www.froehlich-rothenburg.de/ Walk the wall, take the night watchman's tour, see the torture museum and St. James church. Walk down to Detwang to see the church there. I assume you know about using the Bavaria ticket for much of your train travel.

Two nights is a good stay, it gives you at lest one full day to see the town and surroundings. The thing about Rothenburg is that about 5 o-clock that town changes. All the day trippers get on their buses and things settle down and when it gets dark in the alt stadt it is like you went back a couple hundred years. The recommendations above cover it pretty well. One thing about the Night Watchman's tour is that he is rather soft spoken so you want to stay close to him for the most enjoyable history lesson you will ever have. The only problem with traveling by train is that you will have a fair hike from the train station to the alt stadt but inside the wall is where you want to be. Anyone who hasn't spent the night really hasn't been to Rothenburg.

"The only problem with traveling by train is that you will have a fair hike from the train station to the alt stadt but inside the wall is where you want to be." It should require no more than 10 minutes' walk to get to the wall from the station - it's maybe 600-700 meters at most, an easy walk. But that is on top of the walk to your inn, so if you're packing heavy, it's good to choose an overnight location that doesn't overtax your abilities. On the upside, the exercise pays even more dividends in Rothenburg than elsewhere - when you're carless, you won't be paying the standard nightly 7-10€ parking fee.

It took us much longer than 10 min to walk from the station into the old center of town and we only had one 22" rolling RS suitcase each. But it's a nice, flat, enjoyable walk. We wanted to take a taxi but there weren't any at the station. We went inside and asked if they could call one for us and they said it would do not good, no taxi would come. So we walked. Since you'll be in Rothenburg I'd agree to do the Night Watchman's Tour since there's not much else to do in the evening but it is so hyped by RS and posters and I just have to say we didn't think he was very good. We've done much better ones in other places... York was amazing for instance. I don't know why people rave about him. Also, thought the Torture Museum was a huge bore. We did enjoy seeing Rothenburg, but a day, instead of 2 nights, would have been plenty.

It seems that most of the throngs of tourists that haunt Rothenburg are Germans. But then again, the 2 times I have been there was during Christmas Market season. I frankly love Rothenburg. I love the Crime and Punishment museum, the state museum, the Toy museum. I love walking the wall. I love walking thru the town, down to the valley. I love the view over Mayor Topplers house. I love the Nightwatchman tour. I love the food. I love the beer. I love the quaint old hotels I stay in. The first time, we stayed only 1 night and wished we had stayed more. The second time, we stayed 2 nights, and was never bored. I feel 2 nights is perfect.

Thank you everyone for your advice! I decided to book the second night in Rothenbürg - partly out of laziness (moving 3 kids around Europe for 5 weeks is taking its toll on mom :), partly because I think it will give us more of a chance to enjoy what the town has to offer after some of the tourists leave. I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks again.

Rothenberg never held much interest for me - seemed too touristy. My teen really liked Nuremberg and we had one fun night in Bamberg.

I find rothenberg warrants an overnight stay. This depends on your travel style. I like to linger, revisit, and take my time. The hotels within the wall will enhance your stay as the nighttime give you a sense of staying in a realllly old place. There are wonderful restaurants, stores, and george, the nightwatchman which is a must do experience. The walk from the train to the inside wall area is easy and theres a cool cemetary on the way if you like that sort of thing which i do. Europe for me is about taking it slow and appreciating the differences in lifestyle. Rushing through gives you none of that. Just staring at wood and facades that are 1000 years old keeps me happy !