Romantic Road - Alternatives to Train?

The Romantic Road Coach (I guess that is the Europa Bus) is about the only option for continuous travel on the RR. But you don't spend much time in any town. The train line pretty much goes around the RR from Fuessen to Landsberg and from Noerdlingen to Rothenburg. However, there are a lot of local buses along the route. Between Landsberg am Lech and Noerdlingen, there are train lines so the bus can't compete and the routes are pretty sparse, but from Fuessen to Landsberg and Noerdlingen to Rothenburg, there are buses. You can find the buses on the German Rail website. In 2007, I traveled by bus and train from Weiskirche (I'd been to Fuessen 3 times) to Rothenburg in about 3½ days, traveling a few hours a day and spending most of the days in towns. Because I stopped in towns and caught the next bus, I was on three buses from Wieskirche to Landsberg and on four buses from Noerdlingen to Rothenburg. Read about my trip here.

Hi Kirra (neat name BTW) I don't understand how the trains you quoted take so long. I hope you are using the Bahn website because it is comprehensive - some other places are not so much. Your Fuessen to Rothenburg ob der Tauber (there are two - the other one is near Berlin so you need the right one - should never take 8 hours. Just below this I will post a train connection for tomorrow morning taking about 4:45 including a half hour connection in both Augsburg and Steinach bei Rothenburg: Füssen Fr, 30.09.11 dep 10:05 3 RB 57343 Regionalbahn Number of bicycles conveyed limited Weizern-Hopferau dep 10:15 1 Seeg dep 10:22 Lengenwang dep 10:31 1 Leuterschach dep 10:42 Marktoberdorf dep 10:50 3 Ebenhofen dep 10:55 Biessenhofen dep 10:59 1 Kaufbeuren dep 11:04 2 Buchloe dep 11:21 2 Schwabmünchen dep 11:32 3 Bobingen dep 11:40 2 Inningen dep 11:45 2 Augsburg Messe dep 11:49 1 Augsburg Morellstr. dep 11:52 1 Augsburg Hbf Fr, 30.09.11 arr 11:55 9 Süd Transfer time 35 min. Augsburg Hbf Fr, 30.09.11 dep 12:30 5 IC 2082 Intercity Bicycles conveyed - subject to reservation, Number of bicycles conveyed limited, Bordbistro Treuchtlingen dep 13:08 5 Gunzenhausen dep 13:24 3 Ansbach dep 13:44 3 Steinach(b Rothenb) Fr, 30.09.11 arr 14:02 2 Transfer time 36 min. Steinach(b Rothenb) Fr, 30.09.11 dep 14:38 5 RB 58927 Regionalbahn Number of bicycles conveyed limited, 2nd class only, vehicle-mounted accessaid, notification: 01805-512512 , (14 ct/Min. aus dem Festnetz, Tarif bei Mobilfunk max. 42 ct/Min.) Hartershofen dep 14:44 1 Schweinsdorf dep 14:47 1
Rothenburg ob der Tauber Fr, 30.09.11 arr 14:52 1 To be continued

... continued ... The one digit numbers on the schedule are the platform numbers. RodT (Rotherburg ob der Tauber) to Frankfurt am Main should take nowhere near 5 hours. It should be between 2 and a half hours and three. Have a look at this 2:30 length service, also for tomorrow morning. The December timetable should not be dramatically different. BTW, Kirra, was it RailEurope which gave you the long times or somewhere else? You can get into trouble, too, if you gave the wrong station. As I said, there are 2 Rothenburgs across the country (and, I think a Rothenberg). There are also 2 Frankfurts. You want ... am Main. The other is right near Berlin. Rothenburg ob der Tauber Fr, 30.09.11 dep 09:06 1 RB 58888 Regionalbahn Number of bicycles conveyed limited, 2nd class only, vehicle-mounted accessaid, notification: 01805-512512 , (14 ct/Min. aus dem Festnetz, Tarif bei Mobilfunk max. 42 ct/Min.) Schweinsdorf dep 09:10 1 Hartershofen dep 09:12 1 Steinach(b Rothenb) Fr, 30.09.11 arr 09:20 5 Transfer time 12 min. Steinach(b Rothenb) Fr, 30.09.11 dep 09:32 2 RB 58108 Regionalbahn Number of bicycles conveyed limited, vehicle-mounted accessaid, notification: 01805-512512 , (14 ct/Min. aus dem Festnetz, Tarif bei Mobilfunk max. 42 ct/Min.) Uffenheim dep 09:41 3 Marktbreit dep 09:52 2 Ochsenfurt dep 09:57 2 Goßmannsdorf dep 10:01 Winterhausen dep 10:04 2 Würzburg Süd dep 10:12 2 Würzburg Hbf Fr, 30.09.11 arr 10:15 2 Transfer time 10 min. Würzburg Hbf Fr, 30.09.11 dep 10:25 6 IC 2024 Intercity Bicycles conveyed - subject to reservation, Number of bicycles conveyed limited, Bordrestaurant
Hanau Hbf dep 11:20 102 Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Fr, 30.09.11 arr 11:36 6 I would take the train, not the bus....

Thanks so much for your help. How realistic is making the 10min transfers in Steinach and Wurzburg? (on the Rothenburg - Frankfurt leg).

"How realistic is making the 10min transfers in Steinach and Wurzburg?" Very realistic. Once you have changed trains a few times, you'll understand. The schedule is designed for you to make the connection. You basically get off the train, go down from the train to the tunnel, locate the number of your connecting platform, and go up the stairs. In Steinach there will be a lot of people making the same connection, just stay with the herd. A train is not like an aircraft. You don't have to stay seated until the vehicle is at the gate. When you know you are coming into your station, get up, collect your luggage, and proceed to the end of the coach, ready to get off when the train stops. When it stops, open the door (or someone else will open it), there will probably be people on the platform waiting to get on, but they'll let you get off first. It helps to know the number of the connecting platforms and the station layout. Find the steps to the connecting tunnel and go down and locate the stairs to your new platform.

Although the Romantic Road Coach starts in Frankfurt (for accessibility, I assume), the actual Road is generally defined as between Wuerzburg and Fuessen. Most people ignore the section between Wuerzburg and Rothenburg, including Bad Mergentheim and Weikersheim, and just start or end their journey in Rothenburg. I do have to wonder who quoted those train times. As Nigel pointed out, eight hours is a long time for directly from Fuessen to Rothenburg. But without knowing the route or possible stopover times along the route, it's hard to say. The least expensive, but slowest "direct" route from Rothenburg to Frankfurt (Flughafen) would take four hours via Kahl. With that route, you could take advantage of a Bayern-Ticket, €29 for all five of you, from Rothenburg to the Bavarian border at Kahl and use an RMV (Frankfurt metro) Gruppentageskarte, €25 for all of you, from Kahl to the airport. More expensive routes using express trains would take as little as ~3 hrs. So, Rothenburg to FRA would be best done by train.

I'm not so sure about using the train from Fuessen to Rothenburg. It all depends on your purpose in traveling the Romantic Road. If all you want to do is get from Fuessen to Rothenburg, fine, but if you wanted to also see some of the RR, the train route described by Nigel misses the entire Road except for Augsburg. Other than Landsberg, which is interesting but not a "must see" on the Road, the rest of the Road from Fuessen to Augsburg is quite unimpressive. However, there are a few towns, Noerdlingen and maybe Dinkelsbuehl, north of Augsburg, that I think are "essential" to the Road. Although there is train service to Noerdlingen, the best route from there to Rothenburg, especially if you want to see Dinkelsbuehl, is by bus only. I would recommend using the train from Fuessen to Augsburg (~2 hrs). See if there is anything you want to see in Augsburg. Then go to Noerdlingen (1 hr). Depending on how much time you plan to spend in Augsburg and Noerdlingen, either spend the night in Noerdlingen (I'd recommend Gasthof zum Engel) or take the 15:57 or 17:36 bus (both about 45 min) to Dinkelsbuehl for the night. The next morning tour Dinkelsbuehl (if you spent the night in Noerdlingen, take the 9:40 bus, 41 min to Dinkelsbuehl). After Dinkelsbuehl, there are buses to Rothenburg.