Please sign in to post.

Romantic Road is killing our time table

Hey all, we are doing our honeymoon through Europe and would like to start off with the Romantic road. Problem being every way I configure it, it takes up a lot of our very short time ;o) Our original plan was fly to Munich, bus to Fussen, apparently the bus only runs once a day so we'll have to wait until the next day then bus to Rothenburg, then again wait a day and then bus to Frankfurt where we can then catch a train to Zurich. I would rather just spend a few hours exploring Rothenburg so if there is any better way I would appreciate it.

Plan#2 was to land in Frankfurt, bus to Rothenburg, and work in reverse, but there doesn't appear to be any convenient way from Fussen to Zurich. Being that we plan to buy a Eurail Select pass for 4 countries (France, Germany, Switzerland & Italy) we can't cut through Austria on our tickets even if there was a rail link between the two. If there is some other way of doing this idea, eg ferry, bus, etc, I would appreciate it.

Thanks

Posted by
27 posts

The only portion of your trip I know about is Munich to Fussen. I had a eurail select pass for 3 countries and we took the train from munich to fussen. Then there is a cheap bus to the castles if that is where you are planning to go for fussen. There are a lot more trains than one a day like you said the bus runs. Did you not want to use a day on your eurail pass for fussen(or did you get unlimited days, mine was 8 days in 2 months)? Also, I bet the train ride is more comfortable than the bus.

Posted by
2779 posts

Marshall, driving in Germany is as easy as driving in the States - just faster. A rental car would perfectly solve your issues...

Posted by
3 posts

I considered renting a car, we were trying to minimize extra costs & work within what our Eurail pass offers or discounts for us. I am definitely keeping it as an option, does anyone know if crossing over the border from Fussen, through Austria, into Switzerland is like?

Posted by
7209 posts

You might consider renting an economy car in Germany and dropping it at the German/Swiss Border in Lindau. From there hop on the excellent Swiss train system. Dropping the car in Germany instead of a different foreign country will save you a hefty drop fee.

Also another hint is that Rothenburg is a VERY touristy town which could easily be skipped - IMO.

Posted by
19274 posts

You might want to reconsider the railpass. While in Bavaria, both of you can travel all day long on regional trains with a Bayern-Ticket for only €27 total. Furthermore, if you purchase online, Munich to Zurich is only €29 each with the Europa-Special fare, and you won't have to worry about the stretch thru Austria.

The Romantic Road coach is not the only way from Munich to Fuessen, Fuessen to Rothenburg, or Rothernburg to Frankfurt (I don't really know why you even want to go to Frankfurt when you can go from Munich to Zurich for less). There is good train service between all those places.

Posted by
3 posts

Hey, thanks for all the suggestions, well we aren't going until next year so I have quite some time to get things planned out. The reason we were working from Munich to Frankfurt is because flight to Munich in September was a lot cheaper then to Frankfurt while Oktoberfest was running. And again from Munich to Zurich I was running into the problems of going through Austria or being diverted on train to Frankfurt anyways.

I will look further into those private rail networks as well, but I think we are going to limit the bulk of our time to The Romantic Road, Switzerland, Milan, and Monoco area's, the rest will just be quick stop offs.

Thanks again for the advice, if I stumble upon any more questions I will definitely come here to ask ;o)

Posted by
479 posts

Marshall, here's the "tough talk". If it's killing your time then you either need to cut it out or cut something else out. That's the hard facts about it.

Plan your trip like you're going to go back. I've had to make some very tough decisions in the past (such as Burg Eltz, Aachen and Trier) but now I know where to go the next time I go back. Trust me, you WILL go back.