Rothenburg ODT is a great stop for one night, especially after the day trippers leave. It is lovely to walk around then. The park on the edge of town would be a great place for a two year old to run around and burn off some energy.

You can easily find lodging for under 100 USD a night. We stayed here http://www.spaetzle-schwob.de/zimmer_eng.html for 62 euros a night. Big room with a great breakfast every morning.

Two days in the Fussen area should be plenty to see the castles and get some scenic driving in.

Have fun,
Michele

And we stayed here in Reutte http://www.hohenschwangau.de/513.0.html

Reutte is in Austria, a good 40 minute, scenic drive from the castles. Hohenschwangau is in Germany and IMO is a fine alternative to Fussen for seeing the two castles. Hohenschwangau is much smaller than Fussen, not much more than a quiet bump in the road, but it has wonderful mountain and castle views, lots of places to stay in all price ranges and plenty of choices for food, although most are connected to hotels. Between the two, I prefer it for visiting the castles.

Oops!!! Thank you basingstoke2. I think I wrote down the wrong town in my notes. We stayed right across the valley from the castles. 10 minutes at most. The city was Horn according to my maps. Sorry for the confusion.

The Romantic Road stretches from Wurzburg to Fussen. Heidelberg is not on it. You will be quite a bit south of Wurzburg and even farther west of it in Heidelberg. How do you plan to get "back"on to it because that will affect answers to your questions.

Do you plan to drive back to Wurzburg from Heidelberg?

we are planning to start from frankfurt, stop at heidelberg for a night, continue to rothenberg ,dinkelsbuhl n thn was wondering if i should stop at nordlingen? augusburg seems too much of a town to me. and finally end our drive at fussen for 2 nights. are these towns mentioned above in the same direction?please sugest thank you

hi.so is it better to stay at fussen or Hohenschwangau? we have to drive to munich from one of these places so please give me a good option?n what is the weather like in the lat week of september?than you

too many questions!!!sorry how much time does it take to drive from munich to salzburg? is it a good n easy drive?

Are you flying in and out of Frankfurt? If so, I would suggest going from Frankfurt to Wurzburg and overnight there if you want to see the Bishop's Palace which is certainly worth a stop or alternatively press on to Rothenburg ob der Tybor and overnight there. See Heidleburg on the way back to Frankfurt. You can make Rothenburg od Tybor to Fussen without an overnight - we did that a few times- but stopping along the way would be more relaxing.

As far as Fussen vs Hohenschwangau, the former is a larger, somewhat touristy town as one would expect with more to do but further from the castles. The latter is close to the castles and is small and quiet with great views, so it depends on what you like. You can find some nice inexpensive pensions in Hohenschwangau, particularly along the road leading to the castles. We enjoyed the Pension Schwansee, about a mile from the castles, and some of the rooms have castle views. They also have a very nice typical Bavarian restaurant. Eating dinner on their patio with a view of the mountains and castle at dusk was for us worth giving up any advantages that a larger place like Fussen might have.

I never drove Munich to Salzburg but I did drive it in the opposite direction and as I recall it took about 2-2.5 hours, although I encountered a lot of traffic on the way. Mapquest has it at an hour and a half, but I think that is unrealistic, particularly unless things have changed since I was last there, when crossing into Austria, one must buy a highway sticker to use the main roads. As I recall, it was available at the first gas station past the border and did not cost much.

shrf;

The routing you described is "correct". In order;

Frankfurt
Heidelberg
Rothenburg
Dinkelsbuehl
Nordlingen
Fussen

Basingstoke describes the difference between Fussen and Hohenschwangau well. They are minutes apart so it makes no difference which one to stay in if getting to Munich is your consideration for choosing.


The drive to Salzburg is 1.5 hours in good traffic. 2.5 seems like there would have been a lot of "trouble" on the road.

As for an overnight stop, either Rothenburg, or Dinkelsbuehl, would make the best choices. It is easy to reach Fussen from either of them and they are generally a little more attractive than Nordlingen.

Any of Rothenburg's perceived "drawbacks" as a heavily visited site, wash away completely when you stay overnight and talk a stroll through the town in the evening or early in the morning.

Augsburg is, certainly, a good sized city. If that does not interest you, then I would recommend skipping it. If you stay in Rothenburg, then stops in Dinkelsbuehl and Nordlingen on your way to Fussen make for a solid - adding Augsburg would be putting a lot on the table.

Aramis - I certainly agree about Augsburg. I spent a fair amount of time there when there was an active base in the city and I can't say that I particularly cared for the place.

As far as driving from Munich to Salzburg, one can hit a fair amount of traffic around Munich and If one still has to stop and buy the Austrian highway sticker - that would add another 10 minutes or so.

Rothenburg o-d Tybor is a popular tourist destination for good reason and it is certainly worth one's time. As for most popular tourist places, it takes on a very different character at night when the day hordes leave.

thanks u guys!!!very helpful!i am comin from paris to frankfurt and flying out of vienna!!!we are tryin to cover lil bit of germany,salzburg,prague,vienna and budapest in 25days!!! i think the best option leave frankfurt,get to heidelberg,either stay in heidelberg or rothenberg n then proceed to fussen!!how much time does it take to get to heidelberg from frankfurt? does heidelberg require a whole day to take in the sights? if it doesnt i'd rather stay in rothenberg coz everyone seems to recomend it..n abt drivin to salzburg from munich i guess i'd better get there n decide..if the drive is scenic n pleasant then i would do it!!else its better to take the train right?..thanks again!

Not everyone recommends Rothenburg. For me it's just a photo stop--the place is just too, too much a tourist enclave for my taste. Just about every business in the Altstadt is for tourists, and especially catering to the mass bus tour trade. I much prefer Dinkelsbuehl.

That said, Rothenburg does have great photo opportunities as they keep everything well maintained and freshly painted. They did a good job of restoring the 40% of the town and the walls that were destroyed in WWII bombing.