Any Romantic Road Expert?
 

I am planning to go Romantic Road for 3-4 days in late Nov / early Dec and I am considering joining a local tour - anyone knows if there is any still operating during that time?

If I have to travel by myself (and I would like to visit the Christmas market), any suggestion for itinerary and driving tips?

Many thanks in advance.

The Romantic Road to me is one of the most over-hyped things in Europe - conjured up by the German Tourist Office after WW2 to attract tourists the name Romantic has never for me been romantic but a traffic-plagued two-lane road - now some of the cities on the Romantic Road are dreamy - Rothenburg, Dinkelsbuhl and Nordlingen to name a few and these can easily be reached by train and local buses.

If looking for Christmas Markets I think there are far more and better ones in cities like Nurnberg, Munich - well all sizable towns really.

Oh well that's my take on the IMO un-romantic Romantic Road!

driving at that time could de dicey - not due to heavy snow but more often a freezing drizzle - not usual but I believe from others I've read not unusual.

Have you been to other parts of Bavaria - I'd say Garmisch, Oberammergau, Berchtesgaden, Fussen, etc would all be nice too and easily reached by train - use Munich as your base or Garmisch-P is also a good base.

"Garmisch, Oberammergau, Berchtesgaden, Fussen, etc would all be nice too and easily reached by train..."

True. But there's no need to abandon the Romantic Road; if it's the RR towns you want to see, it's easy to reach most of them by train. Just book rooms in Würzburg and Augsburg and visit the other RR towns on daytrips by train.

1.) Würzburg: travel base to visit Rothenburg, Weikersheim, Tauberbischofsheim, Bad Mergentheim, and Lauda-Königshofen.

2.) Augsburg: travel base to visit Nördlingen, Harburg, Donauwörth, Landsberg am Lech, and Füssen.

Train travel between Würzburg and Augsburg is easy too.

Use this rail line map and you'll see how the rail lines connect all these towns.

http://www.bayern-fahrplan.de/streckennetzkarte.pdf

The Bayern Ticket is good for all these destinations:

http://www.munich-touristinfo.de/Bavaria-Ticket.htm

the Romantic Road begins in Wurzburg I believe - or at least the best of it and to me Wurzburg itself is a stellar city often overlooked - lots of palatial buildings and vineyards on slopes right in towns. Wurzburg would make a great base for folks liking the trappings of a larger city over the much smaller towns along the Romantic Road - at least for some tastes.