Driving Rothenburg to Heidelberg - which route?
 

Can anyone recommend a specific route when driving from Rothenburg to Heidelberg? (Please give road numbers if possible.) I am interested in taking the most scenic route. Please suggest sights to see along the way as well. If it helps, I'll be driving this route in late April. Thanks!

Hi V,

If you go to www.viamichelin.com and click "avoiding tolls", you will get the scenic route.

The most scenic roads are edged in green.

((I))

Thanks! I bought the Michelin road map, but there is so much detail that I can't figure out which road to take. I'll definitely go look at that website!

You are welcome, V

Please try this page and click on the map link for Rothenburg ob der Tauber
http://www.thirdmansystems.com/vacation/maps/maps.htm

Also check this site out for more descriptions of the "Castle Road". Click on the map for a simpler view.
http://www.burgenstrasse.de/showpage...18&lang=uk


Cheers,
Ken

Take the Burgenstrasse (castle route), it is unnumbered at the beginning, but here are towns you are looking for: Rothenburg - Wolfskreuz - Schrotzberg-Langenburg - Arnsdorf. Then get for a short stretch onto the A-6 and exit again at Neckarsulm and pick up the B-37, which takes you along the Neckar River and some more castles to Heidelberg.

treplow. that should be a great drive. I think the Neckar is more scenic than the Rhine.

Wow, that's exactly what I was looking for! Would you like to plan my entire trip? (kidding!)

Thanks for the info treplow!

Sure, where else do you want to go?

If you've never driven there, you should know that German driving differs from American in that the roads are planned so that, in Germany, as one nears a town, one turns off the road to take a side road into the town (where the sights are). So you get off the major highway the same as you get off an autobahn, to go into the town. Contrast that to USA, where the closer you get to the town, the more developed the buildings along the road (and the slower the traffic). So if the scenery you hope to see is of Bavarian architectural quaintness, as opposed to natural scenery (fields, streams, mountains), you have to get out of the car; you wouldn't see much of the former if you drove straight thru from R'burg to H'burg.

Where else could one get such great info? Thanks Fodorites!

Rather than posting one huge itinerary and asking for comments, I have decided to post specific posts regarding small parts of my itinerary, so keep an eye out for them. I'm sure I'll have more questions.

But in case anyone is curious, my itin looks something like this:

Arrive Frankfurt - train to Munich.
3 nights in Munich - tour Munich.
Drive to Fussen - tour Alpine area on the way.
2 nights in Fussen - tour castles.
Drive to Rothenburg.
1 night in Rothenburg.
Drive to Heidelberg - tour Neckar on the way.
2 nights in Heidelberg.
Drive to Koblenz - tour Rhine on the way.
2 nights in Koblenz - tour Mosel on first full day in Koblenz.
Drive to Cologne - turn in car.
2 nights in Cologne - tour Cologne in day.
Morning train to Frankfurt - noon flight back to U.S.

Basically, just short driving tours and lots of scenery. No specific sights in mind other than castles near Fussen. We'll just see what interests us as we come across it.

Feel free to comment.

I probably would skip Cologne and spend more time between Heidelberg and Koblenz. How about driving Heidelberg -Trier via Speyer, Weinheim (Weinstrasse)? Spend a full day driving along the Mosel to Koblenz, with stops in some of the towns along the river, certainly Beilstein and Cochem. Drop off the car in Koblenz; take a 1/2 day boat trip up the Rhein to one of the small towns along the river. Take the train back to Koblenz and return from there to Frankfurt. Depending at what time your plane leaves, you probably can do this on the day of your departure.

I ditto the Colonge comment. The great cathedral is nice, but that is about it. I would spend the time on the Mosel or the Rhine.

Rothenburg: Search this site for info on this town. Be sure to do the nightwatchman's tour at 8pm from the town square.

Heidelberg: You can buy the wine there with your name on the label at the castle tour.