Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Germany's Romantic Road

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Germany's Romantic Road

We are planning a trip to Germany & Switzerland next june and want to include the "Romantic Road". Any suggestions on how long we should allow, special places to see/eat, etc? Any thoughts about the best place (town, hotel) to stay?

The Romantic Road was a large part of our first trip to Europe.We have since come back and repeated the trip. There are numerous favorites, however I think that after two trips the following should be included in any visit: 1. Rothenburg ob Der Tauber. Rothenburg is a large, preserved medievil city that is fascinating. The walls are intact, the restaurants are reasonable, the city is accessible only to a minimal amount of traffic and it is a great way to start your trip (assuming that you are landing in Frankfurt). 2.Then continue to Munich, one of my favorite cities, I also happen to work for Siemens, a large German ompany with headquarters in Munich. Munich is a wonderful city. The Marienplatz in the old town is a great place to get a "brat" a Warsteiner beer and a table and watch people. There are numerous attractions in Munich, including the Residenz, Two Sisters Church, St. Peters, the technical museum, Alt and Neu art museums, Dachau..the camp and the city, the Hofbrauhaus for a touristy beer hall and just a nice ambience and friendliness that comes with Bavaria. 3. Ludwig's castles, Neuwschwanstein, Linderhof and all. Delightful expressions of one man's desire to live in the unreal world. He also ended up dying mysteriously after nearly bankrupting the Bavarian treasury building these extravagant castles.4. Fussen, a nice little town at the end of the Romantic Strasse near Austria. I believe that unless, you like to visit every "nook and cranny", you could spend your first two nights in Rothenburg, followed by three to four in Munich and either a day trip to the castles or stay one night in Fussen. However I personally would find a way to visit Heidelburg, take a Rhine boat cruise from Frankfurt Am Main to Koblenz and back, and also visit Salzburg, Austria if you have the time.In Munich try to stay at the Hotel Uhland on Uhlandstrasse. Conveniently located, reasonably priced and a great staff. Enjoy!

Dear Sir or Madame, it isn't necessary to sleep in hotel, if you want visit the Romantic Street. In Bayern there a lot of possibility to sleep by privat houses. This solution it's cheap too. For 60 Mark you can sleep and take a reach breakfast. It's better too, that you don't change bedroom every day (this is very stressful). BEST REGUARDS PAOLA BIGINI

Good advice on Rothenburg. We stay at the Reichs Kutchenmeister. Good book to check for hotels is Karen Browns German Country Inns and castles. Take the nightwatchmans tour while in Rothenburg. In English, starts at dusk in the town square, tips only at the end of tour to pay. Go see the Ludwigs castles also at end of the road. You can base out of Rothenburg and see a lot without changing hotels too much. Email if additional questions.

Don't miss Dinkelsbuhl. It is like Rothenburg but smaller and even more charming. It is south and a little east of Rohenburg. We stayed at a wonderful B&B that we found just by asking at the tourist office - a big red building in the middle of town.

My wife and I went to Germany to "do" the Romantic Road this past May. We loved Germany, but after seeing the upper part of the RR to Rothenburg ODT -- we left the RR and REALLY enjoyed the trip. Unless you are into half-timbered buildings and lots of tourists -- don't plan to spend a lot of time on the RR. We "detoured" slightly south of Rothenburg ODT and went for Strausborough, France, then down through Zurich & Litchenstein and got back to the RR in Fussen (nice small city, but with -far and away the worst food that we got on the whole trip). Somewhere in our wanderings we got onto the German Alpine Road and really enjoyed this. Loved Munich, loved Garmish, loved many small, towns whose names I don't remember. We definitely will go back again, but the RR, itself, is just not all that special.

Pat, Following is a copy of a detailed Email I sent to someone late last week that may be of interest. I didn't know whether that traveller was renting a car or moving about by train, so the comments are rather "train" oriented. I'd suggest you take the train into Munich in any case, since parking is a problem, as is traffic. I'll list accommodations that are in towns with a railroad station or bus to a station and service on to Munich. Most are within an hour's ride (by car or train) to Munich, considerably less to all of the major attractions in Bavaria. Let's start with Hohenfurch, just north of Schongau on the Romantic Strasse. (It's southwest of Munich.) I'd recommend the Schonach-Hof owned by the family Haslach. It's at Kapellenstrasse 22, D-8938 Hohenfurch. Telephone 08861/4108. It has a small restaurant serving excellent local cuisine and 9 double rooms. You'd have to bus approximately 4km to the train station in Schongau to get to Munich, unless you have a car. In Schongau, consider the Alte Post Hotel with its 60 rooms, café, restaurant and in-house bakery. It's owned by the family Lutzenberger and is located at Marienplatz 19, 8920 Schongau; Tel 08861/8058. Schongau still has part of its 700 year old ramparts from the days when it was an enclosed town. You can walk them for an interesting journey back in time. Schongau has a train station and a rail line connecting at Herrsching to Munich. Late at night, however, the train goes no further from Munich than Herrsching and you must take a connecting bus (included in the train ticket) to return to Schongau. Both of these inns are about equidistant from Munich (40 miles or so), but both are close to Peissenberg where one can ascend Hohen-Peissenberg for a spectacular view of the German Alpine range and eleven Alpine lakes. Drive to the Wieskirche near Steingaden, about 10 miles from Schongau to see the epitome of rococo artistry. Drive 10 miles to Rottenbuch and visit another rococo masterpiece, the parish church; (you'll see its bell tower from the road). Drive 25 miles south to Schwangau and visit mad King Ludwig's fairy tale castle, Neuschwanstein. Visit his more sedate castle Hohenschwangau in the same village. Take the Tegelberg cable railway to view the German and Austrian Alps. Drive a bit further to Oberammergau. Many of the residents will remind you of New Testament figures. A Passion Play is staged in Oberammergau every ten years (next in 2000) and the citizenry make up the play's cast. Oberammergau, while famous for its Passion Play, is equally famous for its huge population of wood carvers and for the murals on the exterior walls of most of its homes and shops. Great place for souvenir hunting! Closer to Munich are a number of inns that may be available. Their proximity to the city suggests that they may be filled due to Oktoberfest. Nevertheless, here they are: Hotel Seeblick owned by the family Sailer u. Kuhl. It's in Bernried, which is about 25 miles south south west of Munich on the southwestern shore of the Starnberger See. It has 84 double rooms with bath. Tel: 08158/2051-55; FAX: 08158/3056. It has a train station. Hotel-Gasthof Zur Quelle owned by the family Metz-Wenneis is in Seeshaupt at Hauptstrasse 12 ½. Tel: 08801/1041 or 1042. Seeshaupt is at the southern end of the Starnberger See about 3 miles south of Bernried. The hotel has 12 double rooms with bath. Finally, in Penzberg there is the Hotel Olympia at Karlstrasse 33. The telephone is 08856/2174. The hotel has 25 double rooms with bath. Penzberg is located almost directly south of Munich on the banks of the Loisach river about 5 miles southeast of Seeshaupt. One final bit of advice. Almost every village in Bavaria has its own local tourist office. Many of these tourist offices also serve as bed and breakfasts. If all else fails, you might want to contact some of the following village tourist offices for information about accommodations, public transportation or local events and festivals. They are the resources I rely upon heavily, despite my lack of knowledge of the German language. It's through one of them that I received a hand-written rate schedule from the lovely gasthaus in Hohenfurch! Village of Antdorf (south of Starnberger See): Gemeindeverwaltung, D-8121 Antdorf Tel: 08856/3822 Village of Bernried: (On southwestern shore of Starnberger See) Gemeindeverwaltung, D-8139 Bernried: Tel: 081 58/6026 Town of Schongau: (On Romantik Strasse,[Route 17] southwest of Munich). Verkehrsverein Schongau Tel: 08861/72 16/7 1444 Village of Rottenbuch: (south of Schongau). Fremdenverkehrsburo Rottenbuch. Tel: 08867/1464 Town of Starnberg (on northern shore of Starnberger See) Fremdenverkehrsverband Starnberger Funfseenland Tel: 08151/13274 Town of Herrsching (midway between Ammersee and Starnberger See) Tel: 08151/13274 I would not stay in Schwangau, Fussen, Oberammergau or Garmish. These towns swarm with tourists. You'll meet more people from New Jersey than you will from Bavaria. Schongau, Hohenfurch and some of the others I mentioned will give you a real feeling for Bavarian village life. Do contact the local tourist offices. They will provide a wealth of information and suggestions. Hope this helps! Would appreciate any comments regarding your trip, accommodations, likes and dislikes upon your return. Wes Fowler

Thanks to all of you for your info and suggestions.

Pat: You have truly received very good advice on your inquiry, so I may only add that Bob J.'s reply is quite accurate to me in the sense that you should plan your driving around towns, rather than on staying strictly on the RR. It is a nice route, but taking worthwhile detours is even a better plan. The Bavarian region is amazingly beautiful, enjoy!!!