My husband wants to add: If you play your cards right, you won't have to pay for 2 rooms!

L8 - I laughed at your husband's remark.

Jolie - the train goes to every town we're stopping in, so there's no problem there.

Rufus - Why respond to a thread when you have nothing to add?

In the end, I've decided to go with the "take a list of hotels and book a day or two ahead" plan. Thank you all for your suggestions.

Thanks, M8 is a wise man.
We stayed at this little gasthaus in Rothenburg. We were there in March so it was easy to find rooms with private baths. We the exchange rate and the season, you’ll have to plan to spend a bit more. If you stay at one place for a couple of days, you’ll get a break in the price. What city (cities) are you flying in and out of? Have you checked Price line? We got a nice deal on a Marriot in Munich but again, it was in March.
Haus Karin
Hans and Karin Weiss
Hans-Sachs-Str. 26
91541 Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Tel - 9861/3962 ~ Fax - 9861/938949
Email - [email protected]
Five rooms w/wo private bath/toilet, TV, private entrance
Check out bensbauernhof.com for some more ideas for accommodations. If you learn some basic German you’ll be fine. BTW, congratulations.

Let us know how it worked out, okay?

L8,

We're flying into London the week before, then traveling from there to Paris, then over to Wurzburg, Rothenburg o.d.T., Nordlingen, Augsburg, Fussen, and finally Munich. We're then flying from Munich back to London to catch the return flight home.

We both took a little German in college, so we should be able to survive

This is off topic for the thread, but do you think a trip to somewhere in Austria is possible? Is Salzburg close enough to Munich for a day trip?

I don't think most people thought the OP should make reservations or consider spending more than 30 euro on a hotel room for his honeymoon because of the idea that people on honeymoons need to spend a lot of time alone "being intimate" or whatever. That's kind of an old-fashioned idea, and would only be true of some very small cultural segments nowadays, and even they probably don't want to spend hours in their hotel room "being intimate" if they never have before. I always think that idea is kind of funny when people talk about people wanting to spend time alone, etc., when recommending hotels for honeymoons, since so many people are already living together (formally or not calling it that) and probably 99 pct have had sex, probably many times or for years. I think it's just an idea that this is a special trip you are going to remember and you usually want it to be nice and special, not the same as all the backpacking/camping budget trips you took with your buddies.

But some people really may not care, but I think it's real clear this fiancee does care because she's already said she didn't want to be so "adventurous". One person's exciting adventure of not knowing what kind of hotel or where they will stay that night is another person's extremely unpleasant and time-consuming chore with no real advantage and indications of a disorganized person who can't plan or make commitments (even to hotel rooms) and wants to inconvenience others by spending a lot of time doing that while traveling or ending up in dumps.

I think it's a very good idea to take a list of hotels with you if you don't have reservations.

On the day trip, sure you can easily take a day trip by train to Salzburg from Munich, it's only about 90 min. to two hours one way and there are some direct trains.

I am traveling the RR the same time period. I have researched zimmers/hotels in the area and have found that many of the room rates listed on the Trip Advisor reviews are way low. You might want to check prices before you put hotels on your list to take with you.

1. At least book your room for the night you depart for home. You don't want the added stress when dealing with an important time frame. You sound like a Brit? Jet lag obviously would not be a problem, but it is why I'd advise any American to book the first night of the stay -- you don't want to have to deal with anything even mildly challenging when jet lagged.

2. I agree very much with Jolie -- your flexibility of when/where you travel will be very dependent on train schedules, where/how you stash luggage, etc. Also: you seem to want to make decisions at the last minute, but then you said you may book the night ahead? I'm missing some of the logic here.

3. Also take it from someone who has traveled with both booked rooms and on-the-fly: sometimes you get to a town, it's getting dark, and the tourist office is closed. If you haven't booked ahead, you may have difficulty during travel season (which includes May in those parts!.)

I've become a fan of booking ahead. My husband and I spend the time saved with a cocktail in a nice location with ambiance (not usually expensive visiting the extra sight; going for a leisurely stroll; enjoying life...

3. As many have advised, there is a range of room comfort that you may want to consider, and savvy travelers often book up the best values, i.e. good price, good level of comfort, reasonably close to where you wnat to be. There is a difference between being extravagant, and spending enough to get a nice, safe quiet room within a covenient distance of why you travel in the first place. As others have said: do you really want to spend your vacation and honeymoon time tracking down an acceptable hotel room? Rather than "waste" that afternoon when you might have wanted to move on, could there be a benefit of staying in that charming place with breakfast in the courtyard, and enjoying the moment, i.e. the ol' "Stop and smell the roses," or are you a type A who needs to cram in every possible moment full of "Sights" to think you have a great vacation?

4. I repeat great advice from so many others on this post: May gets plenty of tourists (thank you U.S. deregulation, compared with years ago your rail pass limits some of your location options and flexibility, compared to a car; there can be weekend festivals; prices are sometimes quoted as "starting at..." and may not actually be available when you want to travel; the Romantic Road is designed as a tourist destination... (read as: others will also be looking for rooms.)

And yes, if there is a strong difference of opinion about this between you and your fiancee, you will pay dearly for the rest of your marriage if the room situation does not work out well.

If you must travel without booking: perhaps book some days, and then allow a few days flexibility, and demonstrate how well you manage (or not.) It may set the tone for your future travels.

Going to Freiburg in March. Booked hotel in January. Were told we got the last two rooms for that week.
I have spent hours of precious vacation time pounding pavement looking for a room. I like my bed to be planned and my day to be spontaneous.
This has been an issue between my DH and I in the past. Now he graciously accommodates me. (experience has taught him)