We are two mature aged woman hoping to hire a car and do the romantic road over about 3 days, what are the roads like off the beaten tracks and are we able to see most of the sites ( casles,medieval towns etc ) by not going on the motorway or autobahns, also as we are Aussies will the driving on the other side be too much of a problem. We are game at this stage but hope you can all give us some pointers and tips. Also what is the price of petrol like, we want to travel from Wursburg to Fussen or there abouts. Any car hire places you would recomment would be of great help. Do we need a international drivers licence? thanks in advance.

You might find some information helpful to you in my trip report. Click on it here...

http://www.fodors.com/forums_reg/pgM...p;tid=34527760

If you live near the Outback, you could practice driving on the wrong side.

Hello,

We just returned from a trip to Germany and we rented a car. We rented a compact car from Avis for US$ 197.12 for 4 days. We drove around Wurzburg, from Wurzburg (pick-up location) down the Romantic Road to Rothenburg, from Rothenburg to Bamberg, and around Bamberg. We only spent 18 € on petrol for all of that driving.

I don't recall the exact price per liter unfortunately, but the gas mileage was wonderful in our car so we just didn't burn through very much.

We found that driving on the roads between cities was very easy, but city traffic could be a bit stressful when we didn't know exactly where we were going.

P.S.
An international driver's license is NOT required for Germany, but a lot of people recommend you have one anyway.

We purchased one for under US$ 20 just to be on the safe side.

Don't knwo about Australia but you can get a translation of your drivers license at AAA for $10 although I have never needed it.

The roads are well maintained throughout Germany. They do tend to be a bit narrower than what we're used to in the USA, but we had no trouble driving about on backroads and byways in June of 2002. And I'm a guy who does not enjoy driving all that much.

Driving does give you a chance to see a lot that you wouldn't see if travelling by train. But if you're going to be stopping in big cities, a car is a negative. Use trains between big cities.

thanks for all your help and information, we have now booked a hire car and counting down the weeks till we go. cheers.