Rothenburg o.d.T to the castles
 

I need help for part of a September trip...planning is still ongoing<BR>I will be in Rothenburg for a full day and staying overnight. The next morning I plan to drive toward the castles. If we drive the Romantic Road down there how long should it take us with stops and where are the top 2 places you would recommend stopping?<BR>We're hoping to get to Neuschwanstein around 3PM.

Dinkelsbuhl was interesting--there was some sort of Brazilian dance troop shaking their way around the town square when we were there. It sort of spoiled the ambiance, but the experience resulted in some great anecdotes.<BR><BR>The Wieskirche is also very interesting, especially if you can get there for a service and listen to the organ.

It's about a four hour drive between Rothenburg and Fussen (at least in the rain). From Rothenburg we stopped in Detwar/Creglingen to see the church with a Riemenschneider carved altar - very gorgeous. Try to stop at the Wieskirche which is just a few miles before Fussen. The interior is absolutely gorgeous. Haven't been to Dinkelsbuhl but it's mentioned a lot as a stop. I had lunch in Norlingen at a nice restaurant but the town wasn't much. Personally, I'd hit the above stops and head into Fussen or thereabouts for lunch and then to castles.

make sure that while in fussen you do neuw. castel, but don't forget his mother's place across the street---honenswanangow (spelled wrong)--castle of the swans..loosely translated...its much simpler and quite lovely...literally across the street....a few miles away is the hunting lodge which is small but very ornate...we stayed locally at a B&amp;B and it was adequate, but restaurants were, at that time, quite limited...

Both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles are well worth visiting. I believe that Neuschwanstein is still undergoing some restoration/repair work so there may be scaffolding strewn about concealing some parts. But it would still be worth a visit. We stayed in the village of Hohenschwangau at Pension Albrecht--64 euro double. Within walking distance of the ticket center. You can also make advanced reservations for the castles on the internet. We arrived at around 4 PM, toured Hohenschwangau castle that afternoon, and then toured Neuschwanstein the next morning, giving us the afternoon to drive around the Austrian Alps. We had visited Oberammagau and Linderhof on the drive from Munich to Hohenschwangau.<BR><BR>There is a nice restaurant at Alpenhotel Meier on the outskirts of Hohenschwangau village.