Stuttgart (Bad Canstatt) and Rothenburg ob der Tauber
 

I will be taking a vacation in late August and want to go first to Bad Canstatt where I was stationed many years ago, and than see it and Stuttgart. Plan on staying 2 days.I would like to stay in Bad Canstatt so any accommodation advice would be appreciated. Since I will be joining a tour group in Salzburg I will not have a rental car and after seeing the Stuttgart area will take a train to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Any recommendations on how long of a time would be appropriate to allocate for a stay in Rothenburg along with places to stay would be helpful.

Rothenburg doesn't take long. Small town. And an unfortunately large tourist swarm there in summer.

Seriously, I would consider a different old-world destination instead. Nördlingen is a Romantic Road town as well, but it's not as overrun with tour bus groups like R'burg is. Unlike R'burg, it's still a living, breathing, working city where the people do more than serve tourists. A very nice place for a day or so.

There are other good reasons to consider Nördlingen.

- Nördlingen's old town wall and defensive ramparts can be ascended just as in Rothenburg.

- Unlike Rothenburg, Nördlingen's old town remained almost completely intact in WW II - Rothenburg is largely a reconstruction that in 1945 looked like this:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...krieg_1945.jpg

- Nördlingen is closer to Stutgart by 45 minutes to an hour and costs only €20 to get there by regional train with a day pass called the "Metropol Tagesticket." To Rothenburg the same trains cost €37 to €43.

- Nördlingen is closer to Salzburg - just under 4.5 hours. Rothenburg - Salzburg take 5.5 hours. (Cost is the same for both - €23 with the "Bayern ticket" day pass.)

Accommodations in Nördlingen: Not sure of your budget or needs. You can find out more by going to Nördlingen's TI office webpage; click on the british flag for English;

http://www.noerdlingen.de/Uebernachten

Photos:

http://unterkunft-reise.com/wp-conte...B6rdlingen.jpg

http://www.noerdlingen.de/var/noerdl...ebt_header.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...%C3%9Fturm.jpg

http://www.schwabenstaedte-in-bayern...singer_Tor.jpg

Thanks a lot for the input. How would you compare Nordlingen to Regensburg? I heard almost the same post as mine be answered by suggesting that the couple go to Regensburg vs. Rothenburg? Any thoughts?

I was just looking for an alternative comparable to what Rothenburg offers. But Regensburg is a great place as well. Its old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. So is Bamberg's (but that's more of a detour I imagine.) Both are "real" cities more than tourist havens and both are larger than Rothenburg. Haven't checked exact trip costs or times for either.

Regensburg: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1155
Bamberg: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/624

Both have nice beer pubs too. One must remain fortified.
http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/regepubs.htm
http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/bambpubs.htm

Nuremberg is only a short train ride from each of these two cities. You can pick up a whole lot of WW II history there (thought I'd suggest that since you were "stationed" previously in DE, but Nuremberg is terrific as well for other reasons.)

Nuremberg, old town w/ Kaiserburg castle: http://media.belocal.de/120712/1152x768_0,0c.jpg

Appreciate the input from everyone.