The Oh-So UnRomantic Road
 

The Romantic Road, conjurred up by the German Tourist Office in recent years, is anything but romantic. A tediously busy two-lane that links such gems as Rothenburg and Dinkelsbuhl, the road fails to live up to its name. And the Romantic Road bus, running between Frankfurt and Munich or Fussen, are also un-romantic, at least the last time i took them. On our bus, the driver rather sternly declared that there would be no eating on the bus and that the on-board toilets were closed. Apparently the bus staff didn't want to clean up after the ride. Commentary was grudgingly given and the bus was seemingly constantly snarled in traffic. Think twice before taking an all-day ride on this bus, but be sure to break your journey in Rothenburg or Dinkelsbuhl, two cutesy medieval wonders. Actually the Castle Road bus between Heidelberg and Rothenburg was a much better experience, taking genuinely bucolic side roads along the beautiful Neckar River Valley, and a tolerable few-hour jaunt.

We enjoyed our drive along the Romantic Road--actually from Hohenschwangau to Rothenburg. It's not as scenic as the Mosel or Rhein, but we didn't find the traffic at all bad in mid-June last year. Dinkelsbuhl and Rothenburg aren't the only interesting stops along this stretch--there are also Wieskirche, Augsburg, Nordlingen, and Wallerstein, among others.

It wouldn't be number 1 on my list of things to do in Germany, but it was worthwhile. Don't know about the bus--if we'd gone by bus it might have changed our opinion.

The "minuses" you've described are why a lot of us have done the route by rail.

The name of the road is due to more of the era or times than any american notion of "romance". Goethe spend time wandering some of these paths as well as other literary figures of the romantic or "Sturm and Drang" era. If you discount some of the touristy kitsch of the environment, there is much to appreciate of this area.

I agree with the previous poster of the merits of the rail systems to explore these areas.

If you really want to see American style "romantic Germany" may I suggest a trip to Epcot in Disneyworld.

As Dutch says, this is not a romantic road, it is the ROMANtic road as in the Romans???? Way back when they had an empire, this was the road by which they travelled from Rome to Londinium and various outposts along the way.