1

take the train. Its epic too. And won't run off the road because of awsome scenery or other gawkers. QAnd much cheaper than a car.

Keep it simple.

2

The Romantic Road for the most part is just a common two lane German highway, nothing scenic or special about it. It's a few places along it that some might call romantic. If you want scenic drives, look elsewhere. Perhaps rent a car in Switzerland and return it there. There are many scenic drives you can take, such as the three pass region (Grimselpass, Furkapass, Sustenpass) east of Interlaken. Or if you rent a car in Germany, return it there, and perhaps fly home from Zurich which isn't very far from the German border to drop off your car without a one-way drop-off fee. Or the Stuttgart Airport won't be too far away.

3

If you don't want to visit Italy, you can just go back to Frankfurt by car and do a loop like this:

FRA - (may be Mainz and the Rhine river in order to have seen a really romantic part of Germany) - Wuerzburg - Romantische Strasse - Munich - Oberammergau - Garmisch - Ehrwald - Imst - Soelden - Timmelsjoch - Meran - Spondinig - Stelvio - Bormio - Colico - Lake Como - Varenna - Lake Como car ferry - Menaggio - Lake Lugano - Lugano - Bellinzona (castles!) - San Bernardino - Via Mala Gorge - Thusis - Davos - Klosters - Bregenz - Stuttgart - FRA.

Lake Como - FRA is about 600km, most of them on highways
BTW: the Stelvio road will probably open in early June

4

Rent a car locally somewhere special. Keep it simple.

5

Just to clarify, my girlfriend and I will be flying into Europe together (most likely CHI-DUB) and will be spending time initially in Hamburg and then Bonn for a jewelry convention she is teaching classes at. This drive is meant to be added on to the end of our trip, and will most likely start around August 22nd and go until the 26th or 27th. At the end of this road trip I will be going on to Rome where I will be studying for 4 months, and my girlfriend will go back to the US. Because we won't see each other again until Christmas time, I wanted to make this road trip extra special.

take the train. Its epic too. And won't run off the road because of awsome scenery or other gawkers. QAnd much cheaper than a car.

@ gawkabout Ya that sounds interesting. Any particular route you would recommend?

The Romantic Road for the most part is just a common two lane German highway, nothing scenic or special about it. It's a few places along it that some might call romantic. If you want scenic drives, look elsewhere.

@ marcopolko This definitely helps with my perception of the road, although I did sort of suspect that. My girlfriend is more of a craft shop, small town road tripper whereas I am a mountain traversing twisty road-lovin' road tripper, so I was hoping to satisfy both with this little journey.

Perhaps rent a car in Switzerland and return it there. There are many scenic drives you can take, such as the three pass region (Grimselpass, Furkapass, Sustenpass) east of Interlaken. Or if you rent a car in Germany, return it there, and perhaps fly home from Zurich which isn't very far from the German border to drop off your car without a one-way drop-off fee. Or the Stuttgart Airport won't be too far away.

@ marcopolko I'm starting to think that some variation of this will be the best way to go about it.

If you don't want to visit Italy, you can just go back to Frankfurt by car and do a loop like this:

FRA - (may be Mainz and the Rhine river in order to have seen a really romantic part of Germany) - Wuerzburg - Romantische Strasse - Munich - Oberammergau - Garmisch - Ehrwald - Imst - Soelden - Timmelsjoch - Meran - Spondinig - Stelvio - Bormio - Colico - Lake Como - Varenna - Lake Como car ferry - Menaggio - Lake Lugano - Lugano - Bellinzona (castles!) - San Bernardino - Via Mala Gorge - Thusis - Davos - Klosters - Bregenz - Stuttgart - FRA.

@ neckervd This sounds awesome. My only concern with this route is being able to do it 4 days. I would definitely leave out Munich as I don't think we would have any time/money for that. Other than that it looks great How many days do you think would be the minimum to do a loop like that while still enjoying it? The way it looks on Google Maps is about 1750Km and over 24 hours of driving. That would be over 6 hours a day, which is a bit more than the usual 4 a day I like to do, especially with all the stuff to see and strenuous alpine driving.

6

If you have only 4 to 5 days: forget it!
Choose between Southern Germany, the Alps and Italy. And use public transport. The car is a good solution for the visit of places outside the beaten track. But you wouldn't have time for that.
It's possible to go over the Stelvio Pass by bus (Landeck or Bolzano or Scuol - Spondigna - Stelvio - Bormio - Tirano. But the journey from one of the above mentioned 3 places to Tirano - Lake Como would take a whole day and you might have some problems if you have luggage.

And don't forget that August is super high season in Italy. All places where Italians spend their holidays will be crowded and prices are at their top level.

7

@neckervd If I had to choose I would definitely pick the Alps. My girlfriend is a different story, so I want to do something we will both definitely enjoy. I definitely would not want to take a bus through Stelvio, I just could not take that. If I'm going to go, I gotta be behind the wheel. I have heard that this area will be crazy in August. I also heard that they have a huge biking tour on Stelvio the last weekend of August as well, so I will have to contend with that somehow. I usually anticipate 2x normal drive time, maybe even 3x.

Just for kicks I mapped out the following loop and etched out a rough 5-day itinerary based on your original suggestion. The itinerary I have laid out calls for an average of 210 miles a day (1041 total), with an emphasis on the first day (277 miles) and the last day (265 miles). It sounds like Rothenburg and Fussen are great but otherwise the romantic road is underwhelming, so I don't see why not just blow through the whole thing day one.

Frankfurt –Wurzburg – Schillingsfurst – Nordlingen – Donauworth – Augsburg – Fussen – Oberammergau – Ehrwald – Imst – Belprato, Moso in Passiria, Italia – Merano – Stelvio Pass– Bormio – Colico – Varenna – Menaggio – Davos – Klosters – Bregenz – Stuttgart – Frankfurt

DAY ONE (277 MILES, 6HR TOTAL DRIVE TIME)

10:00AM Leave Frankfurt
4:00PM Arrive in Nordlingen (3hr 20min drive time)
7:30PM Arrive in Fussen (2hr 40min drive time)
Sleep in Fussen

DAY TWO (164 MILES, 4HR 10 MIN TOTAL DRIVE TIME)
12:00PM Leave Fussen
5:00PM Arrive in Moso (3hr 30min drive time)
6:30PM Arrive in Merano (40min drive time)
Sleep in Merano

DAY THREE (138 MILES, 4HR 5MIN TOTAL DRIVE TIME)
10:00AM Leave Merano
3:30PM Arrive in Colico (3hr 40min drive time)
Sleep in Colico or elsewhere between Colico and Varenna (25 min drive time)

DAY FOUR (197 MILES, 5HR 5MIN TOTAL DRIVE TIME)
12:00PM Board ferry for Menaggio
5:00PM Arrive in Davos (3hr 30min drive time)
7:30PM Arrive in Bregenz (1hr 35min drive time)
Sleep in or near Bregenz

DAY FIVE (265 MILES, 4HR TOTAL DRIVE TIME)
10:00AM Leave Bregenz
1:00PM Arrive in Stuttgart (2hr drive time)
4:30PM Arrive in Frankfurt (2hr drive time)

Obviously I left a cushion on our drive times, usually around 45 min for every hour of driving, more through the mountains. I would also consider adding more driving to the last day...maybe just do the entire 330 miles straight from Davos to Frankfurt. Also, towns for sleeping could definitely be adjusted, I just picked whatever for now.

As far as my personal driving thresholds and experience go, I have driven long distances over 9000ft ranges in New Mexico, but not much more than that. I have driven the 410 mile route from Minneapolis to Chicago non-stop without issue several times. I have also driven over 600 miles in a day without too much issue. Granted most of that wasn't in the mountains, but 600 miles is still 600 miles. Of course, long distance driving is not my goal with this trip, but beggers can't be choosers, and I could live with 3-4 hours of sightseeing per day.

I know this is definitely too rushed so I am going to try and squeeze out a 6th or even 7th day if I can, but with the lay out as-is do you think this would still be a worthwhile drive? Is there anything you would be sure to see or visit or maybe even skip altogether?

Thanks in advance

8

rEMEMBER: NEXT TRIP YOU DON´T HAVE TO PISS ALL THAT CAR MONEY AWAY.

9

For this trip I can rent a 3-series bimmer in Frankfurt for 5 days for around $275. Doing this loop in a BMW would be well worth the $275 IMHO.

10

You are free to do whatever you like. But I would not even think about such an itinerary if I had 5 days only. When I made my proposal, I thought you were looking for a 2 weeks holiday.

The Romantische Strasse is not only Noerdlingen.You loose a lot if you bypass Wuerzburg, Tauberbischofsheim, Mergentheim, Rothenburg, the Tauber Valley, Dinkelsbuehl, Augsburg and Landsberg am Lech. As told above, the road itself isn't very scenic, but the places mentioned above (and others) are.

Day 2: count 1 hr for driving up to Oerammergau and at least 30 min each for Wieskirche and Oberammergau. Count another hour for the drive from there through Garmisch and around Zugspitze to Ehrwald, plus at least 2 hrs via Fernpass and the whole Oetztal up to the Italian border at Timmelsjoch. Don't forget that you will drive through a holiday area with a lot of rather slow tourist cars. So the driving time from Fuessen to Meran (without any stop) will exceed 5 hrs. With some stops at scenic places, it will be rather 8 hrs.

Similar remarks for day 3: many cars are extremely slow in the hairpin curves of Stelvio road.

Day 4: why do you want to drive via Lugano and Davos, if you don't plan to stay at these places? The most scenic route from Varenna/Menaggio to Bregenz (without Lugano) would probably go via Chiavenna - Maloja Pass - Lake Silvaplauna - Julier Pass ...; for Davos, I would go from Silavaplauna to St. Moritz - Susch - Fluelapass...

11

Ok neckervd, I think I may have figured something out. First of all, thank you for your input, you seem to be very knowledgeable about this area and I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

Here is an adjusted loop that hits all or most of the popular towns on the romantic road, eliminates just a couple out-of-the-way towns through the Alps, including Davos, and ends in Memmingen instead of Frankfurt. The whole route is now around 780 miles instead of over 1000, which cut out around 6 hours of drive time.

Frankfurt –Wurzburg (74 miles, 1hr 20min) – Rothenburg (41 miles, 45min) – Dinkelsbuhl (30 miles, 40min) – Nordlingen (20 miles, 30 min) – Donauworth (18 miles, 30min) – Augsburg (28 miles, 40min) – Fussen (68 miles, 1hr 30min) – Oberammergau (30 miles, 1hr) – Innsbruck (51 miles, 1hr 15min) – Merano (71 miles, 1hr 40min) – Stelvio Pass (47 miles, 1hr 20min) – Bormio (15 miles, 25min) – Colico (66 miles, 2hr) – Varenna (12 miles, 25min) – Menaggio (3 miles, 30min) – Chiavenna (31 miles, 1hr 10min) – Maloja Pass (20 miles, 30min) – Julierpass (12 miles, 20min) – Vaduz (70 miles, 1hr 30min) – Bregenz (34 miles, 40min) – Memmingen (49 miles, 53min)

Obviously drive times do not account for traffic or stops

DAY ONE (211 MILES, 3HR 55MIN TOTAL DRIVE TIME)
9:30AM Leave Frankfurt
1:30PM Arrive in Rothenburg (2hr 5min drive time)
4:00PM Arrive in Dinkelsbuhl (40min drive time)
7:00PM Arrive in Augsburg (1hr 10min drive time)
Sleep in Augsburg

DAY TWO (149 MILES, 3HR 45MIN TOTAL DRIVE TIME)
1:00PM Leave Augsburg
3:00PM Arrive in Fussen (1hr 30min drive time)
7:30PM Arrive in Innsbruck (2hr 15min drive time)
Sleep in or near Innsbruck?

DAY THREE (133 MILES, 3HR 20MIN TOTAL DRIVE TIME)
9:00AM Leave Innsbruck
11:30AM Arrive in Merano (1hr 40min drive time)
2:30PM Traverse Stelvio Pass (1hr 20min drive time)
4:00PM Arrive in Bormio (20min drive time)
Sleep in or near Bormio?

DAY FOUR (96 MILES, 2HR 25MIN TOTAL DRIVE TIME)
10:00AM Leave Bormio
1:00PM Arrive in Colico (2hr min drive time)
5:00PM Board ferry for Menaggio (25min drive time)
Sleep in or near Menaggio? Go on to Chiavenna?

DAY FIVE (216 MILES, 5HR 3MIN TOTAL DRIVE TIME)
9:00AM Leave Menaggio (exact time pending flight out of Memmingen)
11:00AM Arrive in Chiavenna (1hr 10min drive time)
3:00PM Arrive in Vaduz (2hr 20 min drive time)
5:30PM Arrive in Memmingen (1hr 33min drive time)

I would like to think that in 5 days this is very doable, but of course I have no idea. On day one I'm thinking maybe it would be better to stay in Augsburg instead of Fussen, thus lightening the load a bit and allowing more time to see the towns. I like the break on day four, but could add a little more driving to that day if necessary. I definitely want to keep the day we traverse Stelvio light in terms of driving, for obvious reasons. I am a little concerned about going all the way from Menaggio to Memmingen day 5, so maybe I would be better off staying in Chiavenna the night before?

Anyway, thoughts on this route?

As always, thanks in advance.

- TC Guy

12

You know, this trip really originates in Bonn, not Frankfurt I just figured Frankfurt seemed like a logical place to start, but then I realized we could also drive part of the castle road when coming from Bonn. In fact, we could do...

Bonn - Mainz - Mannheim - Heidelberg - Eberbach - Bad Wimpfen - Heilbronn - Schwäbisch Hall - Langenburg - Rothenburg - Dinkelsbuhl - And so on down the romantic road to Fussen.

If we did this route it would be likely that we would stay in Rothenburg and Fussen, and would probably have to skip the entire Lake Como portion by going straight from Stelvio back up through Davos.

I know that ultimately it is up to us, but do you think this part of the castle road is worth skipping the Lake Como portion? My girlfriend loves castles, so it is something I know she would definitely enjoy. Any thoughts you could share on a route like this would be greatly appreciated!