Germany’s Romantic Road – From Füssen to Würzburg
Once we had entered Germany we decided to head for Lake Constance, driving on the northern side of the lake. We stopped in Friedrichshafen where we considered visiting the Zeppelin museum but decided against it due to the cost and time constraints. The town had a large supermarket where we stocked up on some supplies before checking into the Stellplatz next to the campsite. For the fee charged we could use the showers of the campsite and the Stellplatz had a sani station to allow us to empty grey water and take on more fresh water (for a small fee).
On Sunday we continued our journey hugging the lake before heading to Füssen which is the southern end of the Romantic Road. As we were making good time we decided to visit Neuschwanstein Castle, a 19th century home to King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It is built high on a hill, below which is his family home, Schloss Hohenschwangau, built by his father King Maximilian II of Bavaria. I was able to get one photograph with blue sky from the car park as we arrived. Unfortunately it then clouded over by the time we had reached the top of the hill and the viewpoint from Marienbrücke (Mary’s Bridge). When we left the car park we headed for the Stellplatz in Füssen, not free but for a reasonable charge it offered a safe place to park, electricity and an internet connection. Though we had only really just entered Germany it was already becoming apparent that finding unsecured internet signals was almost impossible. I later learned that it is illegal to have an unsecured signal in Germany, the only negative comment I can give about touring this otherwise great country in a motorhome.
Monday we left and made the short drive to visit Wieskirche ‘Church in the Meadow’. Whilst the exterior is nothing special the interior in considered to be one of the best examples of rococo design you can find. Whilst there I also introduced Joy to geocaching and she seemed to catch the geocaching bug immediately.
In the afternoon we briefly visited Landsberg Am Lech, looking at the buildings in the main square. The town is perhaps more famous for its prison and in particular cell number 7, where Adolf Hitler was incarcerated in 1924 and where he wrote Mein Kampf. As it began to get dark we continued on, leaving the Romantic Road to head in the direction of Munich where we stayed the night in the car park of a large Hymer dealer.
On Tuesday we bought some cosmetic parts for the motorhome, a window catch, door catch etc. We could not resist the urge to have a look at some of the new motorhomes whilst we were there. In the afternoon we rejoined the Romantic Road and visited Augsburg. I stayed with the motorhome whilst Joy walked around the town for about an hour. By the evening we had reached Nördlingen and pulled over into a free Stellplatz.
We had read good things about Nördlingen and when we walked around the town on Wednesday we were not disappointed. Pigs must have some significance to the town as models of them were outside many of the shops, each one painted to reflect the business of the shop.
We had a busy day ahead of us and in the afternoon we had arrived in Dinkelsbühl which could easily claim to be the most beautiful of all the towns on the Romantic Road.
As the light faded we returned to the motorhome and pressed on to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, parking in another Stellplatz for the night. I decided to stretch my legs and went to explore the town in the dark. Many of the shop windows had colourful Christmas displays and so I returned to tell Joy and we both headed out to take some photographs before heading back for a warming cup of Glühwein.
Thursday we explored Rothenburg by daylight and we agreed that it was another highlight of the trip so far. Like other towns on the Romantic Road it seemed to be popular with the Japanese, even the road signs were in Japanese as well as German.
For the rest of the day we drove to the end of the Romantic Road in Würzburg which was a much larger town and both Joy and I agreed that it should not really be part of this famous route. We did stop briefly at the Residenz Palace where Joy took some photographs. I decided to stay with the vehicle as the light was a little dingy for photography.
I had really enjoyed the Romantic Road and Germany too. It had restored my faith in touring by motorhome which had been severely tested at times in Italy. We would continue to head north, next destination Berlin!
Hello, I have just found your blog, whilst searching online for my own itinerary for our motorhome adventure. I quit my job, finished it last week and we (my husband and my 2 yr old son) head off for 12 countries in 12 weeks around Europe on 12th June! I too want to wrote a blog – as so many friends and family are envious of our career break! We are planning to do Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, SLovenia, Croatia, Italy, South of France, West France, home (Maidenhead) mid June – mid Sept. Any top tips? We hired a VW California campervan as a trial but it was too small for us. We have bought a huge thing – Burstner Elegance with the intention of selling it on our return. Any tips of dream campsites/scenes you have seen would be great. Thank you
Lisa
Hello
Your blog is a brilliant read and really helpful as I plan to tour the romantic road on my way down to Austria. I’ll only be travelling in a small converted people carrier so was wondering whether you could give me any info on overnight parking at all please?
Thanks. Jenna
Hi Jenna,
I’m not sure at what pace you want to see the Romantic Road but there are various Stellplatz you can stay at on this route which are brilliantly located. If you are doing the route from North to South then you might want to spend your first night in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The Stellplatz costs €5.00 per night I believe but is large and has about 100 places and is located walking distance to the town. From memory it’s well signposted but you can find GPS co-ordinates online if your sat nav supports these. Depending on how much you like Rothenburg you might decide to spend more than one night but it’s not a large place and I found one day enough to see everything.
From there you will most likely stop to see Dinkelsbühl which is also beautiful. If you decide to stay in this town overnight the Stellplatz does cost €10.00 but this does include electricity. If you want to save money you could see the town and then press onwards to Nördlingen where the Stellplatz is free with a small charge for fresh water and electric if you want / need them. After seeing Nördlingen the following day you might decide to stay another night at the Stellplatz before heading off early the following morning for short visits to Landsberg Am Lech and also Wieskirche and then on to the Stellplatz at the end of the Romantic Road in Füssen. This again is not a free place but it does feel more like a campsite rather than a car park and does have internet access included in the fee. You could then see the famous castles the following morning.
Your problem might be the type of vehicle you have, does it have a shower and toilet? The Stellplatz mentioned don’t have showers so you will need one or seek out more traditional campsites. Since I have shower and toilet I liked the Stellplatz because they were so centrally located to the sights.
Hope you enjoy your visit, it should be on most motorhomers ‘to do’ list.
All the best
Gary
The Motorhome Vagabond