We have been planning a 2.5 week trip through Europe in January and would like to ask for some advice and help for the Bavarian section. Our original plans were to catch the train from Brugge to Rothenburg ob der Tauber where we will be staying for 3 nights. We wanted to then head down to Fuessen via Dachau and possibly Munich. Most of our travel is on trains and we thought that having one section in a car would break the trip up nicely and give us a bit more independance. So we thought this leg of our journey would be the best one, in which to have a hire car.
After initial researching I found that it wasn%26#39;t possible to hire a car in Rothenburg or drop off in Fuessen, so with help on the TA train forum, the best solution seemed to be, to hire in Wuerzburg and drop off in Friedrichshafen. This also worked out better for our next train leg into Muerren in Switz.
Keeping in mind that we are driving in winter and on the %26quot;wrong%26quot; side of the road, I was after some help or advice on the following route.
Train to Wuerzburg, then drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
3 nights in Rothenburg (already booked), so can just park the car and enjoy the city or do some day trips from there....any thoughts?
From Rothenburg, we thought we could still drive to Fuessen and go via Dachau. Fuessen is only on our radar because of the castles but I read on another Romantic road forum about other castle and town options that are equal or better.
We can stay somewhere overnight and then head to Friedrichshafen the next day, also via any places that are worth stopping at.
We would probably prefer to stay off the freeways ( autobahns?) and cruise the slower and less crowded roads.
Any help, thoughts or advice appreciated, we have used lots of TA ideas to put our trip together. Will
If this is the best option
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Just re-reading my post and it sounds like we are castle chasers :-)). Actually I figure that after 3 days in the medieval Rothenburg ob der Tauber, I will be looking for glimpses of Germany that are off the tourist trail. We realize that Jan 8th to 12th could still be holiday time, some places will be closed, will have short days and we could hit a winter storm. That actually makes me think of those German spas, now that would be better than castles..haha.
So great drives, warm and friendly towns and a nice place to overnight between Rothenburg and Friedrichshafen are the things I am after (don%26#39;t have to go to Fuessen).
By the way, we like to keep fit, 40-49 age group, would enjoy some walking/short hikes as well as enjoying nice food, wine and beer :-)).
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Probably the easiest way to travel between Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Friedrichshafen is taking the A7 autobahn south to Ulm and then the highway to Friedrichshafen. Some paces to stop along this way are the Steiff Museum in Giengen (inventor of the teddy bear); Ulm with its church with its record height spire; Biberach an der Riss; Bad Schussenried with its monastery which has an excellent library and a nice church, Germany%26#39;s first beer mug museum at the brewery, nearby Steinhausen church which is called the most beautiful village church in the world; and Weingarten with the largest Baroque church north of the Alps at its monastery. From Ulm on this is Upper Swabia ( www.oberschwaben-tourismus.de ) with Germany%26quot;s highest concentration of beautiful Baroque churches and monasteries, and home to the Baroque Road ( www.barockstrasse.org ), unfortunately both websites only in German.
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marcopolko, thanks for your contribution. I know you have given me some good tips in the past and I have also read and pasted some advice you have given a few other winter driving questions. Google Earth is amazing, I put your route into the computer and then did a virtual tour of the drive. Lots of farm country by the look of it. We will have to veer off near Ulm to reach Dachau, so may come back that way, or may head back through some of the other places you mentioned...Biberach an der Riss and Bad Schussenreid....google directions seem to take a different route if heading across that way.
I know someone told me about spa%26#39;s in a previous post and trying to find that information. Does anyone know if there are any on the route we are planning? Thanks for the input MP.
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When you rent a car in january make sure you have winter tyres, because it is compulsory and it drives much better in snow or icy conditions.
About a spa, there are many sauna%26#39;s in Germany. Be prepared, they are mostly naturist and co-ed (mixed male/ female). When it says %26#39;sauna-club%26#39; it is something different, these are for men only.
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Upper Swabian Baroque Route
…wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Swabian_Baroque_Ro…
oberschwaben-tourismus.de/fileadmin/Medienda…
oberschwaben-tourismus.de/uploads/tx_icbroch…
At least off the international tourists trail. This has however the disadvantage that it is difficult to find information in English online.
There are also a number of spa towns in this region.
E.g. Bad Wurzach
www.bad-wurzach.de/index.php…
and Bald Waldsee
http://www.bad-waldsee.de/
There is even a Swabian Spas Route from Füssen to Überlingen (at Lake Constance)
www.schwaebischebaederstrasse.de/index.shtml…
http://www.therme-waldsee.de/en/index.html
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Ger_Holland, thanks for the tips on the rental vehicles. We have read a fair bit on the winter tyres and how they are compulsory in Austria but not Germany, so we will definitely make sure we have those, as well as an medium to full sized car for any autobahn travel. Can you clarify the spa situation a bit more for me.....we only have a few in Australia and there certainly aren%26#39;t any that are co-ed and naturist....does that mean no clothes..?? I envisage the perfect winter spa as sitting out in the elements in a nice, hot, pool. They have a lot of these sort in New Zealand and it is great fun in freezing conditions :-))
abalada, thanks for more suggestions. Your help in the train forum and here in Bavaria is much appreciated. A couple of websites you gave me are German only, so can%26#39;t read them unfortunately but the wikipedia site and Bad Wurzach sites are just what I was after.....Actually thinking that Bad Wurzach is a much more compelling stopover than Fuessen. A mud bath treatment 2 days before skiing in Switz sounds perfect. Can I ask an ignorant question about the prefix Bad.....what does it mean in the name of so many towns?
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Bad is German for bath.
As a prefix of a town this means that this town is a state approved spa town/health resort. In most cases these are towns with (hot) thermal springs.
%26gt; that are co-ed and naturist
That%26#39;s only true for the sauna section. The thermal pools require (bathing) clothes.
Check out the last link of my previous answer as the Therme Waldsee has some pages in English.
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I believe that there are several %26quot;moor bath%26quot; treatment places in Upper Swabia besides the one at Bad Wurzach (by the way, the stairway at the palace is famous). A real nice bath is the one at Jordanbad (I believe www.jordanbad.de but if it%26quot;s not correct, just google) just outside Biberach an der Riss, which also has a nice hotel with restaurants having good food. My German wife grew up a few kilometers away, and the Maultaschen at the brewery in Ummendorf we consider German%26quot;s best, and the beer excellent too, and the Konditorei Cafe Kolesch on Gymnasiumstrasse in Biberach is the best for 100km (meaning up to Munich or Stuttgart), their Weilandtorte is superb!
Another good pace to find information on Baden-Wuerttemberg and its spas is www.tourismus-bw.de .
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abalada and marcopolko, thanks so much for those tips. I have spent the last couple of days (were possible) studying maps and locations of the areas you have both mentioned. I am really interested now in amending our initial plans of heading down to Fuessen and moving towards Swabia instead.....sorry if my use of town names or areas isn%26#39;t correct, I am learning as I go.
marcopolko, where would your wife or yourself suggest we stopover between Ulm and Friedrichshafen? We are studying the maps you have both supplied in your posts and the websites we can read (some are only German). MP, the Jordanbad site has an English option but it doesn%26#39;t seem to want to work.. .no translation available is the message...I will try again tomorrow.
We would be interested in doing a mud bath type experience if the price is reasonable, will try and put together some sort of trip route and work out which places are most to our liking. Have to wait till I can get back home and enter some of these locations on our Google map. Thanks again for your help. Will
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The English website worked when I last visited the Jordanbad pages a month or two ago. The hotel there is excellent if that would interest you. Being able to stay in the area at my mother-in-law%26#39;s house, we%26quot;ve never had a reason to stay in a hotel in this area. We have put up our guests at the Best Western Hotel in Biberach an der Riss, and I know that the brewery in Ummendorf, my wife%26quot;s home village, by Biberach also has rooms and I really enjoy their food and beer. Unfortunately, I%26quot;m away from home and can not easily access websites, but can in a few days.
Biberach is an enjoyable pleasant small town and the church there is my favorite in Germany, perhaps as I was married in it, a nice blend of ornateness and simplicity. Three town wall towers remain, there is a legitimate contender to the oldest house in Germany, and their museum is interesting. I believe that their website is www.biberach-riss.de , possibly only in German, but somewhere in the website is a link to a nice walk about the town in English. The nice thing about Upper Swabia is that you will see few foreign tourists, and there will be few people at the interesting places you visit, giving you a nice %26quot;real%26quot; German experience.
Also inquire at your hotel if there is a carnival parade occurring nearby, as that would be interesting and enjoyable for you as some will be occurring on weekends in January.
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