The Romantic Road is what you think of when you think of Germany. Quaint towns with red roofs, town squares full of cobblestone, medieval forts and castle walls, and buildings straight out of a fairytale.

The road spans from Würzburg in the north to Neuschwanstein castle and Füssen towards the Austrian border. Along the way, there are several towns you can visit that fit the above description. For our day trip, we chose Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbühl.

Getting There is Half the Fun

Wherever you start the journey, you’ll end up on the autobahn at some point. My boyfriend dreamt of renting a sick car and taking it for a spin on the autobahn, so we were really able to kill two birds with one stone.

He wanted to get a legit German car for the ride, and we landed on a 2018 Audi A5 coupe. This set us back significantly more than an economy German car, but it was well worth it. (Disclaimer– I was not the driver and I do not recommend driving recklessly)… We were able to match the cars around us casually driving 100mph and at some point he took it up to 137mph.

The ride at 137mph peaks and 100mph in general were seriously SO SMOOTH. As much as I panicked and begged my boyfriend to take it easy, the car was so amazing that my curiosity got the best of me on long stretches of road with no other cars around.

For the record, our rental agreement said we should never go above 240kph, so I guess we were “responsible” enough keeping our max at 221kph.

Rothenberg ob der Tauber

You’ll recognize this town for being the most photographed little village in Germany. That also means it’s full of tourists! Not my favorite.

We were able to weave through some tour groups and find quiet streets to eat lunch. I enjoyed climbing several flights of stairs to the top of a tower and learning more about the 1945 bombings that nearly destroyed the town, and the views up there were spectacular. You can walk along the outer city walls for various perspectives.

We ate lunch at Alter Keller. Serving traditional German food, there is also a decent vegetarian selection. I always feel sorry for vegetarians who come to Germany… slim pickings. Since we are carnivores for life we chowed down on their goulash speciality and the pork leg. Both were the perfect level of tender, crispy and juicy respectively.

Coming to Germany in September means you offset having perfect weather for missing the Christmas markets. Rothenberg has an incredible full year Christmas market shop that is its own maze. I got overly excited for Christmas because the decor and everything they sell is enough to make Clark Griswold overwhelmed.

RodT is an easy enough day trip from any major city, and based on the Christmas shop I recommend staying overnight in December.

Dinkelsbühl

When I was 15 years old, I came to Dinkelsbühl as part of an American Music Abroad trip. Musical diplomacy in a nutshell.

14 years later, I really wanted to come back and I’m happy to say that this town is just as charming as ever. Way fewer tourists, and the walls and 16 towers surrounding it add to the charm. Basically substitute gelato for beer and that’s me 14 years later haha.

We went to Zur Schleuse beer garden which was full of locals and puppies near what I like to call the moat area of town. They served local beer and had an outdoor barbecue area.

Gasthaus zum Stern was also a cute beer garden serving Augustiner.

If I had to rank these two towns, I prefer Dinkelsbuhl due to less people! The real star of the show was being here during golden hour… photos below.