www.viator.com/romantic-road-tours

superior for most Rothenburg my fav...

viamichelin.com good maps

Valley not as scenic ok though...

carrentals.com best prices on rentals for me

Happy Travels!

Well, if you are aiming for countryside, connecting walled towns and picturesque villages, you will be pleased with both. The Romantic Road has an edge in that it is more "compact" than the Rhine valley area (been that only have 2 days). This area (Rhine valley) is much more expansive because it also includes tributaries of the Rhine River. I visited the Rhine Valley area (Mossel River area) in early November and while enjoyable, there were quite a number of establishments closed for the season. The Romantic Road, less dependent on waterways for tourism, was more active. Where are arriving/departing from? If you only have two days then where would you be arriving/departing from goes into the equation.

Hi Viajero2

I will be driving north from Bregenz, Austria with final destination Dusseldorf.

To me the Castle Road Heidelberg to Rothenberg is infinitely more romantic than the busy 'Romantic Road,' a name conjured up by the German Tourist Authority in the post-war era.

Castle Road is castle-studded and goes thru the lovely Neckar Valley - Romantic Road is a truck and car-filled busy two-lane road yes connecting some old dreamy cities.

I'd take the Mosel Valley over all of them and the Rhine Valley over Romantic Road as well.

The Romantic Road is over 350 km long. Although the Rhine River runs hundreds of km, the Middle Rhine Valley, the area packed with castles, wineries, and old villages that most people visit, is only 63 km long, far more compact.

That said, if you do the RR, you certainly don't have to drive the whole thing. I would pick and choose those towns and cities that look interesting. And don't feel like you can't visit other towns that aren't on the RR. Let's say you want to go to Rothenburg, like most RR visitors do. Well, just to the northeast is Bamberg, a marvelous old city, but it isn't on the RR, nor is Nuremberg. Neither is Bad Windsheim, where you can check out the Franconian open-air museum:

http://www.stripes.com/military-life/travel/bad-windsheim-time-travel-at-franconian-open-air-museum-1.102354

The Rhine is a much further drive, but it is an excellent place if you're interested in more dramatic scenery and really old (800-1,000 years) castles:

http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/index.php?id=35&L=3

The cruise boats aren't running but they're only useful if you want to stay hundreds of yards away from the castles - you can see the same scenery from your car window and do so much more quickly - the boat takes 4 hours to cover the 63 km between Rüdesheim and Koblenz! - and of course you can get to (or much closer to) the castles themselves with a car and explore the villages more easily if you're not on a boat.

Marksburg Castle - the best one to tour - is open all year:

www.marksburg.de

Palenque's suggestion for the Mosel River is a solid one too. Think of the Mosel as the Rhine's sleepy next-door neighbor. It's smaller and less dramatic, with fewer castles that you can visit, but very, very charming. Cochem is an excellent town to visit or stay in. Perhaps you'll have time to visit both river valleys. You won't have time to see it all, but you'll certainly enjoy yourselves.

K-d Rhine cruise boats run daily all year now subject to reservations which means I guess that if not enough folks book they may not run - at least they ran all last winter on a limited schedule.

I like the boat because you can see both sides of the river at once and you can easily get off at any of a dozen or so stops to trek up to castles and re-board subsequent boats - frequent enough in season. Plus there is something special about a boat rather than driving on really busy IME Rhine-side roads where to cross the river you have to take ferries as there are no bridges between Rudeshein and Koblenz I believe.

Marksburg is about the only castle on this stretch of Rhine not deciamted thru the years by Napoleon or other marauders in this valuable military area - with the Rhine always being a cord of commerce and military wares.

You can get off the K-D boat at Marksburg itself and take I think a chairlift up to the actual castle and when done simply hop on a train to Kobelnz if not another boat.

there are train lines paralleling both sides of the Rhine gorge and stations are steps often from boat docks - leaving lots of ways to get off the boat at a village that captures your fancy and then hop the train to wherever or another boat.

Boat tickets traditionally could be substituted for rail travel - a train ticket down the Rhine gorge could be used without fanfare on the K-D boats - not sure if this is still true (and if the Lander Pass can as well be used on these boats?)