katzen

Hi, My husband and I are looking for a scenic driving route from Cochem to Rothenburg. We will have an Atlas and other maps, but thought we would check with others who may have a great route or who can share there experiences.

Viamichelin shows that it takes roughly 3 hours from Cochem to Rothenburg. We prefer scenic routes over major highways ... but at the same time don't want the trip to take 2/3 hours longer. On viamichelin is looks as if we travel northeast a bit to Koblenz and then travel southeast pass Frankfurt and Wurzburg to get to Rothenburg. Does anyone have experience with this route? Is there a way to go without going a bit northeast to Koblenz?
Thanks!

smueller

From Koblenz, drive down the Rhine to the vicinity of Rudesheim/Bingen, then head east toward Frankfurt and pick up the main east-west Autobahn (I don't remember the number). Get off the Autobahn near Wurzburg and take the Romantic Road south to Rothenburg. The Autobahn portion is not particularly scenic, but the rest will make up for it.

katzen

Thanks smueller! I'm assuming this route is similar to the route on viamichelin? I will need to check this out.

Now that I think of it .. is there a route that takes you past Heidelburg and the Nekar? I think I remember reading that somewhere.

Bird

To go to Heidelburg from Cochem on your way to Rothenburg will probably add a couple of hours to your trip.

bettyk

I am a big fan of Bad Wimpfen on the Neckar River near Heidelberg. It's a lovely small town with loads of charm. Many half timbered buildings from the 15th and 16th century as well as the Blue and Red Towers dating from around the 13th century. You could spend just an hour and see most of the town or stay for several days like we did and use it as a base for day trips.

On viamichelin, the route from Cochem to Rothenburg via Bad Wimpfen takes a little less than 4 hours. Thats only a hour longer than your original route. It's a very scenic drive from Heidelberg to Bad Wimpfen along the Neckar.

Here's the BW website (in English):

http://www.badwimpfen.de/showpage.ph...n=1&lang=2

katzen

Thank you bird and Bettyk. So with everything that has been mentioned ... it looks as if there are 2 different routes to take.
1) Koblenz Route via autobahn, Frankfurt and Romantick Road

OR

2) Neckar River route which takes us past Heidelberg and BW.

I'm not sure if my husband and I will make any pit stops .. so with that being said which route would be the most scenic? As far as time, it seems that the Neckar River route is an hour or so longer than the Koblenz route.

TXgalinGA

bookmarking- same trip in June. I'm not near as organized as Katzen though!!

smueller

I don't have my maps with me at the moment, so my comments are based on memory.

The route from Cochem to Rudesheim should be the same for either of the two options. When you reach Rudesheim/Bingen, you will have to decide to go south toward Heidelberg, or east toward Wurzburg.

I think that the Romantic Road is more scenic than the Neckar River, but I don't remember much about Bad Wimpfen, so my opinion may be worth less.

I do remember that the back roads from Heidelberg to Rothenburg were choked with lorries, each with a long string of cars behind that had few opportunities to pass. This added quite a bit of time to our driving estimates and threw our schedule off for our arrival in Heidelberg.

bettyk

If you don't plan to stop, then it doesn't really matter which route you take. As others have mentioned, there's not much to see along the "Romantic Road" itself unless you stop in the towns along the way.

katzen

TXgalinGA, oh if you only knew.. I have travel information all over the place. I'm just now going through town by town to make sure things are in order. Cochem is our 1st town so I thought I'd start with it.

ok, so based on what smueller and bettyk wrote, I might as well take the Koblenz route if the scenary is the same. I was thinking one route had prettier views from the road than the other .. but then again, I'm in Germany so how bad can it get, right?
Thank you for the help! Next stop.. Rothenburg!

pef1234

Katzen: In this case the most scenic route between Cochem and Rothenburg is also the fastest route unless you want to take 4+ hours or more getting there. The best route is 210 miles and will take about 3 1/4 hours.

Take the local road NW out of Cochem for 6.5 miles to the Autobahn A48.

Go East on the A48 toward Koblenz for 35.1 miles to the A3. Take the A3 SouthEast for 131.8 miles toward Wiesbaden.

Stay on the A3 until it crosses the Main River. Immediately upon crossing the Main River that the exit Würzburg/Randersacker and turn South onto the local road B13. Drive 13.9 miles on the B13 toward Ulm. The B13 will cross the Main River again; don't be alarmed!

At Gollhofen, get onto the Autobahn A7 (E43)and go South toward Ulm for 16.5 miles to the Rothenburg exit.

If you will be staying inside the ringwall you can drive into the centrum of Rothenburg. If not you'll have to park in one of the big lots near the SouthEast end of town.

A good local style hotel with a nice restaurant (Franconian cooking) is the
http://www.klosterstueble.de/

katzen

Thank you Pef1234! We will be staying at the Burg Hotel.