This summer while updating my Germany guidebook, people in the Würzburg tourist board asked me why I no longer recommended the Romantic Road (the bus route connecting the Rhine and Munich/Füssen with a stop in Rothenburg). The Romantic Road was one of the 16 original “back doors” back in my 1980 first edition of Europe Through the Back Door (read the excerpt) and it slowly went downhill until I realized it was still in the book only because of my fond memories. They asked for my reasons. I gave them. And they responded impressively concerned and now I have hopes that the Romantic Road could once again be worth a day of your German vacation. This exchange of letters is kind of wonky, but anyone who loved this bus ride back in the 1970s and 1980s may find it nostalgic. And it does give an insight into how the general cultural environment has changed, making it more challenging to connect with charming slices of traditional cultures. (If you have any personal experience with the Romantic Road bus tour — then or recently — please share them with us on this blog. And hopefully, next year, we can share happy news about the new and improved Romantic Road bus tour.)
Dear Sir,
Thanks for asking my opinion on the Romantic Road. In my career as a travel writer I have seen it slowly slip from a fun-loving, economic peek at the best of Germany perfectly designed to fit a Eurail travelers needs to a greedy, lost opportunity trying to capitalize on a once upon a time good reputation among travelers. I used to consider it a key element to any best of Europe trip itinerary. Now I hardly mention it (except for drivers looking for a pretty route they can do themselves). What do I miss? There used to be friendly bus drivers who knew the locals and had fun with the tourists on board. A famous driver named Charlie Brown used to stop and chat with locals, let dogs hop on the bus, and say goodbye to travelers at the end of the day as if they had a new friend. The ride used to be covered on the rail pass and bags used to be free to stow downstairs. There used to be good information in the form of a handout guide booklet. I don’t know the latest because I stopped paying attention. But the feedback I get from people is somewhere between disappointed and betrayed. I think it would be wonderful if there was a good economic and friendly and information-filled excuse to get off the trains for a day and explore the more characteristic slice of Germany by bus. Perhaps someday, the Romantic Road bus tour will offer just that. Best wishes,
Rick Steves
Dear Mr. Steves, According to the Würzburg tourist office, you no longer recommend our bus service on the Romantic Road because you believe the service is so bad. As General Manager of the Romantic Road, I have a great responsibility for this service and it is, therefore, a matter of great importance to me that any such problems should be cleared up. The ‘Europabus’ line was opened with the founding of the Romantic Road in 1950, because people fortunately saw that, given the absence of a railway line, a bus route would be of considerable service to international guests. The buses were well-filled until the end of the eighties. Since the early nineties, the proportion of travelers using rented cars has increased continuously. And, since this time, the bus service has mainly been used by Asian guests. Thanks to my fatherly friend Charly Brown, someone who loves the Romantic Road with all his heart and with whom I am still in very close contact, I began my career in the tourist sector aged 16 as a guide on the Europabus service. And the Romantic Road has always been part of my professional life since this initial contact. Due to changing customer behaviour, it became necessary to make cuts so that only 2 of the German ‘Europabuses’ still serve the Romantic Road route. Moreover, they are only manned by a driver and no longer have a courier on board. Nevertheless, our drivers do all they can to ensure the well-being of the passengers: they make warm beverages, serve wine and beer, organize accommodation, load bikes and luggage. Our longest serving driver, Köksal Baliki, has been plying the Romantic Road for almost 20 years and looks set to break Charly Brown’s record mileage. Every day, I hear at first hand about the personal services provided on the Romantic Road. Hence, I was very shocked to hear that you no longer recommend this line to your readers. Naturally, it is no longer possible to repeat Charly’s little pranks. The small villages have changed. Virtually no dog is allowed to roam freely (incidentally, the little one from Wallerstein was called ‘Struppi’). No longer do children pick flowers for the passengers or bring fruit on board the bus, something I was always proud to do as a child. After all, decades ago the Europabuses were our gateway to the big wide world and filled with fascinating people from far away. Today, our visitors are no longer so exotic to attract local children with flowers and the statutory regulations governing bus personnel are so strict that much of what the drivers do for the guests cannot be published officially: unfortunate but a sign of the times. Nevertheless, we are looking forward very much to 2008 when the Romantic Road Europabus line will be re-launched with a new route. You are the first travel journalist to be told about this and I hope you will pass on the following information to your readers: Our bus will leave Frankfurt at 8 a.m. and drive directly to Würzburg, then past the ‘Residenz’ and the vineyards along the River Main to Rothenburg. The bus stop there is within walking distance of the Town Hall. The route continues via Dinkelsbühl (lunch break), Nördlingen and Augsburg, each with a photo stop of a good 30 minutes, to Munich (arriving at 4.25 p.m.). From there, the same bus continues to Ettal, where passengers have time to visit the monastery, before continuing to Schwangau and Füssen with photo stops in Oberammergau, Echelsbacher Brücke and the Church in the Meadow. Bus 2 travels in the opposite direction. Thanks to the new routing, guests will be able to travel rapidly from Frankfurt to Munich along the Romantic Road or, if they continue to Füssen, view some of the highlights of any journey through Southern Germany – in our opinion, a great enrichment for all travelers. I would very much like to present this new route to you personally and cordially invite you to join me on board the new Europabus along the Romantic Road. Charly Brown would also like to join us on this journey, which would give us the chance to relive common memories, to take stock of the many changes and to see once again what a wonderful part of Germany is waiting to be discovered between the River Main and the Alps. I look forward to hearing from you again and very much hope you will be able to find time to visit the Romantic Road. With best personal regards,
Jürgen Wünschenmeyer
General Manager
Romantic Road Tourist Association
Each time we approach Rothenburg, Germany, Emmy wonders if it can really be as delightful and captivating as she remembers from our last stay. On our several visits so far, Sweetie has yet to be disappointed. It looks like just maybe it was built by elves. Rothenburg’s wall has a roof that protected the guards who walked guard-duty in years gone by, and the tourist who walks tourist-duty today. There are about thirty towers, perhaps a half-dozen gates for vehicles, and several more for pedestrians.
Just a block from the Marktplatz in Rothenburg, Germany, there is a restaurant with a very special filigreed, gilded, decorative wrought-iron sign extending over the sidewalk, with small Golden Arches conspicuously displayed.
I stepped into the street and stopped the cooperative traffic behind me, the last car dissapeared and I got that perfect picture, except — what a let down, it had no character. All that effort, and it’s obvious that people and things “do a picture make.â€
We took the Romantic Road Bus tour in April 2004. It was the best way to get from Fuessen to Rothenburg in a day and the upcharge was still very small when using my Eurail Pass. I expected more scenery, everything lead me to believe we’d be going through the most beautiful parts of Southern Germany, but I’m afraid if we did it was mostly via the freeway. The Church in the meadow was spectacular and we spent plenty of time there. The bus had broken down that morning and a great deal of time had been lost getting it fixed or replaced, so I don’t know if the other two stops were rushed through on account of that, but our lunch stop was only half an hour, in a town we weren’t familiar with and we were afraid of missing the bus, so we never ate, just walked around. I still beleive it was the best way to reach our destination, but it could use a little more magic. (The driver still helped us stow our bags and seemed friendly enough.)
I took the Romantic Road bus in 2005, traveling from Frankfurt to Rothenburg and back. Despite the claims of the German gentleman no drinks were offered – we were even told the driver could not serve drinks because the on-board toilet could not be used – German law, we were told. (Someone has not been entirely truthful, huh?) Nevertheless, the driver, Thomas, was friendly and informative, interacting with the handful of us on the bus that morning; on the return trip he asked the lady at the just-closed thimble museum to reopen for us – she complied with his request. There was no extra charge for stowed luggage, and Thomas dealt with it without complaint. I enjoyed the experience despite it being less than described in the guidebook.
Rick, I thank you for informing us of the improved Romantic Road bus tour for 2008. I went on it in May of 2001, from Munich to Frankfurt. I liked it. I am not enthused about Rothenburg, but that Bus tour is the best way to travel from Munich to Frankfurt. In addition to the unfriendly bus driver, there were two friendly German guides in the bus, employed by that tour bus company. The two guides were in the bus for a short segment of the trip, but they talked to us in the bus, and they walked through Dinklesbuhl with us. That made the trip more enjoyable. And the bus turned off of the road so we could get out and take photographs of a pretty castle on a distant hill. The only aspect of that bus trip that was disappointing to me was that it did not include a visit at any part of Wurzburg. The bus stopped at the Wurzburg train station, all but two of the bus passengers got off of the bus at Wurzburg to ride in trains, to Berlin, and to Prague.
I rode the bus back in May ’06 from Füssen to Rothenburg. I found it nice and relaxing. I can’t say that I was disappointed at all because I didn’t have much in the way of expectations. The driver was nice, I got a discount with the Eurail pass, and there wasn’t a charge for stowing luggage. No drinks, but that may also have been because there was only me and another couple on the entire bus. And yes, we were all Asian. The driver didn’t talk much, but when I asked questions he was very happy to answer them. If I recall correctly, there were some recorded descriptions of certain towns and areas we passed, though I also recall that the CD player on the bus broke towards the end of the trip. I wouldn’t recommend the bus as anything approaching a guided bus tour, but for a laid-back bus ride to Rothenburg with a few nice stops, it was good. With all the walking I did in Europe, a day off was perfect. Bring along your iPod, put on your favorite music, and watch Germany whiz by.
Rick, it’s great hearing of improvements to the Romantic Road in 2008. My only Road trip came eleven years ago during a second europe trip using your guidebooks. I loved it all. The driver/guide was from portugal, just working a year between university studies. He talked to passengers in at least three languages besides english, visited with locals at stops, and advised me of the best lunch stop food in Dunklesbuhl. Last year I’d thought to take the bus again but was told by european friends, like you said, it was not worth the trouble. Maybe it will be?
Haven’t been there and done that yet. Glad to hear it’s being started up again. Hope to do that sometime in my travels. Happy traveling!
You have to hand it to Mr. Jürgen, he’s one heck of a salesman.
Rick In the very early 80’s I took a month off work for what I often refer to as my “Battlefields and Breweries Tour of Europe”. Since the Frankfurt to Munich bus was covered by the Eurail Pass it was a great way to spend a day. And what a day it was. I soon became fast friends with a group of 3, just graduated, physiotherapists from Ohio. These 3 girls and I spent the day laughing at the legends of each little town along the way. By the end of the day we were convinced there was an Office of Charming Legends, somewhere in the bowels of the German federal Government, charged with the creation of these legends for tourist purposes. On arrival in Munich we agreed to meet uo later at the Hofbrauhaus. I, in my enthusiasm to spend the evening with three attractive girls, got there quite a bit early. Needless to say one liter of beer led to another..and another. By the time the girls arrived I was nearly comatose. To this day I havent a clue how they figured out where my hotel was.
My daughter, son-in-law, and my wife and I took the Romantic Road bus tour in 2004. It was a very nice change of pace for us after riding trains throughout most of our journey in Europe. Whenever we got to a small town, the driver would play a tape recording with some general information about what we were visiting. We had no complaints. It wasn’t overly impressive, but it worked. Rick was honest about this and didn’t lead us to believe that it was something overly special but we liked it never-the-less. I was disappointed that the bus tour had gone downhill so much that he no longer recommended it. I hope it improves enough now that Rick can recommend it again. I will say that the drivers (we had two different ones – one before our stay at Rothenburg and another after that)said they would stay on schedule and they did. In Dinkelsbuhl, the driver left 3 Japanese riders there when they were late coming back to the bus. I couldn’t believe it!
Your topic triggered my memory. In October 1980 on my first trip to Europe, my late mother kept a journal. One entry reads: “…bus to catch at 8:00am, one to the Romantic Road. The bus driver was a character who went by name of Charlie Brown. The bus provided hostess and iced drinks and at one point driver stopped bus and a dog got on and rode several blocks and then off again. He honked at everyone and waved – all seemed to know him.” I have been back to Europe many times since, but I have not repeated the Romantic Road segment.
Andy R said: Rick In the very early 80’s I took a month off work for what I often refer to as my “Battlefields and Breweries Tour of Europe”. Since the Frankfurt to Munich bus was covered by the Eurail Pass it was a great way to spend a day. And what a day it was. I soon became fast friends with a group of 3, just graduated, physiotherapists from Ohio. These 3 girls and I spent the day laughing at the legends of each little town along the way. By the end of the day we were convinced there was an Office of Charming Legends, somewhere in the bowels of the German federal Government, charged with the creation of these legends for tourist purposes. On arrival in Munich we agreed to meet uo later at the Hofbrauhaus. I, in my enthusiasm to spend the evening with three attractive girls, got there quite a bit early. Needless to say one liter of beer led to another..and another. By the time the girls arrived I was nearly comatose. Huh??
I was surprised by your comments Rick, my parents traveled around Europe using your books and a mix of others for 3 weeks in September of 2005 and they loved the Romantic Road, it definitely was one of the highlights of their trip.
Re: the Romantic Road – two of my adult sons and I just returned from a driving tour of Germany using Rick’s tour guide for places to stay and eat. We drove from Frankfurt to Wurzburg visiting the Residenz, then on to Rothenburg which we enjoyed so much walking the city wall on Sunday morning. We made a side-trip to Ulm to climb the cathedral steeple then stopped at breathtaking Wieskirche on our way to Fussen. We spent 2 nights in Reutte (following Rick’s suggestion) and visited the castles in the area before heading to Lake Constance and the Black Forest. Continued on to magnificent Trier for a tour and then the beautiful Mosel valley with Burg Eltz and Rhine valley. Our last night was at Landgasthof Wiesenmuhle in Burg Hohenstein a family-run inn I would recommend. A beautiful trip with the Romantic Road one of our fondest memories.
Rick, I have liked almost all of the things you have ever suggested. The 2 exceptions being… 1. A small hole in the wall place to eat in Venice. (That is not what I am going to talk about. No one can like everyone’s food choices but you do a grerat job. Everywhere else to eaty has been great that we have tried.) 2. The Romantic Road in ’98. It was the typical Lampoon’s Eur. Vacation. Few stops and jump off the bus take pics then gone in about 10 mins. There was only on actual stop and that was at the beautiful church in the middle of nowhere – Breath taking. Other than that it was just a typical bus ride with the regular bus route with work-a-day commuters. Rothenburg was great if you were staying over night as you only had about an hour before the bus went on its schedual to Wurzburg. I am so glad to see what you think currently. My faith restored. I have used your books for doityourself for years EXCELLENT. Europe 98 Dec 01 02 04 06. 07 Ireland/UK
My wife and I took the bus from Fuessen to Rothenburg in 1989. The driver was friendly and made plenty of announcements during the trip. The most memorable part came in Dinkelsbuel (lunch stop before Rothenburg) where we all invited the bus driver for lunch (in a small restaurant). We all had to squeeze into the place (the owner was a bit overwhelmed) but we laughed a lot and left feeling like part of an extended family.
I will be taking the Romantic Road bus tour this July, as I need a scenic way to get from Frankfurt to Fussen, a the first leg of my Germany, Austria, Italy fast paced Eurorail trip. I realize that I could rent a car and drive, but would rather be able to totally enjoy the scenery, and not from behind the wheel of a car. I waffled a bit on this, as I have heard that the bus tour is not up to par anymore. However, if they have revamped it, perhaps I will be able to return here afterwards and give a decent review. However, if anybody has gone on this bus tour in 2008 or later, I would be grateful to hear your opinions. Today I got an answer to one of my Eurail questions from here that said they would never recommend the bus tour. So perhaps it still isn’t worth it.
I took the romantic road bus in late april 2002 from Munich to Rothenburg. I believe it was a sunday and only 4 people were on the bus (including me). All four of us got on at Munich. The driver was very short and too the point, but not rude. I figured he just was not comfortable speaking english. I enjoyed the trip and it made an excellent way to get where I was going. I think if the bus was full it would have been much less enjoyable.