The Romantic Road — No Car, Double Stroller, Two Kids
#Germany’s most famous tourist route, the Romantische Straße, stretches 460 km from Würzburg to Füssen at the foot of the Bavarian Alps. Every year, millions of tourists travel it by car or tour bus.
We left the car at home and got a Deutschlandticket.
Two kids aged 1 and 5, a double stroller — and the cobblestones of medieval towns. What you’ll find in this section isn’t from a travel brochure. It’s from pushing that stroller through the streets of Augsburg, up the slopes of Füssen, and along the walls of Memmingen.
Why We Did It by Train
#Living in Munich, the Romantic Road is surprisingly accessible as a series of day trips. Augsburg is 35 minutes away, Memmingen about an hour, Füssen and Lindau around two hours — all covered by the Deutschlandticket.
Driving means parking headaches and coordinating multiple stops in one day. The train means stepping off at the station, walking through the town at your own pace, and heading home when the kids run out of steam.
Is it always practical? Not everywhere. But we wrote honestly about what worked and what didn’t.
Towns We Visited
#Augsburg — Roman Foundations, Renaissance Wealth
#35 minutes from Munich. Bavaria’s Roman city. Home to the Fuggerei — the world’s oldest still-functioning social housing project, built in 1521 — the baroque Rathaus, the gilded Goldener Saal, and a network of medieval water channels running through the city centre.
Augsburg flies under the radar compared to Munich or Nuremberg, and that’s exactly what makes it worth visiting. Mostly manageable with a stroller, with a few tight spots in the historic courtyards.
→ Augsburg Travel Guide
Memmingen — Medieval Authenticity Without the Crowds
#One hour from Munich. On the Romantic Road but largely unknown to international tourists. Fully intact medieval walls, half-timbered buildings, and almost no tour groups.
If you’ve had enough of Neuschwanstein queues or Munich crowds, Memmingen feels like a different world. Slow, quiet, genuine.
→ Memmingen Travel Guide
Lindau — Island Town on Lake Constance
#Two hours from Munich. A small island on the Bodensee, right on the borders of Switzerland and Austria. Historic harbour, a stone lion, pastel-coloured Altstadt, and views of the Austrian Alps across the lake.
You can literally step into Switzerland on foot from here. The streets are flat enough for a stroller, and the town is much more beautiful than photos suggest.
→ Lindau Travel Guide
Füssen — More Than Just a Neuschwanstein Stop
#Two hours from Munich. Everyone arrives for Neuschwanstein but the town itself quietly earns its own attention. The turquoise Lech river, the terraces of Hohes Schloss, the Lechfall gorge…
Rushing through Füssen just to catch the castle bus is a mistake. We stayed for hours.
→ Füssen Travel Guide
Neuschwanstein — The Castle That Inspired Disney
#Ten minutes from Füssen. Built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the 19th century. One of the most photographed buildings in the world.
Getting a stroller inside isn’t possible — the path is steep and the interior is narrow. But the view from Marienbrücke is more than enough. When to buy tickets, how to avoid the worst crowds, what changes if you arrive early — all covered.
→ Neuschwanstein Castle Guide
The Full Route: A Practical Overview
#The article covering all five towns together — how to plan the route from Munich, how the Deutschlandticket holds up across the whole thing, and an honest assessment of doing this with young children:
→ Romantic Road Guide — Full Planning Article
Cobblestones, steep hills, two kids — but worth every step.
