southern Gerrmany

We plan to spend a week in southern Germany next June. We%26#39;d like to find two towns (most likely one in the Black Forest and another farther east) -- Rothenburg looks lovely, but perhaps too touristy.

We want to be able to use the towns as a base for 2-4 nights and then travel out from there. Any suggestions for good locations and/or great, reasonable bed %26amp; breakfasts?

thanks ahead of time

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Stuttgart or its vicinity would be a good place to base yourself. There is plenty to see and do just using the excellent local transit system including: downtown Stuttgart with palaces, museums, world class opera and ballet, Staatsgalerie art museum, the Porsche and excellent Mercedes Benz museums, Wilhelma-the largest European zoo-botanical garden with its wonderful Moorish architecture, the second largest mineral springs in Europe (after Budapest%26#39;s), vinyards in town and near Stuttgart, the largest perfectly preserved Baroque palace in Germany in Ludwigsburg containing four museums and its fairy tale gardens and also another two palaces nearby, the old center of Esslingen with its famous church with a %26quot;wooden covered bridge%26quot; connecting the two spires, and almost any town at the end of the six S-bahn lines.

Outside of the local public transport area but accessible by train or car within a 100 km (60 mile) distance are the college towns of Heidelberg with its castle and Tuebingen with nearby excellently preserved Bebenhausen monastery, the world heritage Maulbronn monastery, the very picturesque Hohenzollern (Hechingen) and Lichtenstein Castles, the mideval walled towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbuehl, and Noerdlingen, Ulm with its record height cathedral spire, the northern part of the Black Forest, the castles and vinyards along the Neckar River, the Schwaebische Alb, and interersting towns such as Schwaebisch Hall, Schwaebisch Gmuend, Besigheim, etc.

Stuttgart has a large airport so it may be possible to fly into it directly from the US and has good train connections throughout Germany.

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http://www.blackforest-tourism.com/

You can stay in one of the cities next to the Black Forest

http://www.freiburg.de/6/6/604/index.php

http://www.baden-baden.de/en/index.html

or in one of the many holiday resorts in the Black Forest (see first link).

Three nice towns close to Rothenburg but less touristy:

Schwäbisch Hall

www.schwaebischhall.de/Touristik.342.0.html

Dinkelsbühl

http://www.dinkelsbuehl.de

Nördlingen

http://www.noerdlingen.de

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You might consider some place like Ansbach. It has good rail connections, hotels (not all expensive), restaurants, and only about 40,000 people.

It is close to Nurnberg, Rothenburg, Wurzburg, Dinkelsbuhl, and Nordlingen. We visited there several years ago when we lived in the area and liked it.

www.ansbach.de/cda/showpage.php…

Gary

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How about further east to the area around Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Mittlewald. Lots of smaller, scenic towns and beautiful alpine drives. . .