See the Romantic Road by Europabus
New 2008 Deutsche Touring Schedule for Germany’s Romantische Straße
Nov 24, 2007
Ever since the Romantic Road (Romantische Straße) was founded in 1950 as a tourism promotion project, this holiday route has been a prime destination for visitors to Germany. It is hugely popular with bus parties from all nations – notice the Japanese road signs – as well as with drivers.
Although a car is the easiest and most convenient way to travel the full 350-km (220-mile) route, the Romantic Road can also be done on public transportation. The easiest way is on the Europabus, which has been operating along this route since its inception.
- The routing of the Europabus on the Romantic Road has been changed drastically from summer 2008 – previous timetables and routings are completely redundant.
Changes to the Europabus Romantic Road Schedule from 2008
The Europabus, operated by Deutsche Touring / Eurolines, has long connected Frankfurt am Main and Munich daily from April to October. En route, it used to run the full length of the Romantic Road from Würzburg to Füssen.
However, from summer 2008 the routing has been altered drastically:
- The Romantic Road bus, officially Europabus EB190, will operate daily only from early May to late October.
- The bus will no longer cover the full Romantic Road shortening the journey from 13 to 11 hours. The new route goes directly from Würzburg to Rothenburg cutting out all previous stops in the Tauber Valley. From Augsburg, the bus detours to Munich and Ettal before rejoining the Romantic Road at Steingaden.
- In addition to Munich, non Romantic Road towns Ettal and Oberammergau have been added to the schedule.
Stops on the Romantic Road Europabus EB190 from 2008
Europbus EB190 departs daily at 8 am on the southbound route from Frankfurt am Main and at the same time from Füssen on the northbound route. Apart from obviously being in different directions, the route and stops are the same except that the southbound bus does not stop at the Wieskirche.
The new routing is as follows where (30) indicates a half-hour stopover and (15) a fifteen-minute photo break:
Frankfurt – Wertheim Village – Würzburg – Rothenburg ob der Tauber (30) – Feuchtwangen – Dinkelsbühl (30) – Nördlingen (15) – Augsburg (30) – Friedberg – Munich / München – Ettal (15) – Oberammergau – Wieskirche (15 on the northbound bus only!) – Steingaden – Schwangau – Hohenschwangau (15) – Füssen.
Reservations for the Europabus are not compulsory but advisable (and free) especially in the high season. Bicycles can be transported for a small fee but reservations three working days in advance are required.
The problem with the Europabus is that few tourists travel this route for the landscape. To see the romantic sights, usually more time is required than the brief stopovers allows but often less time than would be available if waiting for the next bus the following day.
- The new routing include the most popular stops on the Romantic Road and will please many visitors who have limited time to explore this part of Germany. However, these popular stops can also fairly easily be reached by normal trains and buses. Previously, the Europabus was ideal to reach the smaller towns along the route. Although these can still be reached by public transportation, more careful planning will be required in future.
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