Rothenburg ob der Tauber Travel Forum

Hello all,
I am planning a day trip to Rothenburg from Nuremburg. I plan to be there on Sunday,
Does the night watchman perform on Sunday and is the christmas museum open?
Since I want to catch the night watchman i will need to take the last night train to nuremburg at 10pm.

Getting to my real questions: I will have to make two train changes. The layovers at each station are very tight, around 5 minutes. How likely is it that a train will be late, causing me to miss the next train? Do they que the connecting trains if the previous one is tardy? Will there be other trains I can get on if I miss the connectors or am I stuck at the train station all night? Should I skip the night watchman and hop on an earlier train?

thanks for much for your help

> Does the night watchman perform on Sunday

Yes.

> and is the christmas museum open?

Yes, from 10am to 5pm.

As for your main question ... tricky. It IS possibly that one of your trains arrives late.
If I were you, I'd stay in Rothenburg overnight, but I suppose you wanted to use the Bavaria/Bayern-Ticket?

Actually, there is a very little possibility that exactly these two trains will be late, and also usually in Germany the trains wait for the important tight connections. And this connections are important, because this is the last train to Nuremberg not only from Rothenburg but from several other locations, so if it misses the connection many people will be stuck at some train stations. I think the rule is - if the website of Deutsche Bahn (bahn.de) offers some connection, then it works, except if any of the trains is...2 hours late or something like that which will not happen with those two.
I have used the last connections of German trains many times but I have never spent the night at a place where I don't want to be because of missing a train. So just try to be fast at the train stations where you change the trains. On the other hand I have never tried exactly this connection so may be the previous advice of spending the night in Rothenburg is a wise idea.

I wouldn't worry about having to stay at the station. The railways are obliged to make sure that everybody who starts a trip arrives at his destination. (provided you don't choose to undertake something that is impossible)
So if you were to miss a connection because of a late train they will arrange a taxi for you, or in the most extreme case will put you up in a hotel at the railway's expense. Since railways don't like to do this (as it's expensive) the last trains of the day will usually wait for connections.
If you notice your train is running late, and are worried about making a connection inform the train crew that you need to make a connection, and they'll look after you.

I was never in the situation that I missed the last train of the day (night). But during the day I have missed the train several times in this region during the day. This can make travelling long distances through remote areas a bit unnerving. Those trains that stop everywhere are very often not on time. But as the previous poster said, if it happens with the last train you might be well looked after.

we made this exact trip. the connections are seamless. at ansbach, right across the platform, and at Steinach two platforms over ( requires stairs - i did not see provisions for the physically challenged ). The rotherberg train will wait going and coming for sure because it has 30 minutes to make a 15 minute run.
BUT - as recently as 15 months ago in peak season, the last train from Rothenberg back to Steinach was at 6:30 PM. After that, taxicabs are supposed to make the trip for the same fare as the train to be supplemented by the train company to the taxi. do be sure of this 10:00 PM train from Rothenberg.

thanks everyone, I am now less nervous of taking the train at night in this instance.