The road itself is not worth traveling. It’s a little two-lane highway clogged with truck and farm traffic. It is no more worth seeing than many other roads in Germany. A little bit would be OK, but 5 hours? There are, however, a few worthwhile sites along the way. Rothenburg and Füssen are definitely worth seeing. Between Rothenburg and Füssen, the only place worth stopping is Nördlingen, and it can be argued that, if you also see Rothenburg, Nördlingen is only repetition.

Must See	Nice, worth seeing if no great effort	Don't bother
Füssen	Landsberg am Lech	Wieskirche
Nördlingen	Donauwörth	Schongau
Rothenburg	Harburg	Dinkelsbühl
Würzburg Marienburg	Feuchtwangen	Würzburg Residenz
	Weikersheim

Unless you have a lot of time (i.e., days) you would be better off to skip the Romantic Road and either take the Autobahn from Rothenburg to Füssen (2¼ hrs), or, for a less expensive, more relaxing trip, take the train (5 hrs).

Drive vs. Public Transportation
A lot of people will tell you you can't see the Romantic Road without driving. Well, I just proved you don't need a car. I saw everything on the Road that was worth seeing (and some things that turned out not to be worth seeing, but I had to try it to know). And you will save a lot of money by not renting a car.

For Munich airport to Oberammergau, round trip to Linderhof, then up the Romantic Road to Würzberg my total expenses for transportation (Bus and Bahn) were €89,60 (about $126) . My best car rental quote was from Gemut for $272, Munich to Würzburg. Michelin’s fuel cost estimate for a compact car was $75. So a car would have cost me $347. I saved $221 by not having a car for that part of the trip. With two people, bus fares and some train fares would have been twice, but I could have used full Bayern Tickets for €27 (€13,50 per person vs. €19 per person for Bayern Single Tickets). So, for 2 people it would have cost about $200 for public transportation - still a savings of about $150.