Itinerary Help - Prague, Austria, Munich

Firstly, your last night should be in the city you are flying out of to avoid any problems unless you are flying out late in the day. Salzburg hands down over Fussen, either as a day trip from Munich or preferably 2 nights. To get your mountain fix, the Untersberg cable car is nearby & included in the Salzburg card. https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/excursions/cable-car-untersberg
Munich hotels during Octoberfest are very expensive so if you haven’t secured one yet, we really enjoyed Novotel Arnulfpark. Also note, all shops are closed Sundays & German Unity Day in Munich even in the tourist areas.

Thank you. Our hotel in Munich was the first thing we booked and we are staying at the AnnaHotel. Munich is the last stop so we are flying out from there. Sounds like I should keep Salzburg on the itinerary and maybe stick to the plan of trying to hit the castles on the way to Munich. I have looked into hiring a car to take us from Salzburg from Munich with a stop at Neuschwanstein. From what I can tell it looks to be about 3 hours from Salzburg to the castle area. Another 3-4 to tour the castles and an hour to Munich so that should be doable in a day if we leave Salzburg at 9:00 AM. Does anyone see any issues with that plan? We can then do a day trip from Munich to Zugspitze (weather permitting) and spend the rest of our time enjoying Munich and Oktoberfest.

I'm not understanding your plan in the last comment. How much time would you spend in Salzburg and in Fussen (Nueschwanstein)? Also, I really feel anyone that wants to go to Neuschwanstein should go to Hohenschwangau as well, and do that one first. It was actually lived in and provides background of the family and of Ludwig. I think the exterior views of Neuschwanstein are gorgeous, but I like the hohenschwangau tour so much better.

My recommendation would be Salzburg over Fussen. We went to the castles because it was on our tour, but we did not go in. And for us, if we had not seen them it would have been no big deal. Decide what is most important to you and schedule accordingly. Just make sure you leave some time to just enjoy wherever you are.

Just came back Friday from similar trip. We flew in to Munich stayed 4 days, Salzburg 3, Vienna 3 and Prague 4. As others have mentioned, castles (we did both) easy day trip and I thought worth it- wasn’t worth more than a day trip IMO. Was underwhelmed with Munich and looking back would have added days to Vienna which we loved. Liked Salzburg and 3 days was fine but certainly could do less. The fortress is cool and the center quaint. I think it’s worth a day. Most disappointed in Prague which was the centerpiece of the whole trip. After seeing the castles in and around Munich and palaces in Vienna, the palace in Prague was pathetic. I’m not quite sure why it’s so highly rated- the cathedral is awesome and it has great views but compared to the others very disappointing and packed with large groups of tour groups.

I would also skip Fussen. I found it crowded, and involved lots of waiting in lines.
I think the interior tour of the Neuschwanstein castle is highly overrated; it's only a 20-30 minute tour conducted by guides who I thought were bored with the material, given in rooms with challenging acoustics .
If you don't have tickets in advance it's really a folly to go, as you stand in the ticket line for easily over a hour, and your timed tickets could be for 3-4 hours later. Then, you either walk 45 minutes up to the castle or stand in line for the bus, and stand in line again waiting for your timed-ticket to queue up.
We tried to get tickets in advance but the advance-saletickets were already sold out. There are several local companies that sell ticket packages; perhaps that would be a solution???
If you must go, I'd recommend seeing the Hohenschwangau Castle with a pre-purcased timed-ticket, and then do the 45 minute hike up to Neuschwanstein Castle, view it from the exterior, get incredible pix from St. Mary's bridge [which will be very crowded and moves with everyone's steps] and hike back down, [maybe 20 minutes.]
I felt the town of Fussen was very commercial and lacked charm. Just one gal's opinion....

We are also going back to Oktoberfest this year (our 3rd time) and Salzburg (4th) time. Don't skip Salzburg and it is also a good hub for some Alpine adventures. You didn't say your exact dates but there is a folk festival in Salzburg that I like even better than the Oktoberfest in some ways called the Rupertikirtag. (St. Rupert's Fest, Sept 20-24, 2018) http://www.rupertikirtag.at/