Hello, I will be traveling solo by land from Fussen to Malcesine in late April. I plan to stay 2 nights in Fussen and 3 nights in Malcesine. I won't have a car. I heard that Malcesine is not served by rail. I'd like your suggestions on:
Thanks in advance.
Try this: http://www.rome2rio.com/s/F%C3%BCssen/Malcesine . The Rome2Rio website is very handy for giving a rough idea of travel time and informing you of what type of transportation may be available. You'll need to drill down to individual bus companies' websites to be reasonably certain of accurate schedule information. Be especially careful about Sundays, when bus schedules can be very thin.
It appears that you must allow at least 9-1/2 hours by public transportation. That's an all-bus itinerary with many transfers. It looks as if the bottleneck is the border crossing from Austria to Italy. That's where you're at risk of losing a lot of time due to a missed connection. I assume that's also the only leg where reserving in advance should even be considered. If I were attempting this, I'd be sorely tempted to break up the trip by overnighting in Innsbruck if the there was a decent morning departure for onward travel. (I haven't verified that, and there are apparently only two daily departures.)
The bus/train combo via Munich looks much easier, though in theory it takes a bit longer and is more expensive. You may find that the particular train you choose requires a reservation. Even if not, for the faster trains you can save a lot of money by booking early. The Deutsche Bahn website is good for checking train schedules. < http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query2.exe/en?ld=15097&seqnr=3&ident=d2.0509697.1457893882&rt=1&rememberSortType=minDeparture&REQ0HafasScrollDir=1 >
"Late April" includes Easter. I imagine that may significantly increase traffic on some routes.
What I do not know is which of the routes between Fussen and Innsbruck is most picturesque. They all seem to follow similar paths from Innsbruck to Malcesine.
According to Google Maps, it about 1½-2 hours from Rovereto (between Trento and Verona) to Malcesine by buses via Riva del Garda (at the north end of the lake).
I think the quickest way (7½ hrs) to get to Rovereto is to take a regional train back to Munich and one of the Eurocity trains (EC) to Rovereto. Those ECs run every two hours during the day and go to Innsbruck and over Brenner Pass to northern Italy.
With advance reservations (up to 91 days) the Bahn will sell you a Savings Fare ticket from Füssen to Verona for as low as 59€/P. These tickets are train specific (for the EC) and non-refundable. A fully flexible ticket for Füssen to Verona is 101,60€/P.
A slightly longer, but more scenic trip, would be to go from Füssen by bus to Reutte, then by trains to Innsbruck (change in Germisch-Partenkirchen) and pick up the EC there. That route goes via Mittenwald and Seefeld, Austria). However, because of multiple legs in Austria, the Bahn will not offer the Savings Fare nor sell tickets online.
kat,
That trip is going to be a long travel day, so I'd suggest choosing a quicker route rather than a more scenic route. As Lee suggested it will probably be easier to return to Munich and travel from there.
This is the route I'd probably use......
Overall, the Bus is the quickest method unless you'd also like a relaxing cruise on the lake.
Ken, Lee and acraven, thank you so much for your suggestions. After some thought and additional research I think the way to go is to go back to Munich, then take the train to Rovereto and then a bus to Malcesine. I was able to get the train schedules Fussen - Munich, and Munich-Rovereto and it looks like there are early morning trains. I'm still trying to get the bus schedule from Rovereto so I can coordinate the whole itinerary. It maybe more expensive, but it should be faster. I'll be traveling April 21, so no national holidays that I know of and it's a weekday. I've booked accommodations in Malcesine beginning that day, so getting there fast is a priority.
:) Kat
Kat,
That route should also work, however I wasn't able to find a bus link from Rovereto direct to Malcesine. You may have to start with one bus from Rovereto to Torbole, as shown on this schedule.....
http://www.ttesercizio.it/OrariDiLinea/OrariDiDirettrice-E15I-332A.PDF
And then continue on Line 184 on this schedule.....
http://tech.atv.verona.it/atv_www/orari_extraurb/pdf/184.pdf
I'd be interested to know your impressions of Malcesine after the visit, as that's also on my list. I've been past it on the boat, but never stopped there.
Buon Viaggio!
If you go to Verona instead of Rovereto you can get a direct bus to Malcesine. That might be quicker than Rovereto-Torbole then figuring out where/when the next bus is.
If you are travelling in April of this year don't worry about Easter. It is this Sunday, March 27th. If this trip is in 2017, Easter is mid-April - April 16th.
