Bus or horse carriage to Neuschwanstein?

We did the opposite. The carriage takes you to just below the castle. Still have to walk a bit up. The bus leaves you at Marienbrucke, above the castle. So we took the bus to Marienbrucke, walked down hill to the castle, then after the tour walked down hill back to the lot. It's a short, but pretty steep, walk from the castle up to Marienbrucke.

Just know that the horse/carriage will be limited to the number of passengers that can comfortably sit. The bus is limited to the number of passengers (sardines) that can be squished into a bus both sitting and standing. Standing can be quite difficult as the bus winds around the twisty roads and you lose your balance. Not a problem for me personally, but some folks who are not so steady on their feet could find it quite difficult.

And the horse/carriage doesn't come without its own possible pitfalls:

http://www.thelocal.de/20121008/45429

The horse carriages cost 6€ per person uphill, 3€ per person back down.

The website say's that Mary's Bridge will close in August. It doesn't say anything about the hiking trail. From the map it looks like you can go from the bus stop to Neuschwanstein without crossing the bridge.

A lot of information can be found on the castle website, www.hohenschwangau.de. Click the British flag for English.

Hi All, thanks for the input :)

Hi Paul & Tim,
Do you know how much is the bus fare?

Hi Lee,
wonder why the downhill is cheaper by the carriage lolz. perhaps after visiting the Marienbrucke, people prefer to continue w/ the closer bus terminal going down. thanks for the info :D

cheers

bus fare is nominal.

Bus is cheaper than carriage...negligible.

Hi All,

the bus fare is EUR 1.8 Per person/trip and it takes less time than horse carriage. The speed is more trustable too. the thing is i have appointment at 9.20 english tour which means i need to spare at least 30mnts from the Bus terminal going downhill to the castle (15mnts for walking downhill + 15mnts at Marienbrucke). and to me i think going downhill needs more effort than uphill as it's harder for knees (me and my hubby are fit, it's just we are at the stage we'd better reserve our energy and take more care of our body)

the interesting part is the fee with the bus is much cheaper and if we opted to go back down w/ horse carriage it's also cheaper than going uphill. could save pretty good Euros there (btw I don't carry USD but a very lousy currency and everything adds up :D)

i also read that the bus schedule is less trustable? or perhaps just once in a while occurence.
also the bus terminal access to the castle is clear.

The bus fare has the same structure as the horse carriages - 1,80€ up, 1,00€ down, 2,60€ RT. Walking up is hard; walking down is easier. A lot of people would take the carriage up and walk down, so they make the down price less to encourage them to do the RT.

Also, relative to the bus, from the link I gave, be aware that "During the summer time there are significant queues on the bus stations.".

Hi Jen,

Plan a little leeway for everything. 15 min. here, 15 min. there, and be aware the 9:20 tour start time can be delayed.

Paul

It makes sense now they put the price downhill for cheaper price , one of them is due to easier getting downhill. Is it rocky or asphalt pathway from both the horse carriage and bus terminal?

i've put around 1 hour waiting for both horse carriage and the bus as it's going to be one of the highest season when I visit the castle. the tour could be delayed too? thanks for letting me know as I thought it's really punctual , i read reviews some of the tourists just late for seconds and left behind. they should give compensation to justify when the tour itself running late then :D

cheers

one more thing, is there any wi-fi area around the Alpsee or perhaps back at the tourist information centre? Just in case if our mobile wi-fi is not working. we need to check the livecam of zugspitze.

Cheers

The castle tours are always punctual. Unless the castle is on fire, if your ticket says the tour starts at 10, it will start at 10.

One final note...the walk up to the castle isn't short, but neither is it particularly difficult. If you don't have any joint or heart/lung problems, it's a pretty easy 10-20 minute uphill stroll.

My wording may have been wrong.

This is taken directly from a recent T/A Trip Report:

"Don’t rely that the time you reserve online is the time you get . I had reserved 920 tickets to Hohenschwangau, but they gave us 955 tickets. Not a big deal, but just in case that happens, you don’t want to be on too strict of a schedule. (the ticket center times your tickets so that you have plenty of time between seeing Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein)."

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187307-i3300-k8540445-My_Trip_Report_1_night_from_munich_and_back-Hohenschwangau_Swabia_Bavaria.html

I took the carriage up last month and the bus down. There was a very long wait for the carriage. There are only a few and for about 20 minutes, none at all came along. There were people walking behind the carriage all the way up - at a slightly faster clip than the carriage. When the carriage stopped for a couple minutes along the way, the walkers passed us.

Take the bus both ways. Riding in the carriage is not any fun anyway - you're crammed in with strangers.

We took the bus up, walked a little further to Marienbrucke - and beyond - first. Then walked down to the castle for our tour. Marienbrucke was shrouded in fog the first time, so we walked back up, took photos, then took the bus back down the hill.

You could do it the way you plan, take the carriage up, see the castle, walk up to Marienbrucke, then take the bus down from (near) there.

We walked up because we didn't want to spend the money on the horse carriage and the bus lines were long. It's a hard hike if you are out of shape but if you take it slow, it's very pretty. It was good exercise for us. We didn't take a trail, we walked on the same road that the carriages drive on so we had to maneuver around the horse waste at times. But I don't regret the walk in hindsight. Honestly, I would have paid anything to take me down after the tour but it makes for great memories now. So you may have to be flexible if lines are backed up on the alternate transportation.

Jenny

When we went there I took the horse carriage, but never again. Those horses are severely overworked. Two horses drag a tremendous amount of weight up a steep hill. The driver had to beat some very tired animals to get up there. If the carriages were smaller it would be okay for the horses. Also I did not see them giving the animals a break. II saw some animals struggling to make it up the hill. There was nothing romantic about it