We had purchased the previous edition of Rick Steves' Vienna, Salzburg & Tirol travel guide to help plan a multi-week tour around Austria and Bavaria. We ordered his most recent travel guide (just released) to make sure we had up-to-date information and suggestions. We originally planned to rent a car, but decided to take trains on our entire trip. While in Fussen Germany, we wanted to follow Rick's suggestion for visiting Neuschwanstein Castle, Hohenschwangau Castle, Linderhof Castle, Oberammergau, and the surrounding mountain scenary. In the previous edition of the travel guide, there was a reference to a local travel company (called "House of LA") who offered an all-day tour to all of these sites. In the just released edition of the travel guide, we cannot find any mention of the "House of LA" tour company. Does anyone know if this local Fussen tour company is no longer in business? Is it longer recommended by Rick Steves for certain reasons? If this company is no longer in business or no longer recommended, are there other local Fussen tour companies that can provide an all-day tour to the Rick Steves suggested sites? We are definitely not interested in renting a car even if for the day. Too big of a hassle. Thanks in advance for your help/guidance!
Posted by
Paradise
7720 posts
Is it longer recommended by Rick Steves for certain reasons?
You should direct this question to RE Europe's headquarters. We on the forum do not know why Rick decides this or that.
Since you have elected to use public transportation - well, you said trains - you should also know that there is an efficient and comprehensive BUS system that covers journeys where there are no train tracks (like Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, and Linderhof) as well as places with train stations that cannot be easily reached by train from somewhere like Füssen.
Rick probably has instructions for riding the bus from Füssen station to the "Neuschwanstein Castles, Schwangau" bus stop for visiting N'stein and H'schwangau. If not, just copy the stop name into the DB itinerary search engine as your "to" station:
(You can probably enter the hotel name or address where you are staying as your "from" station if you want to. The DB site gets you anywhere from anywhere, pretty much, if there's a way to get there.)
Füssen > Oberammergau is possible by bus and makes for a scenic ride of around 90 minutes. see the DB site for bus details.
Füssen > Linderhof (Ettal, Schloss Linderhof) is unfortunately NOT so easy by bus and takes a long time. That said, Oberammergau > Linderhof is pretty doable by comparison. Sample schedule:
10:25 - 10:47, direct
Oberammergau > the "Neuschwanstein Castles, Schwangau" stop is also doable.
8:23 - 9:49, 1 transfer
10:23 - 11:51, direct
Oberammergau > Füssen rail station ... Same journeys/same buses as for "Neuschwanstein Castles, Schwangau", just stay on those buses 9 minutes longer.
So for the places you want to see, complete independence is possible, if you want it , without an expensive tour or private guide, but IMHO you should do yourselves the favor of staying in the lovely town of Oberammergau, which makes your outings more feasible, instead of Füssen.
Info on Oberammergau+ Linderhof (details are dated) with walking tour of the town:
https://distinctlydeutschland.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DE49921-scaled.jpg
Oberammergau is ALSO quite close to a real gem - the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Wieskirche.
Oberammergau > Wies Wieskirche, Steingaden: 10:23 - 11:07, direct bus
Bus schedules vary a little day by day so you can't rely on my sample info alone. Use the DB site.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thanks for the thorough and informative reply, Russ! We definitely are aware of the bus options. Rick's travel book suggests train travelers use Fussen as the home base, so we've already booked hotel reservations based on Fussen. We did consider Oberammergau as the base, but in the end decided on Fussen for other reasons besides Rick recommending Fussen for train travelers.
As you point out, the challenges of reaching all of the sites by bus can be a challenge. In fact, Rick's book mentions travelers not renting a car may have to use taxis in addition to buses. [Note: Even with a rental car, his travel guide recommends fitting all of these sites into one day with just 15 minutes at Wieskirche and just one hour in Oberammergau, so its very tight.] That's why we are curious about one-day tour package options so we can avoid the pressures of getting from one site to another and just focus on enjoying the stops.
In the end, if we absolutely have to, we will revert back to a car rental in Fussen, which is Rick's primary suggestion, or just visit one of the 2 Fussen castles and bus or taxi to a limited number of the other sites. We just wanted to avoid a rental car there if possible, given all of our other travels in Austria and Germany are avoiding it.
We completely agree with you that Rick's team are the ones that would ultimately know why they dropped the brief mention of that tour company, but we thought prehaps in the last year or so, someone on the travel forum might have used that company, or know of other local companies offering one-day tours to all of a majority of these sites, so we could avoid the rental option.
Thanks again for your help!!!
Posted by
Green Bay
22702 posts
"House of LA" is actually a hotel in Fuessen. Their website shows tours, but when you click on them you get "website does not exist" and shunted to tours offered from Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
https://www.housela.de/
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thanks Sam. We no longer have the previous version of Rick's book, as we discarded the old one after we ordered and received the new one. However we do recall that House of LA was a lodging place in that previous travel edition and that an all-day tour departed from that location. In that earlier travel guide, it was unclear if the House of LA (lodging site) was directly offering the tours or whether it was simply offering tours through a 3rd party. We ran an internet search a week or so ago on "House of LA" as well and noticed exactly what you noticed. Even thought it appears as a dead link, you can scroll down and get to some tours. One of them is mislabeled as a half day tour that is listed as their most popular, but when you click on the tour it is really an all-day (8 hour) tour visiting alsmost all of the sites.
Given it initially comes up as if it's a dead link on the "House of LA" website, we can't tell if the tour company at the bottom of the screen is still valid or not. It appears to be a tour compnay called "bavariancastletour.com". We just don't want to walk into a scam or tour company that is going out of business or has gone out of business. We may call the Fussen hotel where we have booked reservations and see if they have any insight on that company or others. If not, perhaps our hotel will know of a local chamber of commerce type organization in Fussen that can help us out. Thanks again!
Posted by
Paradise
7720 posts
Rick's travel book suggests train travelers use Fussen as the home
base, so we've already booked hotel reservations based on Fussen.
My Rick-book is ancient. It calls bus service "spotty" and the ride between Oberammergau and Füssen a "pain." If his current book is recommending using Füssen - at the very end of a minor trunk railway - as a base for outings to highlights in the area, - and simultaneously discouraging bus traveI - I must wonder what he has in mind for transportation, or if he's just underinformed. The only train option is to go back the way you came.
I feel a bit for those who book no-cancellation rooms based on Rick's advice and end up with with few options. Forum member Lee has been touting Oberammergau as a base for outings for many years. He's the one who tipped me off, in posts like this one from 2010:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/to-the-west/oberammergau-germany
Sorry, can't help with the private tour.