fussen castles schedules

Since June 17 is a sunday you can travel on an Bayern ticket before 9am. I'd take the 8:40 train; you will arrive at Hohenschwangau (after a transfer to the bus in Füssen) by 10:43. Please note that due to constructions works on the Munich - Lindau line, many of the trains do not run on June 17. If you see a red triangle next to the departure time look up at bottom what it means (either you have to transfer to a substitute bus or, worst case, the train doesn't run at all).

visit the first castle (no more than hour and a half visit) and then Newswanstein for maybe 2 hours

Do you mean spend an hour and half getting to the castle as well as taking the tour, because the tours of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein each take about 30 to 35 minutes. You have to go with a guide; you can't just wander around inside for as long as you like.

I've always had time between picking up my tickets to have lunch at Hotel Müller (the white building just uphill from the ticket kiosk). Request tours starting about 2-2½ hours after the train arrives in Füssen. I think they automatically schedule the 2nd tour to give you time to get to the second castle.

Be aware that the time you request and the time you are scheduled may be very different-plus you must pick up your tickets 90 minutes before your tour. We also came from Munich this past week on a Bayern ticket and my original request was 1:30 for the first castle tour time. We were set for 12:55, but the confirmation said pick up tickets 60 minutes ahead. When I asked if it was 60 or 90 minutes, they said 90 - which was before our train would arrive. Plus it is a 5-10 minute walk from the bus stop to the ticket office. Reservation # 2 had us touring Hohenschwangau at 2:55 and Neuschawanstein at 5:50 - not my preference but better. When I picked up my tickets (we did both castles plus the museum), the ticket agent said those times were not good and rearranged for us. We arrived around 12:45, did the museum 1st for about an hour, ate a snack on the way uphill to Hohenschwangau, toured it at 2:55, took the bus to Mary's Bridge, then walked down to Neuschwanstein, toured it at 4:55, then downhill & back to the train station for the 6:50 back to Munich. It was a long day, but fun!

That's great to know because we too had weird hours on the tickets we just reserved. We're coming from Fussen, bought a King's ticket and asked for a 10am tour since we'd have to get there 90 minutes ahead. They gave us a 9:55 first castle tour and then a 12:25 tour of Neuschwanstein. And then the reservation says you must pick it up 60 minutes ahead of time. It's very confusing. We would have booked an earlier time if in fact, you only have to come an hour early.

Oh well.........