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Fussen - Horse Carriages

Good Day!
My wife and I are traveling to Europe next month for two weeks. We plan to stay over one night in Fussen after driving the Romantic Road from Rothenburg. We probably won't arrive until late in the day. My wife has a bad foot (nerve Injury from recent surgery). Does anyone have any detailed info on the horse carriages? Will we be able to get from our hotel in Fussen ( Altstadt - Hotel Zum Hechten) to the horse Carriages and do the Carriages run out of room quickly? How worried should I be about getting around? We need to drive to Munich after we sight see in time for dinner :) We're not looking to do an extensive tour of both castles, might not even go inside... just want to ride the carriages around and see the sights.. trying to avoid a lot of walking for her sake...

I was in Fussen about 20 years ago and remember walking up to the Neuschwanstein castle but was a lot younger and didn't pay much attention to the carriages..

Posted by
32919 posts

I'll be interested to see the answer to this question. I've never seen horse carriages in Füssen - only from the carpark area near the ticket booths at Neuschwanstein up the steep path towards Mary's Bridge and the entrance to the attraction.

It has been a couple of years so it will be interesting see what has changed.

Of course it is possible that they were there all the time and Nigel was just blind to them.

Posted by
20254 posts

You have a car, so the easy solution is to drive up to the castle car park. Then take the horse-drawn carriage up to the castle, and look around as you like, then take the carriage down when it comes around again. There is a small refreshment stand there if I remember rightly.

Posted by
19115 posts

I was there in October and we took the horse carriage up to "near" Neuschwanstein castle. The carriages depart from in front of Hotel Müller, up the hill from the ticket kiosk, and take you to just below the "Schlossrestaurant". From the Schlossrestaurant it is still about a 10 minute walk on a rather steep path up to the castle itself. Hotel Müller is about a 300 yd walk from the car park in Hohenschwangau and about half that from the ticket kiosk. I would rate the grade as medium.

It seems to me we waited about 10 minutes for the horse carriage, but the timing could be different for you depending on the time of year. It all depends on the length of the line. There were plenty of carriages and the loading proceeded swiftly, but with a long line waiting, it could still be some time. If you have reservations for a castle tour, 1½ hours should be enough time; if you are just going up to see the castle from the outside, time shouldn't be an issue.

There is one carriage route for Hohenschwangau and for Neuschwanstein, with different loading points, although they aren't far apart. You'll have to take separate round trips for each castle.

The horse carriages do not go to Mary's Bridge. There is a bus from near the carriage start-up point to Mary's Bridge.

Posted by
62 posts

We were there a few years ago and the horse carriages are primarily to transport up to the castle and back, not sight-see around. The walk up to Neuschwanstein from town is very steep and probably almost a mile. The carriage will take you almost 3/4 of the way and from there you proceed on foot. Depending on your wife's foot, boarding and de-boarding may be an issue, as it is quite a step into and out of the carriage. But the attendant will help and so can you - they are very patient. Just be prepared that you will be walking many times on inclines. Inside the castle there are several sets of circular stone stairs. Good views from some of the windows.