Fussen to Munich Airport? Rent car in Fussen?

Check your connections on www.bahn.com, which is more up to date than any printed timetable. If you leave Füssen at 10:06, you are at 12:55 at the airport. While driving is faster the time gained is lost with takeover and turnig in of the car again. Use a Bayern ticket, which costs € 31 for two people - much cheaper than a rental car.

There is a ticket sales counter in the Füssen Bahnhof. It's manned Mo-Fr 7:40-12:10, 12:40-15:40.

There is also a ticket automat that can be used anytime. It should accept your American credit card, but the Bayern-Ticket for 2 only costs 31€, so cash should not be a problem.

Although it's possible to have delays with the train, in general, your chances of arriving on time at the airport are far better by train than by car (you don't have to worry about getting lost or stuck in a traffic jam).

My understanding from Rick's book is the train table is rather confusing at the train station in Fussen.

I don't think the "train table" is confusing, but, naturally, it will only show you direct trains to other stations, not multi-train connections. The clerk at the ticket counter can give you a printout of the connections you will need to get to the airport. So will the ticket automat, but you need to learn how to work it. Or, you can use the Bahn schedule and fare (Query) webpage now to find your connections. But, essentially, you need to get to the Munich Hbf and then take the next S-Bahn (S1 or S8) from the underground station there to get to the airport. (SLA019's suggestion has you taking the train towards the Munich Hbf, but getting off one stop earlier at Pasing and changing to the S8. That way is a little faster, but you have to be ready to get off at Pasing, whereas the train terminates at the Hbf.) At the Hbf, you will have access to 6 S-Bahn an hour, roughly one every 10 minutes, to the airport.

You can buy your Bayern Ticket online right now at the DB site if you like and thus skip ticket machines and ticket counters. Use the page Lee has linked to. Pre-purchase may spare you time and aggravation at the ticket machine - that can happen with credit cards at ticket machines sometimes. Just make sure you buy it for the exact date of travel and for the right number of passengers. It will be valid only on that date.

To find schedules for your date and to buy tickets... use the correct station names...

From station: Type in Fuessen or Füssen
To station: MUC München Airport (Type in MUC and select from the pull-down menu)

When the train itinerary options appear, look under the "chg." column for the number of changes of train (either 1 or 2) - the fewer the better.

Click on "show details" at the left of any itinerary box. The 10:06 departure, which has only 1 change, gives you 7 minutes at the "München-Pasing" station to move from one platform to the next. That is normally enough time to make the switch. If your first train is late and you miss that connecting train at 12:05, you can just catch a later train from München-Pasing to MUC - the 12:25 for example will arrive at 13:15 at MUC. (You can find all later direct train options between München-Pasing and MUC at the DB site.)

And if you should happen to miss that connecting train 12:05, don't worry about your ticket - when you purchase the Bayern Ticket online, you will buy it for a certain departure time, but you can use it at any hour you wish that day (on weekdays, any hour after 9 am) on any of the regional trains.

You can choose to do as Lee suggests and specify Munich (München) as the TO station instead. That will yield different travel times. Your Bayern Ticket will cover this routing as well, no matter what routing or time you buy it for

I personally prefer early airport arrival and might look at departures around 9 am instead.

How are you getting to Füssen? Will you be arriving from Munich? If so it will just be the same in reverse...

It looks like there is only one train departing Füssen each hour. On alternating hours these trains go to Munich Hbf or Augsburg Hbf. That is what you would see on the departure "table" at the Füssen Bhf. The 9:05 train, which I, too, would prefer is going to Augsburg, so you have to change in Buchloe at around 10:15 to the train going to Munich. It is a change from one side of the platform in Buchloe to the other side - real easy. Normally, if the train from Füssen is a little late, they will hold the train to Munich. If not, the next train is in a half an hour.

If you choose to make the change in Pasing, you should know that there are S-Bahn through that station every few minutes. Make sure you take the S8 that "says" it is going to the Flughafen (airport). If you miss one, there is another in 20 minutes. There is also an S8 going the other direction, from the airport to Herrshing or Weßling or ? Don't take it.

If you choose to go on to the Hbf and make your change there, there are 6 S-Bahn per hour to the Flughafen. Go down into the underground station and stand on the platform between the tracks going opposite directions. The two S-Bahn going to the airport will be on opposite sides, going in opposite directions. There are lighted signs over either side of the platform indicting the next three trains in that direction, their number (eg, S8), where they are going (?), and how long until they get to the station. Look for an S1 or S8 going to the Flughafen and take the next one. If you take the S1, sit in a car on the back half of the train. The train splits in Neufahrn and the front half goes to Freising. You want the back half to the airport.

Wow! Thank you so much! I am printing this and bringing on our trip. We are definitely going to leave as early as reasonable to make certain we have enough time. I think we need to be at the airport three hours in advance for the international flight to Spain via Lufthansa, which I forgot it was an international flight. I think I will buy the tickets in advance! Great suggestion! And so relieved to have this detailed information. Again, thank you!

You never told us the date, or the DOW. If it's a Sat/Sun/Holiday, you can use the Bayern-Ticket to leave any time. If it's a week/work day, you have to wait until 9 am to use the ticket. You can leave earlier, you just have to have full fare ticket coverage for travel before 9 am, or a full fare, Flexifare tickt to the airport.

If you are flying from Munich to Spain then, yes, because Spain and Germany are different countries that is technically an international flight.

Except that, because both Spain and Germany are in the Schengen area, there will be no immigration or customs checks, and it is much like flying from Kansas City to Milwaukee. 90 minutes to 2 hours ahead will be plenty of time.

3 hours is recommended for flights to and from North America, or from Schengen Europe long haul to the rest of the world.

As Nigel said. 60-90 minutes are enough for an intra-Schengen flight. There is no passport control and the only bottleneck is security. There is also no check-in desk, everything is "self-service". Print out your boarding pass at a check-in screen (you will need your alphanumeric booking code) and take your luggage to the drop off point. There you scan your boarding pass and print your luggage label - voilà.

NB. If you arrive by train, follow the signs to Terminal 2. For better orientation you may want to download the airport guide.

So that is a relief!! Three hours before flight is not necessary. Fussen to Munich airport will be on Monday 8 October. And, yes, we are staying in Munich first and taking the train to Fussen, so it will be reverse. Now I know to buy the Bayern tickets to Fussen. Thank you! I am leaning towards taking the 10:00 train with one transfer, just to lessen mistakes? But I am still on the fence with that one. Definitely going to purchase both train tickets ahead of time though thanks to your help!

Now I know to buy the Bayern tickets to Fussen.

Bayern tickets aren't "to" or "from" anywhere. They are valid on any local train or local bus anywhere in Bayern (Bavaria) for one day. You can use one to go to Füssen and back to Munich, then on to the airport.
You can buy them pre-dated on the DB website and print them out before you leave home.

Thank you! My last question: We were hoping to rent a car from Hertz in Fussen Saturday all day for a drive to Highline 179, Wieskirche, Zugsplitz, Ettal Abbey, Partnach Gorge, Oberammergau, Garmisch, and/or Linderhof Castle. Of course not all of these! Just whatever seems to be the most reasonable. I haven't mapped the route out yet. The car rental for the day (9 am to 7:30 pm) is approximately 136 euro for an automatic. Manual car options are much cheaper, starting around 62 euro. I do know how to drive a manual, but it has been years and I don't know how wise that would be.

I read this on the Hertz website: "Should the vehicle be driven outside Germany, a Cross Border Fee of €29.75 (including tax) will apply except for customers on business contract rates."

I know Fussen is right next to Austria, and I am pretty certain some of my above wish list places are in Austria. Will it be a one-time charge do you think? Or every time we go back and forth? Are there toll roads? Sounds like this might be one very expensive day! We are excited to drive for our first time in Europe, but I may be TOO excited. We only have three nights, and my hope was to do Neuschwanstein Castle and Tegelberg for the gondola and luge (if it is still open) on Sunday since Hertz is closed on Sundays. (I was hoping to ride rented bikes to those locations from hotel) And Saturday I was hoping to rent the car and explore. Perhaps it would be wise to slow down and forgo the car trip? Save it for another trip? I am eager and grateful for all suggestions and advice!

If you go to Garmisch, Zugspitze, Ettal, Oberammergau, and/or Linderhof via Wieskirche, you will not have to go through Austria. As long as you stay in Germany, there won't be toll roads. Only if you go to Reutte will you cross the border into Austria. The 179 Bridge, of course, is in Austria. As long as you bring the car back to Füssen, I don't know that the rental company would know you had been in Austria, but with GPS tracking today, who knows.

If you did Füssen to Wieskirche to Oberammergau to Ettal to Linderhof and back the same way, you wouldn't go through Austria.

I have spent a lot of time in that area, although I've always used public transportation (mostly buses), so I haven't driven, but that area is pretty flat - not a real challenging drive. If you've driven a shift before, it shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you, Lee! I will start on mapping out a route to avoid crossing over into Austria. That seems a good place to start. And I will re-think the manual versus automatic.