Füssen --> Zugspitze via HIKE

The hike up Zugspitze takes all day from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, not Füssen. I'm sure there is some route that could get you there on foot from Füssen, but it would probably take a few days.

I have some hiking guides that map out routes up Zugspitze, but I'm actually in Austria right now, so I can't give you the details. I've attempted the hike three times myself, but had to turn back each time because of bad weather.

Thanks, Tom, for the reply. I was planning on taking public tranist of some sort from Fussen, the question was to where. So, it sounds like I should go from Fussen to G-P, then from G-P for my hike? I found this PDF, unfortunately I can't read German but it looks like route one leaves from G-P (can you confirm?) and that route 2 leaves from Erhwald. Would you recommend Erhwald over G-P? Or a different route than (1) or (2)?

Thanks for all your help!

I've never tried the Erhwald route, so I can't comment on it.

Route 1 doesn't require any special equipment, but it takes a very long time. You need to start very early... you may even want to consider spending the night before in GaP, if possible.

Route 5 is the quickest, mainly because you take cable car half way up, but parts of it are a technical climb. I've hiked up to the part you need to climb, and it's fairly easy up until that point. Not being a climber, though, I couldn't go any further.

I've never tried route 4. It looks like it involves long stretches of steep hiking, but no technical climbs

I think I would definitely spend the night in the town closest to the start of your hike, Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Ehrwald. You can go by bus from the Füssen station to Garmisch-P in about 2-2½ hours via Oberammergau. If you want to start in Ehrwald, take a bus from Füssen station to Pfronten, Germany, or Reutte, Austria, then on the train (Außerfernbahn, direction Garmisch-Partenkirchen) to Ehrwald.

Gotcha, thanks you two for the help -- very useful. It sounds like it might be more work just getting to the basecamp/start than actually getting to the mountain. Maybe I should look closer to Fussen for places to hike/climb. Do either of you know of anything closer I should check out before I commit to Zugspitze?

Füssen is up against some mountains. Surely there is hiking/climbing around there. If you go about half an hour by bus to Pfronten there is hiking there, including climbing up to the ruins of Falkenstein, on which Ludwig planned to build his next castle.

Füssen straddles the border between the Allgäuer and Ammergauer Alpine ranges. I may have a hiking guide at home for the Allgäuer, but I won't be back in the US until next week, if you can wait.

In the meantime, try Googling some combination of the names of the above ranges with the words "Bergsteiger", and "Wanderführer".

On a personal note, I have done short hikes with my dog in the mountains above Neuschwanstein while waiting for friends and relatives to finish their tours of the castles. I don't know how many established climbing routes exist up there, but the hiking possibilities are vast.