I'm traveling to Munich for 6 days and we plan on staying in Munich for three nights and Garmisch-Partenkirchen the other three nights. My question(s) are which place makes more sense to stay first? Do we stay in Munich the first three days or Garmisch-Partenkirchen? We are flying in and out of Munich so to me either makes sense. Also from which place do you recommend traveling to Neuschwanstein castle as a day trip? We will not have a car or anything, we only plan on using public transportation.
We need more details to give you the best answer possible.
What time are your flights?
At what time do you arrive?
At what time is your scheduled departure?
We are arriving in Munich May 7th around 3:00 PM and departing from Munich May 14th around 12:00 PM.
I would recommend going to Garmish first, then returning for your stay in Munich. I sure would not want to attempt a trip from Garmich to the Munich Airport with a departure from Munich at 12:00 - checking in to your flight no later than 10:00 AM would be very, very iffy. I don't believe it can be done
I think I would want to be nearer the airport than Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but it's not as critical as all that. There is a train leaving Garmisch-Partenkirchen Bahnhof at 7:07, connecting you with a S-Bahn at Pasing, and getting you to the airport at 9:35. That's always been enough time at the airport for me, but I only take a carry-on. So if you don't mind getting up in time for the 7:07 train ... .
In the other direction, if you actually get in at 3:00 (1500), the next connection leaves on the S-Bahn at 1524. You are not likely to make that connection unliess the plane is early. The next connection is an hour later, at 1624, giving you almost an hour and a half to catch it. That connection gets you to Garmisch-Partenkirchen Bhf at 1854, almost 7 PM.
So the question is, are you willing to get up early, or get into GaP after dinner time.
An alternative would be to start with Munich, then go to GaP second, but come back the evening before and stay in Freising for the night. You could get up later, have a leisurely breakfast and go to the Freising Bahnhof. There is a bus from Freising Bhf to the airport every 20 minutes; the trip takes 17 minutes. You could leave Freising Bhf at 9:05 and get to the airport at 9:22 in plenty of time for you flight.
Here is a list of Freising properties to spend the night. The list has about 20 hotels and guest houses plus 7 private rooms. For access to the bus and for economy, I would suggest either Bayerischer Hof or Zur Gred. Booking.com only shows 6 properties within walking distance of the Freising Bahnhof; Bayerischer Hof is one of them, Zur Gred is not.
As for Neuschwanstein, there is a direct bus leaving GaP Bhf at 940, getting to Hohenschwangau at 1146. In early May that might be early enough to get tickets for Neuschwanstein, but you can always make reservations for after 1300 (1 pm) and it should all fit.
Caution: the last all bus connection back to GaP leaves Hohenschwangau at 1618 (4:18 pm). If you stay later than that, you'll have to take a bus to Reutte and a train back to GaP.