Linderhof or Ettal Monastery?

If I am reading this correctly, you want to go to all these places in one day? I would suggest you choose a couple and enjoy them rather than rush thru to check them off your bucket list. We have been to all you mentioned, and enjoyed them equally. I read all the negative comments about Neuschwanstein, but we found it magical and went again a second time on another trip years later. Every castle is different, and I have never felt it was like a theme park. Ettal Abbey is beautiful but you don’t need to spend a lot of time there. We stopped on our way from Linderhof, which was very beautiful both the castle and the gardens. Oberammergau is such a lovely town, I think it would be a shame not to spend at least one whole day and one night there.

Linderhof over Ettal.

That’s a lot to accomplish with such a large group. Hopefully you booked the first tour of Neuschwanstein. FYI… Linderhof is a far better tour than Neuschwanstein. Interior is over the top.

There’s an alpine coaster (Sommerrodelbahn) right next to Neuschwanstein.
Tegelberg Sommerrodelbahn.

I’d substitute Mittenwald for Oberammergau. But if Oberammergau is more logistically feasible, then go there.

The Wieskirche in Steingaden is SO worth seeing.

I just took relatives on a trip through this area on their first visit. Linderhof was 4-5 hours, with the kids going everywhere. Ettal was 1.5 hours and that included coffee and pastries. Oberammergau is a drive by, unless you want to shop the tourist places or ride the sled.

Linderhof is much better than Neuschwanstein. Buy beer at Ettal. There's plenty of other buildings with murals outside of Oberammergau.

Thank you everyone for your input, it was very helpful! My dad is 81 & my mom is 77 so we are trying to do as much as we can in one trip for them :)

Just came back from Germany. My 16 year old granddaughter and I took the last audio tour of the day at Neuschwanstein and were very happy that we did, since the crowds had thinned considerably. I would imagine that the same would be true of an early morning tour. We loved Neuschwanstein and are glad we booked the audio guide because 1) no trouble hearing regardless of where you were in the group and 2) can't image live guides consistently providing all of the detail that was in the audio guide.

We also went to Linderhof, as well as the Residenz and Nymphenburg in Munich, and felt that each was distinct and interesting. We did not encounter crowds at Linderhof. The detail inside the castle is amazing, and the setting is gorgeous. Linderhof and Neuschwanstein are very different.

We stopped for half an hour at Ettal. We did not take a tour; just went inside to look at the church. If even that amount of time is too much, I would take it off your itinerary and do Linderhof.

My favorite memory of Ettal is the liquor they make there. When I was there in 2022, I think we could purchase gift bottles at the Linderhoff gift shop! Definitely agree Limderhof is they way to go.

I am here just to thank everyone on this thread for being so helpful. It is one of the better threads I have read (and I have already read a lot of them!). I am currently spending the weekend planning a short trip to Fussen as part of a trip to Bavaria. We're seeing Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau the first day, spending the afternoon doing as much hiking in the area as we can and staying overnight in Fussen. We are then seeing Linderhoff the next day before driving back to Munich. I was debating stopping in Ettal or the Wieskirche on the way. Since the Wieskirche is a little further out of the way, I had thought of not going there. But after reading this thread I now think we should. We can take our time at Linderhoff and then visit the Wieskirche and just try to get back to Munich by dinner time instead of getting to Linderhoff early and then trying to get back to Munich in time to fit in a museum visit before dinner. Maybe even have a beer at Ettal in between! (gf is driving.) Thanks for the tips!

Alex, walk across Marienbrucke and hike up the hill for 20 to 30 minutes to take a shot of Neuschwanstein from a different angle. Hike around Alpsee after your castle visits. The King's museum is worth a visit. Hotel Muller used to have a great version of goulash soup (shredded beef).

Ettal is a more worthwhile visit than Wieskirche. Good restaurant across the road.

So great to hear that this post was helpful to you Alex! Thank you for sharing that. I would highly recommend going to Plansee if you have time, it was truly beautiful & go swimming in the Lake. My sister & niece said it was the best part of our trip to Europe & we swam in Capri as well. Also, while at Neuschwanstein castle, if we could have handled the walk, hiking up seems like it was a lot of fun. We chose to take the horse drawn carriages and I wish we had taken the bus as the carriages was nothing special. They had it completely covered in green tarp so we didn't get to see the scenery on the way up. It was sprinkling part of the day so maybe that was why they had the tarp but it took away from the experience for sure. The alpine coaster was amazing & also the town of Oberaggau with all it's beautifully painted buildings. I wish we had time to go to Fussen as I read it was a good place to stay. I hope you enjoy your time in Germany. We had a wonderful time

We loved Neuschwanstein Castle - we did a skip the line tour with Viator which included a lot of history.

The alpine coaster and Oberramagau was one of our favorite days with two teen boys.

I don't know if "skip the line" is an accurate description, but that's how they were listed on Viator. Essentially, all tickets were sold out for the day we were in the area, but Viator had the tickets. We met a tour guide at the bottom of the hill, rode the bus to the top, then he gave us some history near the bridge. We went on the bridge, then we walked to another spot where he gave us more history. We continued walking and stopped below the castle where he had additional history for us. Then he gave us our tickets & we went into the castle (without the guide). We did the audio tour, met the guide outside, and proceeded to our horse and carriage ride down (which I didn't realize was part of the ticket). We really enjoyed it.