Munich Day Trip Ludwig Castles or Saltzburg? Your opinion plz

Linderhof is not a bad place. Extensive gardens, the guided tour of the castle is not bad. Neuschwanstein is impressive seen from a distance, but there is a big dissonance between the long time spent getting there, the crowds, the queues and the guided tour, that often is too short. I would prefer Salzburg - ny idea.

I recommend Salzburg. The scenery from the train is beautiful, and walking around Salzburg is very easy. The RS walking tour gives you lots of information and then you can decide where to spend more time before taking the train back. We also visited Neuschwanstein last year (did not go in). While it is "iconic" (I used quotes because I think that word is overused), I think Salzburg is a more overall interesting place.

Have you considered a day trip via train to Dachau? We have been to both Salzburg and the castles and if given the choice between those two options I would recommend Salzburg but we took a day from Munich and had an easy train ride to Dachau which I would highly recommend. It is well done and from a historic prospect not to be missed. Neuschwanstein was very crowded and the tour was very short and disappointing.

Of your choices, Salzburg.

An outing you might not have considered is Herrenchiemsee, a King Ludwig II structure on Herrenchiemsee Island in the middle of Lake Chiemsee:

http://www.dw.com/en/herrenchiemsee-a-dash-of-island-magic-mixed-with-megolamania/a-18524402

To get there, you take the direct train from Munich to Prien (1 hour) and a ferry to the island.

From Prien there's a direct train to Aschau where you can catch a gondola ride for a view of the lake, a view of the Alps from the Sonnenalm terrace, and maybe a bit of walking:

http://kampenwand.de/index.php?rex_resize=835h__panoramakarte_sommer.jpg

From Achau Bahnhof there are buses to the Kampenwand Gondola Talstation. There is also a castle, Hohenaschau, on the hill across from the Kampenwand, but it visiting hours are rather limited.

I would choose Salzburg, hands down! No need to torture yourself on a bus tour, because it's easy to reach by train and then tour on your own. The city is very walkable and made even more so by downloading Rick's audio guide. It's a city that is filled with charm & friendly people. If you are interested in history, be sure to look for the Stolpersteine brass plaques in the sidewalks, as we found many of them in Salzburg. Our visit to Neuschwanstein was a huge disappointment. Seeing the "castle" in the distance was the main highlight. The tour inside was rushed, crammed with people and you have to fight the crowds on the grounds. Just my opinion, but we didn't find the experience worth our time and energy. Totally over-rated...On the other hand, we loved our stay in Salzburg!

Given your choices, I vote Salzburg. Ludwig's castles don't interest me is the main reason.

Having just visited Germany and Austria in May, I can easily say that I would steer people clear of the Neuschwanstein experience. It was jam packed with tourists (which you will see everyhwere, but it was 3x as bad here as anywhere else). The tour itself was the worst one that we took during our trip as it was rushed, very canned and lacking anything special. With that said, it is very picturesque, so if that is what is most important to you, great, but every shot you take will have 100 people in it. Also, as you mentioned, there was construction going on when I was there. (Here's a picture of what it was like then: https://www.flickr.com/photos/r4hand/34557338720/in/album-72157682404020760/ )

Salzburg was a neat town with a lot to do, and was easily the better stop during our trip.

Either way, have a fantastic time!
Robert

y'all rock!! thx :)

Robert F hit the nail on the head. Was there three days ago. Picturesque...yes. Tours...disappointing. I always thought Rick's explanation in his book was the abbreviated version. Not so. The tour is the abbreviated of the abbreviated version. Not funny. Gratefully...we had a car and took a nice drive that included small towns and Linderhof castle, which we enjoyed. Otherwise would have considered our days there a bust. I would definitely not recommend going there on public transportation because the amount of people there could make you feel trapped (as you will be). If I were to do it again... I would rent a car again (w/ gps) and would stay in Ruette, Austria. Take pictures or tour castles from early in the morning and drive to the away small towns and castle locations afterward.

"I would definitely not recommend going there on public transportation because the amount of people there could make you feel trapped (as you will be). If I were to do it again... I would rent a car again (w/ gps) and would stay in Ruette, Austria."

I'm on the same page with Robert and rog.rmea about the Neuschwanstein tour. So much time given over to such a short and inadequate tour if you're making a day trip from Munich.

If you go to Füssen, the area is worthwhile on other grounds - the scenery, hiking and Füssen itself for starters. It's worth staying over and spending some time:

https://en.fuessen.de/romantic-soul.html

But I have to part ways with the idea that getting there by public transport is a bad experience. In fact, it's quite lovely and very cheap as well. Y'all need to try it - or at least check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ckkP_nUR0

And if you're not going to Neuschwansten, then you don't have to travel to the final Hohennschwangau stop, so you have NO TOURIST-PACKED SHUTTLE BUS to squeeze into like sardines into a tin can.

And I wouldn't trade a stay in Füssen for one in Reutte, that's for sure.

You can actually get around the area pretty well by public transport if you look into it. A short bus ride from Füssen gets you to Reutte, where you can take a train through the Austrian Tirol for a truly scenic train ride on the Ausserfernbahn Railway to Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Mittenwald.

http://www.diesellokguru.de/images/D2014/D2014-4/D965-111-027-2014-04-17-23.jpg

Page on Mittenwald and the Zugspitze in Garmisch: http://hastingshouse.typepad.com/hastings_house_us/travel_in_europe/

Robert F. Thanks so much for mentioning the construction and providing the photo. This development had escaped our planning attention (altho I now see that the N'stein website does include a disclosure.) We hadn't planned on taking the N'stein tour based on the frequent descriptions of it being a particularly bad deal. We may still go to tour Hohenschwangau, but at least we won't be surprised by the construction and will probably forego the walk to Mary's Bridge for photos. (The construction is in the castle's foreground from the Bridge, correct? I failed to get that photo when I first visited in the 1970s and was looking forward to a "do-over").

It certainly pays to check the Forum frequently before a trip!

rca

Take meds and go on the big bus if you need to. I get motion sickness bad on busses but managed to survive the RS Greece tour and will survive the RS GAS tour next year through meds, sitting up front to have a view out the windshield, and sheer force of will.