Neuschwanstein Castle

If it were me I would make it a day trip. Sounds like you are heading back to Munich anyhow. Just arrive in Fussen earlier in the day, see the castles and just train back to Munich when you are done. Its only a 2 hour trip. Why go through all these mental exercises worrying about luggage, etc.

You probably need an early start if you're determined to see both N'stein and H'schwangau and maybe enjoy yourself on a more relaxed day. Try this: Head out early on the 7:51 train - arrive Füssen 9:55. That should give you time to drop your bags at the hotel before 11. The Bayern ticket works for everything if it's Sat. or Sun. If it's a weekday, then you pay an additional €22 for the journey as far as Biessenhofen, (where your train leaves after 9 am and where your Bayern ticket kicks in for the rest of the trip to Füssen and the rest of the day.) If it turns out to be a valuable outing, you'll remember the experience, not the €22 extra.

If the extra expense and hassle get you down, you can stay right in Munich and visit Nymphenburg, where Ludwig II was born and where there's more to keep your attention anyway:

http://www.theworldisabook.com/16991/munich-with-kids-nymphenburg-palace/
http://www.schloss-nymphenburg.de/englisch/palace/index.htm

I've put two regulation carryon bags in a large locker several times with no problem. A large locker should be big enough. Trial fit your suitcase in a large locker at the Munich Hbf; Bahn lockers are a standard size.

No one can guarantee that you will find a free locker at the Füssen Bahnhof, but I've used lockers there twice, and there has always been one available. In the event that all lockers are taken, I have been told by the tourist information office at the bus stop in Hohenschwangau that one can leave a suitcase there behind the counter while visiting the castles.

What about going to Füssen or Hohenschwangau in the afternoon, checking in and spending the night, then visiting the castles first thing in the morning and picking up your luggage from the hotel mid-day to return to Munich.

Why are you planning to stay overnight in Füssen? Are you worried about the total time there? If you buy a single trip, MVV ticket for the inner zone of Munich for 2,90€, you can take the 8:53 train from the Hbf. The MVV ticket gets you to Pasing (no time limit on that ticket). You'll leave Pasing at 9:00, so the Bayern-Ticket will be valid from the time you leave Pasing. The 8:53 train gets to Füssen at 10:55, giving you time to catch the 11:05 bus to Hohenschwangau at 11:13.

Or, do what I did once elsewhere. Pack a small daybag with a change of underwear and toiletries for the night. Leave your big suitcase at your hotel in Munich or check it in a locker at the Munich Hbf (there is also a checkroom at the Hbf if the suitcase is huge). They probably won't allow you to take the daybag into the castles, but there are checkrooms (Garderobe) at each castle where you can leave a backpack while on the tour.

THREAD- Yeah I know just making it a day trip is the easiest thing to do. I should have mentioned that I am wanting to spend the night in order to see the castle from my room at night, or at least get castle pictures at night.

RUSS- Nymphenburg might be another place for me to see!Yeah spending an extra 22E might be worth it.

LEE-The only reason I plan to spend the night in Fussen is kind of stupid....I just want to see the castle lit at night when it is dark out from my hotel. I looked into late night trains back to Munich. Not the best schedule to see the castle late at night. The only one that looks doable is 22:37 train and the transfer and arrive back in Munich at 1:39 in the morning.

Would you say that there are ample large lockers? I read mixed things about the TI office in that they will only hold small pieces. This might be out of doubt though.

Seeing the castles in the the morning after spending the night would have worked out but I'm going to Nuremberg early the next morning and trying to do a lot so I plan on starting my day early there.

LEE PART II
You actually just gave me a great tip that I will probably do! I never thought about just checking in my large suitcase at the Munich train station. That actually seems like the best idea. Thank you! I've had 2 tips from this forum that are things I never would have thought of doing that allow me to do the things I want to do. You're a freakin genius!

According to this page from the Munich metro (MVV) website, there are 1,416 lockers in the Hauptbahnhof (it doesn't say how many are small and how many are large).

A large one is 47cm wide x 61cm high x 91cm deep. That's 18½" x 24" x almost 36" deep. That's 15,921 cu in. By comparison, regulation carryon luggage is 2772 cu in. A large locker has almost 6 times the volume of a regulation carryon.

A small locker is 16½" x 11" x almost 30" deep.

There is also a check room at Munich Hbf where size almost doesn't matter, but I don't think you will need it.

Yeah I saw that. Thanks again Lee :)

Did you check for availability of tickets to visit the castles yet? If not, I suggest you look into it. My husband and I misunderstood the Rick Steves information. We thought that tickets to the castles weren't needed until just a couple of days prior to our visit. Now, a little more than a month out, we are disappointed that the reserved tickets to Neuschwanstein are not available during our stay. :( You should reserve asap for your trip if you haven't yet. http://www.neuschwanstein.de/

You should check availability of tickets for the castles. I can't help you with logistics but I recommend doing Hohenschwangau first. That tour provided a lot of information on the family, Ludwig II and his motivations for the castle building. Neuschwanstein is stunning on the outside and less so inside. I still would do that again, but we really enjoyed Hohenschwangau. When you check on tickets, perhaps you could check via email what they might suggest about luggage storage.

Okay now the last 2 posts have me worried along with something else! I'm using non military time for this so I apologize.

If I leave Munich at 9:21 I would have to go on 2 separate trains and a train replacement bus so leaving Munich at 10:03 arriving at Fussen Station at 12:55 via 2 separate trains (and no train replacement bus) might make more sense since I hate relying on buses especially when relying on going to a place with timed entrances that require you to pick up your tickets 1 1/2 hours in advance! (WOW). I would then need to catch the bus from the train station and get off at Hohenschwangau after spending approximately 8 minutes on it. The local buses around my arrival time would be 1:05, 1:10 and as a worst case scenario 2:05 (believe me, I'm extremely direction deprived and can get lost at a supermarket).

Assuming the worst, take the 2:05 bus arriving at 2:13 (2:13...1 1/2hr=3:43) picking up the King's Ticket starting with a tour at 4:00 and getting on the 2nd tour before 6:00 (not sure if that means the last tour is at 6:00 or you need to be out of the castle at 6:00). Logistically is that possible? I plan to pay the extra $$$ to get between castles instead of walking or taking the carriage.

I decided to just do what Lee said and just throw my luggage in a locker in Munich and take just a backpack with a change of clothing with me since for the sake of time I wouldn't have to stop at the hotel or find a place to store my large suitcase (yes I know there are lockers but I've read that they aren't that large and that there aren't that many, and I hate relying on a tourist office to let me store it there as the only place).

To repeat myself:
If I reserve online the 16:00 King's Ticket (both castles) am I actually able to do both tours before they close at 18:00? What messes me up is the fact that you have to pick up the ticket 1 1/2 hours in advance.

Thank you!

Sorry, I can't help with the later evening tour time frames.

I agree. The 90 minutes prior to your tour ticket pick-up is challenging. Since reserved tickets for Neushwanstein were not available during our June 23-24 visit, we opted to reserve tickets to Hohenschwengau, show up 2 hours early to pick up tickets, walk over to see/get photos of the outside of Neushwanstein and finally join our tour for Hohenschwengau.

Another RS reader posted this interesting article: http://www.dw.com/en/is-neuschwanstein-all-its-cracked-up-to-be/a-17887035

FYI-the time you request online isn't necessarily the time that will be assigned-in our case last month, it was more than an hour difference. The first time they assigned was too close to the bus arrival for my comfort in being able to pick up the tickets in the 90 minute window. When I asked to change, I was given a time over 2 hours later. When I picked up the tickets, the reservation agent rearranged our times anyway because she thought we would not have enough time to see the museum (and she was right-her schedule was much better than anything the computer spit out).
Also, we used the "Pasing trick" that Lee mentioned to get us there a bit earlier-worked like a charm! And don't worry about being directionally challenged for this visit. There are multiple buses that meet each train from Munich so just follow the crowd out the station and turn to the right. When you get off the bus, just follow the crowd up the hill.

I looked into the Pasing thing which was a great idea, however apparently when I'll be in Germany they are doing some kind of work on the routes I would ideally need which now require more than 1 transfer (far from ideal to me).

I just looked into buses from Munich to Fussen earlier this morning since the train/bus transfer thing sounds like a nightmare to me when dealing with timed tickets for attractions that require you to pick up tickets 90 minutes before your tour. Apparently there is a direct bus from Munich Central Bus Station to a stop a short walk from the ticket entrance to the castles. Bus leaves at 8:30 set to arrive at 10:40 so I think that might be the easiest way (and actually fastest way) to get to the castles for me since on DB Bahn's website the shortest duration is 2hr27min with 2 transfers. I'm going to Fussen on June 15 in case anyone was wondering.

That being said I figure I will just take a backpack with me for an overnight. I know there are lockers at the TI center near the ticket office but I've read that there are only a few. On their website they also say that they don't do luggage storage. I sent them an email though and they said I could leave my backpack with them at the TI (which was very nice). I just hope I didn't miss something in the translation. I've read that when doing the castle tours that you can just wear your backpack in front of you, but my backpack is not that small (it's Granite Gear's Jackfish Backpack). I suppose in a worst case scenario I can take the bus from the ticket office to the Fussen Train Station, throw it in a locker, and then take the bus back to the ticket office.

Eschroeck,

Off hand do you remember how long it took you to receive an email from them saying that there are no tickets left? I requested my tickets for June 15 today. Just wondering how long it usually takes when booking almost a month out (don't want to buy my bus ticket until I know I have a ticket to the castles).

Hi Boba,

Did anyone mention that you CAN NOT see Neuschwanstein from Füssen?

Paul

Huh? Yeah I know the castles aren't in Fussen. I don't want to keep copying and pasting names!

We did the Fussen castle thing last spring .

1) Get the big combo ticket with the Museum of The Bavarian Kings. Its really good, and explains a lot.
2) Buy the ticket for everything INSIDE the MofBK. The line to the official ticket booth was 2 hours. There were 7 people in line in the MotBK. Easy peazy.
3) Spend the money to take the bus up the mountain. It's not expensive, but it's a hike up. Then walk back.
4) Mary's Bridge is the best place to see the castle. Everyone EVE-RY-ONE knows this. So during the day the bridge is not packed, it is like an open-air sardine tin it is so crowded. Possible at night you will get a good view. It was be very neat to see the castle in the moonlight.

It was a fun stop. Yes, touristy, but hey - we are tourists.

As to leaving your luggage, it's Germany not France. In France, I wouldn't do it. In Germany? Sure, why not? I doubt that if people's stuff had been stolen, they could continue to offer a casual storage location like that.

In Munchen, make sure to hit the Chinisichum Turm Beer Garden in der Englischer Garten.

Trying to figure out the locker situation (for suitcases) in the Fussen Train Station. I see (Lee) that you have used it twice, but I can't tell when. Has anyone used them in the past few months (it looks like they were not available in 2017), so am looking for recent usage. If yes, would you know the approximate dimensions of the lockers? Thank you in advance!