Neuschwanstein prior to RS Munich/Salzburg/Vienna Tour; Easy German Phrase Books/App

If you are doing a transatlantic flight and arriving early morning, it's not necessarily a sound idea to hop on a tour bus or on trains and buses for 2+ hours with the goal of sightseeing. Round trip, it's about 5 hours of transportation to the bus stop for N'stein and back - then you have a long uphill walk to the entrance and back. It's a rushed 30-minute tour... an overcrowded tour - and N'stein is a late 19th-century palace, not an old castle... so you might want to take all these facts into consideration. A lot of people just don't sleep well on red-eye flights or they end up jet-lagged, etc., even younger folks. If one or both of you poops out, you'll be hours from your hotel bed.

This might be more doable if you were getting into Munich a day earlier, but you are not.

Suggest you stay in Munich, with the idea in your heads that IF you feel up to it, you will get over to Nymphenburg Palace - which is right in Munich. It's a great place, and the birthplace of "crazy" King Ludwig as well - much more worthwhile than N'stein IMHO with a LOT more to see. You may have time for more sightseeing after that if you are wildly energetic - or maybe just a nice meal somewhere and some down time.

Thanks for the quick response, Russ. We do get into Munich early morning (9:45 am), the day before the tour. We planned on arriving in Munich, take the train to Fussen and go to the room- maybe walk around the square a bit just to grab a bite to eat. Nothing else that day. Then wake up, see the castle and take the train back to Munich. Is that doable?

I'm afraid that Neuschwanstein is going to be a bit of a disappointment either way. I had the same compelling desire to see this location as many others do, only to find out that the idea of the place is much more interesting the place itself!

I wonder if you would like to consider Garmsich-Partenkirchen instead of Fussen. Direct 2 hour bus ride from the airport. Lots to see and do.

We do get into Munich early morning (9:45 am), the day before the
tour. We planned on arriving in Munich, take the train to Fussen and
go to the room- maybe walk around the square a bit just to grab a bite
to eat. Nothing else that day.

To me, the hard part of your idea is all of Day 1. If you arrive roughly on time, you could probably get through security and passport control and baggage and take care of personal stuff (ATM, food/drink/train tickets/ etc.) and to the station for the 11:51 departure from MUC to Fuessen (a 3-hour train trip) and arrive by 15:00, then transit to hotel and check in. Any jet lag and you should be feeling fully flogged at this point. At the most you'll have time and energy for, as you said, a brief walk-around, a meal, etc. but will likely not be ready to sightsee or investigate the town.

Whether it will happen as scheduled is hard to say. Whether that's doable for you is hard to say as well. I only know that several of my flights have been delayed by 45+ minutes or longer, that location of arrival gates matters a LOT once I'm off the plane, and that even if everything goes super-smoothly, I'm not feeling at all refreshed and energetic after such a long sit. If I have to transit anywhere else from the airport, I want it to be REALLY close.

Day 2 sounds doable if you do the tour early. You will have to get back down the hill, to the shuttle bus, and to Fuessen promptly to fetch your bags, have some lunch, and get on the 13:05 train for Munich in order to make your 4 pm tour meeting.

To me the question is not only whether the outing is doable, but whether it's reasonable to invest so much time, cash, and scurrying around into just this one thing - a 30-minute tour of N'stein.

Should we reconsider?... Is that doable?

Would Nymphenburg and perhaps another sight or two in Munich, something your tour doesn't include, be more reasonable, more relaxing after a long flight, more rewarding? Does your original plan match up to the alternatives? You probably have a hunch what I think already. Yep. It's the tourist's dilemma - with no experience in any of these places, you have to find answers yourself, somehow.