It seems the online reservation for Neuschwanstein castle and Hohenschwangau castle is separate so do I need to book them separately? How much time should I leave in between?
If I have the options to choose among Sat or Sun and morning or afternoon, which time slot would be better to visit the castle to avoid the crowd? We'll be taking the train from Munich.
Thanks!
A tour of both castles is called a King's Ticket and can be obtained online on the Hohenschwangau website.
You must pick up your reserved tickets at the Hohenschwangau kiosk one hour before the start of your first tour. I've never done both in the same day, but I understand your first castle tour is of Hohenschwangau (~40 min), which is the closest to the kiosk, then you have about 45 min to get up to Neuschwanstein for that tour (also ~40 min).
Since you are doing this on a weekend, you can use a Bayern-Ticket for the train and bus and leave before 9 AM. It you catch the 7:53 train from the Munich Hbf, you get to Füssen Bhf at 9:54 and to the Hohenschwangau bus stop at 10:13. It's a short walk up to the kiosk; you should be there by 10:30. The line to pick up reserved tickets shouldn't be that long; you should have them by 11, so reservations starting at 12, noon, would work. But just to make sure, make them for 1 PM (1300). You can use the extra time to have lunch in the village and to visit some of the shops before walking to Hohenschwangau castle.
Both tours and walking to Neuschwanstein should take around 2 hours, so you'd still have time to take the bus (also covered by the Bayern-Ticket) into Füssen and see that attractive town before heading back to Munich.
"If I have the options to choose among Sat or Sun and morning or afternoon, which time slot would be better to visit the castle to avoid the crowd?" What time of year? From around October to May, you can usually just go to the kiosk, buy tickets, and expect to start touring the first castle within an hour. Summers are a different story, though. Mornings are less crowded, but it shouldn't matter anyway if you already have reserved tickets. Crowds only come into play on busy days if you haven't reserved tickets. Once you have your reservation, how many other people will be there is irrelevant for you, except perhaps if you're fighting for position at one of the two most common photo points (the viewing platform just below Neuschwanstein and the Marienbrücke).
We'll be visiting in less than two weeks, the 8/30 weekend. This is probably the busy month, so I suppose there's always a crowd regardless of visiting on a weekday or weekend or what time of the day?
Tom, your understanding is correct in terms of the common photo points. It'll be nice not to wait for a long time to get a nice photo, :)
Thank you Lee. I didn't see the option of King's ticket for both castles. Now I do.
A quick question on the train ride from Munich. Is seating guaranteed on the train? I suspect there will be lots of people taking train from Munich to Fussen in the morning between 8-10am and the return trip between 5-7pm, would that result in some people standing for the 2-hour train ride?
Sorry another question, when I reserve the combo King's ticket, is the time between two tours fixed? For example, if we reserve the 1pm tour, we would have the Hohenschwangau tour at 1pm and then we must take the Neuschwanstein tour at 2pm or something?
Seating on the train will not be a problem.
I'm pretty sure your times between the tours are fixed.
You can also get a ticket that includes the new museum devoted to the history of the royal house of Bavaria (the Wittelsbachs), but entry to this is not timed. You can visit it on your leisure.
You didn't ask, but be advised it may take you 30 minutes to walk up the hill to Neuschwanstein.....
I'm sure the tours are timed to give a normal person time to walk up the hill. It's a ways but not too strenuous. If you are mobility challenged they might give you extra time if you ask at the ticket kiosk. My 71 yo mother walked it.
There are also horse carts (for a fee) from in front of Hotel Müller. They go almost all the way up. You still have to walk the last few feet. There is also a bus that lets you off at Marienbrücke; you walk down a path to the castle.
Gute Reise.
Jamie-
My girlfriend and I live in San Jose too, and we head to Munich on Sept. 5th.
I found an outfit online when looking at city bike tours-- Mike's Bike Tours-- and saw they offer a pretty cool castle tour as well. We're buying a combo ticket for that and their city bike tour.
You might want to check them out. They make a pretty good case for using them instead of train. Enjoy, and maybe we'll see you there!
