I'm planning a trip to the castles in late August. I'll have a car driving to the castles in the morning from Munich.
I thought I'd plan for the 9:55am audio tour of Neuschwanstein
Hike to St Mary's Bridge after the castle tour and make my way down to the Hohenschwangau castle for the 12:25pm tour.
Does this seem about right?
Thanks for your help.
Tom
You are cutting it too close in the afternoon. Here's why- based on my experience:
You will park in the central area near the visitor center and will have to either Walk uphill (45 minutes) or take the shuttle bus (small fee) (or take the horse drawn carriage) Allow 15-30 minutes depending on when you catch the shuttle.
The shuttle will drop you off ABOVE N-Stein. And the path to St. Mary's bridge starts here also.
You should allot time to walk to St Mary's bridge from here before your visit to N-Stein or you will be walking back up hill after your visit.
Although, it may be a 10-15 minute walk downhill to the entrance, it will be a 20-30 minute walk back up the hill.
If you disregard my advice to visit St Mary's bridge first, OK, fine
You will then walk downhill about 10-15 minutes to the entrance gates.
You will will want to be at the entrance gates about 15 minutes before your ticket time.
At that time, you will be allowed into the castle waiting area. At your designated ticket time, the electronic gates will open and allow ticket holder inside and you find your tour guide.
I think it's about an hour tour, but we lingered after the tour to get pictures and see exhibits.
So 9:55 am entrance means you could be done by 11:15am.
If you now want to walk 20-30 minutes back up the steep path to St Mary's bridge, and allot another 30 minutes at the bridge.
Then you have to walk back down to visitor center on the same path you took up. Allow a bare minimum of 30-45 minutes to walk for that. Or you could run. Or hope the shuttle was at the top of the hill when you needed it.
Once down at the visitors center, it is a 30 minute leisurely walk up the road to Hohenschwangau.
So you won't make a 12:25 tour unless you are running the entire way.
And when are you going to eat lunch? Use the rest room?
Here's what we did: 10:50 tickets to N-stein, 2 Pm tickets to Hohenschwangau
Arrived at 9:15am and parked. Caught the 9:45 shuttle up. Arrived at drop off point at 10. Walked out to the bridge for 20- 30 minutes. Then walked down to castle entrance 10-15 minutes. Entered the castle 5-10 minutes before ticket time.
Tour was about an hour and a half.
Afterward, walked down the hill from N-Stein, 30-45 minute walk.
Had lunch 30-45 minutes. If the restaurant are crowded, it will take longer.
At 1:15 pm, began our leisurely walk up the road to Hohen.... Arrived at 1:45 pm. Tour began at 2 pm.
Done by 3 pm. Walk back down to parking lot/visitor center.
Timing is approximate, but you get the idea, I hope.
Derek,
Thank you very much. This was most helpful. I wanted the 9:55am Neuschwanstein tour because I was trying to leave the area by 1:30pm so that I could still see Oberammergau or the Linderhof Castle before returning to Munich.
I could leave Munich about 6:15am (versus 7am), arriving ai the ticket center about 7:45am or 8am. That would give me nearly two hours to go to St Mary's bridge and get to the castle.
I'll have to check that plan with my wife :) lol but that would line things up in a more realistic fashion.
Thanks so much for your help!
Tom
Ok good luck, but Note, the first shuttle bus starts at 8:00 am
https://www.hohenschwangau.de/en/visitor-information/how-to-reach-the-castles
Tom, Derek: unlike y'all I am (per the order described in the Rick Steves Germany Guidebook) planning to tour Hohenschwangau first followed by Neuschwanstein afterward.
My planned times are below (for which I already have tickets for late Aug).
Derek: based on your description of your experience this seems doable, but if you have a view to share I'd be interested.
9:55am: Hohenschwangau tour start time.
~10:40am: tour ends (45min)
12:55pm: Neuschwanstein tour start time.
~1:30pm: tour ends (though we could linger and see exhibits as Derek describes).
In between the tours we plan to visit St. Mary's Bridge (walking or shuttle, or maybe even horse carriage).
Lunch would be either a quick sandwich before or after the Neuschwanstein tour, or at a nearby restaurant after Neuschwanstein.
GeoffB: Your schedule is very doable. You have lots of time between castles.
The issue is visiting St. Mary's bridge.
If you walk up or take the horse carriage up. You will only get to the entrance of N-Stein.
You will still have to walk UP the steep path another 20 minutes to get to the path to take you to Marienbrucke.
If you are in good shape and like walking up hill, go for it!
But if you are not, then take the shuttle up, visit Marienbrucke and then walk Down to the N-stein castle entrance.
Either way, enjoy your visit.
Derek: Thanks! Very helpful.
My thanks to all.
I decided to go with GeoffB's suggestion and I booked my tickets accordingly. The 9:55am Hohenschwangau and the 12:55pm Neuschwanstein tour.
Staring at Hohenschwangau made sense to me coming from Munich that morning. It saved me nearly an hour early start.
My thanks to all.
Tom
