Visiting Lichtenstein,Hohenzollern, & Sigmaringen Castles w/o a car

I haven't visited Lichtenstein castle, but I have visited Hohenzollernburg (once) and Sigmaringen (three times), never with a car.

It's a short walk from the train station in Sigmaringen to the castle.

For Hohenzollernburg, the castle is some distance from the Hechingen Bahnhof. There are buses (2 in the morning to the castle and 2 back in the afternoon) to the base of the castle hill, from which you catch a shuttle to the top. Check the Bahn query website for the bus times. As I remember, they are scheduled to meet the hourly regional train from Stuttgart.

One does not need a rental car to reach the Schloß in Sigmaringen. You can walk it from the train station. I saw the Schloß last in 2009, the first time in 1971. Both times by guided tour only...in German. Obviously, the town had changed in these years.

The Burg in Hechingen I took the easy way out since I was pressed for time at that time in 1977, ie went from the station by taxi.

There are more historical sites, ie, Schlösser in this area near Hechingen, if you're interested in tracking them. Both places are well worth your time.

Sigmaringen was the site of the Catholic branch of the family, who were involved in the Hohenzollerner Candidature crisis in 1870.

Thanks for the replies. I have been checking the DB website and Omio (which a friend recommended to me). And Omio does not show a direct train from Stuttgart to Sigmaringen, but the DB website shows a direct line. Does Omio not list all available routes?

I don't know who Omio is, but I would trust the Bahn's schedule before anyone else's; after all, they should know, they run the trains.

Omio does not show a direct train from Stuttgart to Sigmaringen

Apparently, Omio is a ticket reseller, and like so many ticket resellers does not offer every train connection available, only the ones they want to sell. In this case, although there are direct regional connections from Stuttgart to Sigmaringen, Omio wants to sell you a ticket including a long distance train (IC or ICE) with a change (there are no long distance trains to Sigmaringen), and Omio's tickets, in order to be less expensive, are train specific, non-refundable tickets. Don't fall for it! There are fully flexible tickets and regional passes available for faster connections for about the same price or less.

If you purchase a ticket from Omio for the 9:14 connection to Sigmaringen, Omio wants $33.89 with their service fee for a ticket including an ICE with a change of trains in Ulm. The fare from the Bahn is only $30.52 (€27,90) per person, one-way, at today's conversion rate. However, if you take the faster IRE, the cost of a MetropolTagesTicket Stuttgart for all three of you is €33 ($36.10), and a MetropolTagesTicket Stuttgart will cover the return trip as well.

The only limitations of a MetropolTagesTicket Stuttgart is that you can only use it after 9 am weekdays.

For a round trip for three people, on specific trains, Omio would have charged you $188.81 with their service fee. Using a MetropolTagesTicket Stuttgart on faster, direct IREs, the Bahn will charge you €33 ($36.10).

Tell your friend who recommended Omio that he doesn't understand German train ticket pricing.

Ops, I remember seeing the number 3 and thinking there were three of you, but you didn't say how many. But you did say "we", so I'll assume two of you.

For two, the round trip ticket from Omio, assuming you leave on the 9:14 train, is $130.74, including service charge. This is for an ICE to Ulm, a seven minute change of trains, and a regional train to Sigmaringen. Total travel time, 2h17.

Using the regional pass, it will cost two of you $29.54 (€27) and you will take the direct IRE 1h56 to Sigmaringen.

HI,

Thanks for the tip about the Omio service! I have downloaded the DB navigator app to my phone and have starting planning my routes using that. And yes, there are 3 of us traveling together. We also have German Rail passes with 5 non-consecutive days for use. I am planning on reserving the train passes for the more expensive connections to cities that we need to make.

My first time to Sigmaringen in 1971 was from Stuttgart, an all day trip, just about, on a train stopping at every small place along the way. Arrival in Sigmaringen was in the late afternoon.

This is not 1971. The connection by IRE (Interregio-Express) makes only 6 stops between Stuttgart and Sigmaringen and makes the trip in just under 2 hours.

If you think 4 hours of travel is too much for a day, you could spend the night in Sigmaringen. Hotel-Gasthof Traube is in a square just below the castle. I stayed there once in 2002 and liked it enough to return in 2013.

Hotel Traube is the nice place I stayed in the summer of 2009, when I went back to Sigmaringen for the first time since 1971 but this time from Ulm instead of Stuttgart,

Thanks for the replies! We plan to arrive from Fussen; so is there another small town besides Stuttgart & Sigmaringen that we should base ourselves in for the tours for the 3 castles in this area?

I suggest you take Tübingen as a base. It is a beautiful old university town on the Neckar river south of Stuttgart. From there you can easily get to Hechingen (near Hohenzollern castle) and to Sigmaringen by train. It is nearly impossible to reach Lichtenstein Palace (in German Schloss Lichtenstein, not Burg Lichtenstein) by public transportation. Mind you both Hohenzollern and Lichtenstein can be summarized under the term 'Neuschwanstein syndrome'. They are fake castles that crazy rich princes had built in the 19th century in an idealised form. They aren't the real thing. Not at all.