Munich to Fussen

A Bayern-Ticket costs €22 for one person and €4 for each additional person up to a total of five people traveling together. So you will pay €38 for all five of you. So long as you limit yourselves to regional trains and depart after 09:00 on weekdays (anytime on weekends), you can take as many rides as you want all day long anywhere in Bavaria. A Bayern-Ticket also is good for unlimted rides on the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, and buses in Munich on the day it is valid. Buy it from a ticket machine at the station in Munich.

The Bayern ticket is very good value for money, but it is only valid on so-called "Regional" trains. The Regional Express services (train number prefixed RE) are pretty fast, but make sure you don't get on a longer-distance service by accident or you'll get fined.

Fussen is 81 miles southwest of Munich. You could rent a small station wagon for $98 from AutoEurope.com and make the trip for far less than rail. You could see so much more and do it on your schedule.

1. The trains between Munich and Füssen are all regional trains, so the Bayern-Ticket, for 38€ (for 5) RT, can be used. The one restriction is that you must travel after 9 AM workdays (or purchase point-point ticket for any travel before 9). The Bayern-Ticket can also be used for the bus from Füssen Bahnhof to the bus stop in Hohenschwangau, which is near to the ticket kiosk. 2. Fuel alone, according to ViaMichelin, will cost about 41€ (vs 38€ for the train), so you won't spend less renting a car. Plus, with five people, you can't rent the least expensive car. Trains run every hour, so fitting the train into your schedule is hardly an issue. Plus, the trains don't get caught in traffic "staus" or make a wrong turn. If you are just renting the car for this one trip, time at the rental office plus driving time will surely exceed train travel time.

I don't care if you take a train with a Bayern ticket or rent a car. But if you do take a train, I would recommend an overnight stay somewhere in the vicinity of the castles. Otherwise, you will be run ragged just trying to cram everything in for a one-day trip. A car will make it easier to drive there and back in one day, but you may still feel rushed. The same goes for bus tours. Slow down and enjoy the visit.

My husband and I were just visited Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles two weeks ago (Dec 2012) while were were in Munich. We had planned to use the Bayern ticket but as other posters stated, you need to leave after 9am and we did not want to start our day that late (given that it's two hours by train each way (with one change of trains), plus you have to take a short bus ride from the Fussen train station over to the town where the castles actually are. I do think, esp with a family of 5, that it would be a long day, however it could be doable if you reserve your castle tickets online, for, say noon- that gives you 3 hours to see both castles. The first castle, Hohenschwangau, is a 10 min walk from the visitor center; Neuschwanstein is more like a 30 min walk (recommend taking the horse-drawn carriage up the hill). YOu could pack snacks etc or have a very quick lunch before heading up the hill to the next castle (or see if the visitor center will give you a later entry time at Neuschwanstein so as to not feel rushed). If it were summertime I might stay overnight to enjoy the surroundings, but at least for my husband and I, it was cold, got dark early (4:45ish pm)and we basically just wanted to see the two castles, so we were fine with a quick tour. We had dinner back in Munich. PS "Bayern ticket" means "Bavaria ticket" - you can ride any regional trains in Bavaria that day, for one price. My husband and I used to it to travel to Nuremberg- great value.

One more comment: my husband and I left early because we DIDN'T have tickets reserved. I went to reserve them the night before and could not as they required 24 hours notice to reserve and we had passed that point. We did not know how crowded it might be (it wasn't crowded at all) so we thought it best to leave early, and get back early so that we could enjoy the Munich Christmas market.

Another important item I forgot - almost all of the scaffolding is down (I didn't see any at all, but one path to the castle was closed - that was the same path to the Marienbridge - so hiking up to Marienbridge is not possible.

Brenda, it is too bad you were not able to spend the night. Even in winter, especially in winter, I would recommend spending the night in or around Hohenschwangau. The village and castles are especially beautiful and peaceful in the snow at night. It is very peaceful in the off-season after the crowds leave and the castles look almost ghostly on the hillsides. Plus, it is fun to hike up the hill to Neuschwanstein in the early morning, before people start pouring in, and view the village and the other castle in the snow.

Roy - I should have mentioned that I was at Neuschwanstein 25 years ago and hiked thorugh the entire area and was absolutely mesmerized by the beauty of the place. Having this experience already, and a limited travel time (1 week in germany), we chose to make it a day trip. I fully understand why you'd want to stay.

I've used the Bayern (Bavaria) ticket and, on weekends, the Schoenes Wochende (translates rougly to beautiful or nice weekend) pass. They're good only on the regional trains, which are the local trains that stop at every station - so slower. I think they work great for a family when you plan hop-on, hop-off tours through an area for the day. They're good for one day. As I recall the Bayern ticket is good after 9:30 (after the morning rush hour) so it gets you off to a little bit of a late start. I've only driven, never trained, between Munich and Neuschwanstein. We stayed the night prior to visiting the castles, visited first thing and were heading toward Munich by late morning. Wieskirche makes a pretty good intermediate stop when you're driving.