day trip to Fussen

Hi David,

I did that this past summer. In the morning I took a train out there, with one switch in Buchloe. From the Fuessen train station, there are public buses that will take you up to the castle area - unfortunately it is too far to walk in a reasonable length of time.

You can reserve tickets in advance or show up at the ticket booth and get in line. If you are travelling during a peak time, like July or August or especially on a weekend, then I would recommend you pay the extra fee and get a reservation in advance as you can bypass the lineup. You can get more information at this website.

There are transportation options to get up to the castles, as each one is on a separate hill. As long as you are alright with a brief hike, don't bother with paying extra to get up to Hohenschwangau as it is only about an eight-minute walk from the ticketing centre. Neuschwanstein, on the other hand, is more of an actual hike to get up to, but still quite manageable. I would not recommend that you take the bus as it has to stop "2000 feet" away. If you want to take transportation up to the castle, take the horse-drawn carriage as it will take you almost right to the top.

Unfortunately, I did not really get the chance to see much of Fuessen myself as the buses are timed with the arrival and departure of the trains. The actual castle area is well above the town. There are restaurants and shops up there. I ate at the beer gardens at the bottom of the climb up to Hohenschwangan, which was excellent though a bit pricey just due to its location. There are a number of souvenir stores around there, but nothing too exceptional.

Just as a warning if you are travelling on a busy day... I went on a weekend in the end of July and there were two buses timed to head back down from the castles to catch the train... unfortunately they still had to leave people behind. Head out/come back early.

I had no problems doing it. As long as you leave early in the morning though. I was there in late May and didn't need to wait in line that long. Maybe I was lucky though. It probably would be a good idea to reserve your tickets before hand.

Yes, you can do it on your own. Your entrance to the castles come with a guided tour, in German or English, at least, maybe more. As others have mentioned, you can come out on the train, and take the bus from Füssen to Hohenschwangau.

If you use the train you can do all your travel, the train to/from Munich as well as the bus to/from Hohenschwangau, for one Bayern-Ticket (€20 for one person, €28 for 2-5 people). On weekends, the Bayern-Ticket is valid all day, on workdays it is valid after 9 AM, all days it is valid until 3 AM the following morning. Get the schedules on the German Rail website.

If you want to leave Munich before 9 AM on a workday, the 8:52 train from the Hbf arrives at Geltendorf after 9. You can purchase MVV tickets to Geltendorf (€6,90 per person) and use the Bayern-Ticket from there.

I'm going to disagree slightly with one of the other posters. It may not be a very short walk, but depending on your level of fitness, it isn't unmanagable to walk from Fuessen to the castles.

Although not a bad town, I found Fuessen a bit over-touristy and slightly tacky. It kind of reminded me of Kissimee, FL, in that you probably wouldn't go out of your way to visit it if it didn't sit right next to the castles, unless you really can't get enough souvenir shops. There are restaurants by the castles, although I couldn't tell you if they're worth visiting.

David,
My girlfriend and I opted for the Mikes Bike Tours of Fussen and i'll say i'm very glad I did. I am not a fan of organized tours, but this really was such a great time - and there were only 6 people in my group. We bypassed all lines and our guide was extremely knowledgeable. Not only did we get to tour the castles but we visited the area and took a lovely walk down the mountain and over to a park where there is an alpine luge as well as a gondola to the top of the mtn (1800meters). We took the bus from the train station and then we walked to the top (i'm not in the least bit athletic) and i'll say i'm so glad I did it - there are so many breathtaking views.

thinking about Fussen makes me want to go back to Europe!! Enjoy your trip!

I will agree with Tom that the walk is not unmanageable if you are in an appropriate level of fitness to go from the train station at Fuessen out to Hohenschwangau, but it is 2.4 miles one-way. The extra 1.5 hours (according to Google maps) of walking time, in my opinion, would not be recommended for a day-trip that is long enough as it is.

In my opinion, these tours are just a way to get you to spend more money, needlessly. It's so easy to do on your own (I've done it three times in 20 years). I would never pay someone for what I can do myself (at least not that much, anyway). ;)

Just thought I would add my 2 cents. Depending on your level of fitness, you may want to consider taking the bus up the hill to the Marienbrucke. We were there in Dec 2007 we were on the first bus up the hill. It let us off within steps of the bridge and we went out on the bridge and took pictures of Neuschwanstein. We then walked, downhill, which was a lot easier than going uphill, to the castle. the view is beautiful. After the tour we took a horse drawn carriage down and passed by many people complaining about the walk UP to the castle

Hi,

Paula, we did the same thing at Neuschwanstein. Took the bus up and the carriage back down. No up hill walking.

Paul

A lot of great info, I now have a much better idea of what to do and not do, thanks again, David