King's Castles in Bavaria

The castles don't just open there doors for anyone to enter. You are assigned a tour and only some are in English. The ticket center in Hohenschwangau opens at 8 AM, and you are supposed to pick up your ticket at least an hour before your tour time. The first tour, then, is probably at 9 AM, and that tour might not be in English. Are you just arriving without tour reservation? If so, the ticket center will give you the next available tour time (at least an hour later), or you can pick a later time. If you make a reservation online, you can request a time, but they will assign you what's available. I personally like to get up in the morning, have a leisurely breakfast, a second Känchen of coffee, and am rarely ready to go out much before 9 AM. The bus from Füssen to the bus stop in Hohenschwangau runs about hourly. You can check the times on the German Rail (Bahn) website. Put in start as "Fuessen Bhf" and destination "Hohenschwangau". The first direct bus in the morning leaves Füssen Bhf at 8:05. It picks up passengers at Pulverturm, near the TI office at 8:06, and gets to Hohenschwangau at 8:13. It takes 5 or 10 min to walk to the ticket center. The next bus leaves Füssen at 9:05 and gets to Hohenschwangau at 9:13. On some days, there are a few more buses.

I think I understand the process, thank you. I have read & re-read the Fussen & King's Castles chapters in RS books. I thought someone who has already been there might offer an insider tip somehow. Thanks.

I've been there four time, although I only visited a castle three times. (The last time was just to take pictures for my webpage to show people how to get from the station to Hohenschwangau). I don't think the time would matter much for most people and your preference might not be the same as mine. Figure out where you are staying and what bus you can comfortably catch, and what time that bus will get you to the ticket center. If you are using public transportation, which is reliable, I would recommend reserving in advance. Request a time that allows you to get to the ticket center an hour sooner. If you are not reserving, get to the ticket center as early as you can; they will give you a time when you buy your ticket. I've always come in from out of town and arrived a little before noon. I don't know if they gave me the first available tour or if I asked for one later, but I had lunch at Hotel Müller before visiting a castle. I only visited one castle each time, but I think I could have done both. On Aug 31, 2009, a Monday, I arrived at the ticket center about 11:30 AM and they were booking an English tour for a little before 1 PM, so both castle would have been doable that day.

Hi Scott, It's very hard to answer your question, since having a "favorite time of day" to visit the castle would suggest someone does this often and now has a favorite time to take the tour. The time of year (month) and day (weekday or weekend) could matter as far as how crowded it is and getting a tour that fits your schedule. We've stayed in Fuessen twice in mid October and for Neuschwanstein, got to the ticket center before 9am. We were there just before the buses/crowds and got an early tour of Neuschwanstein. The next trip we arrived around noon and only wanted to tour Hohenschwangau. We had nearly no wait. The way I see it, Hohenschwangau is not as popular as Neuschwanstein.
If you know the date which you'll be at the castle's, look into buying/reserving advance tickets. It can get very crowded. If you're just walking up to get tickets that day, I'd say the later in the day you go, the less chance you have of getting a tour. Paul