Mittenwald

Why stay in either Mittenwald or Reutte? Both are simply extra driving time if you are coming from the Black Forest. Especially MIttenwald! If you plan to visit Neuschwansten, anyway, why not spend at least one night near the castle? If you cannot find anything you like in Hohenschwangau, next to the castles, check out Schwangau and Fuessen. You can go on to Mittenwald the following day if you have your heart set on it. I have never understood Rick's fascination with Reutte, since, to me, it is a dreary little village an unnecessarily long drive from the King's Castles. Why not stay where you can see the castles at night, when they are lit up?

Hi Ann, I agree, I don't understand the "fascination" with Reutte beside the fact it's in the RS book. I'd look into Fuessen. We liked the Hotel zum Hechten (stayed twice) in Fuessen. http://www.hotel-hechten.com http://www.fuessen.de/244.0.html Paul

It is pretty inconvenient to stay in Mittenwald to visit Neuschwanstein. We did it in 2009, but the trip to the castle and back was pretty much all day. The roads are all small and winding. If you only want to visit the castle, stay closer.
However, the area around Mittenwald is lovely and we visted areas in Germany, Austria and Italy during our week there.

Thanks for the info. I will definitely not use Mittenwald as the home base, but hope I can check it out. So far it looks like Reutte. I think I am sticking with it as my options are slim at this point. It seems pretty close to the castles. I don't care about anything in Reutte, just the proximity to castles. Wonder if I should be looking into reserving tickets to the castles, if that can be done? It would be really silly if we are there and because of crowds can't do it....

Still wondering time wise. Sorry....is this 4 hours, or like Tom says 6??? I will search further...in other words we will probably be almost all day driving from BF to Reutte. If so I may need to plan accordingly and spend the night along the way in the Bodensee? Or does everyone feel this is completely unnecessary..someone suggested a stop/poss. overnight in that area. Of course I have to plan now because that throws off our hotel date in Reutte and Ramsau area. I have a place in Ramsau on the night of the 11 and 12th.

Hi Ann, While we never drove from Triberg to Reutte, according to www.viamichelin.com the drive is 163 miles (263 km) and 3:15 in drive time. Even if you allow 4 to 4.5 hours with an hour stop or 2 - 30 min,. stops, it should be ok. Paul

The information for reserving castle tours is at www.hohenschwangau.de Cost is €1,80/person/castle. You must be at the ticket kiosk one hour before your castle reservation. That's not too hard by train; the trains are usually on time. It's not so easy to predict with a car. Leave plenty of slack time. Slightly closer, and a whole lot nicer, is the town of Pfronten (actually the "towns" of Pfronten, as it is a cluster of small towns that have grown together). It's a little closer to where you are coming from than Reutte and about the same distance to Fuessen.

Thank you to everyone for the tips! I am still searching!
Danke!

If you are having your doubts on Reutte, you could look into Nesselwang, which is on your way from the Black Forest but still close to the famous castles. But once again, DON'T SWEAT THIS, it is an easy drive and very hard to get lost if you just follow the road signs. Seriously, just stay on the priority roads. I've never seen an intersection of priority roads in Germany that is not marked with directional signs. And the 6 hours I quoted in another post is the absolute maximum amount of time this drive will take if you make several stops. It should take considerably less.

Booked another place in Nesselwang. Thanks to the www.pfronten.de. That gave me some different options from the main travel sites. I emailed another that I will see if I heard back from. These are pretty far down the line on the trip, so I can cancel them if I change my mind. I will have my daughter look them over. I hate to be such a scarredy cat, but I am having some issues with my back and am afraid of any prolonged riding in the car. I know it is stupid since I am planning a road trip, but I am determined. I wish I could just enjoy a nice meandering trip thru the country/those were the good old days! I even asked my daughter to look for some "high up" seats in a rental. Probably not gonna happen with a Polo or VW Golf!! Things have a way of working out, so I will forge ahead!!!!! I appreciate all the tips on routes though, that makes me feel a lot more confident!