Muich for the day?

Neuschwanstein and Andechser abbey are too far but there is soo much to do and see in Munich that you can easily fill a day. For castle do Nymphenburg castle, for brewery do Hofbräuhaus, Löwensteiner, Hacker-Pschorr breweries. Also there's are plenty of good old sights and museums in town etc etc.

Thanks Andreas! I appreciate it!

I have to disagree, I think the Neuschwanstien is doable as a day trip as I did it. There is a day trip company that Rick reccomends in his book - Radius Tours (i think that's the right name). It's in the Munich train station. They have day trips to the castle that start around 11am and get back around 6 or 7. taking a day trip with a group seemed easier to me as you didn't have to worry about the reservations at the castle and all. Just look to see what days they run as they don't run everyday to the castle. They do run on Saturdays, that's the day I went. They also have other day trips too. I did the castle then hit Oktoberfest with plenty of energy the next day to head to Vienna.

Kelly, yes, it's doable as a day trip from Munich. But then it's just Neuschwanstein and NOT Munich. The way I interpreted Tom's question is can he do the sights of Munich plus Neuschwanstein. And that I have to neglect. Plus the question is do you want to spend the good portion of the day traveling on a train just for a few hours visit of a castle - even though, I admit, it's probably THE castle...

Munich is a great city, and you could hit the main sights that day. Although Neuschwanstein is a great trip, incredible, unless you don't think you'll ever come back to Europe, that's a lot to do the day before you travel back. There is an AWESOME Munich bike tour (if you're not easily offended and have a great sense of humor!) that is free. http://www.discovermunich.net/ It will hit many major sights in Munich and it's only a few hours long. There's a nice lunch break at Chinesischer Turm which includes a beer chugging contest (optional to participate. This bike tour is not for prudes!!! : ) Anyway, it was the highlight of our 3 week trip to Europe! But it stops tours Nov 10... But if you've already enjoyed Munich once before, and you don't have a lot of packing to do, go to Neuschwanstein, it is as spectacular as you'll expect!

thank everyone - these are all good options. The bike tour sounds fun too. I understand now the castle may be best as an all day tour. I may be able to have more than 1 day there. It is an alternative vs leaving from Zurich if a free-miles ticket was not available around the Sept 08 days i wanted to leave. (This would be after a swiss alps tour further south so a day or two could be added for munich). Thanks for helping clarify the "doable vs feasible". While I like a full day from start to finish - I now have everyones great imput about how much time is best to allocate. I love castles - and dont mind a full day... but maybe I will add an extra 1/2 or full day for munich down town too! (and the bike tour!?)
thanks again all for helping point me in the right direction!