Things to do near Rette/Fuessen, Germany

Besides its being close to Ludwig's castles, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, Reutte is has a castle ruins of its own, called Ehrenburg. You can hike to it from town. There are buses runing during the day to Füssen so you can ride over there to see Ludwig's castles.

Hi Kirsten,

Besides the castles Fuessen itself is nice.

www.stadt-fuessen.de

One mile from Neuschwanstein is the Tegelbergbahn cable car and luge ride.

www.tegelbergbahn.de/227.0.html

The Zugspitze (Germany's highest mountain) cable car is nearby in Ehrwald.

www.zugspitze.at

Paul

I would only recommend Fussen if you don't have a rental car. Fussen is to the castles at Schwangau what Kissemee is to Disney World. Not a bad town to stay in, but its only real advantage over several other Alpine resort towns (Mittenwald, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bertchesgaden, Reutte, Ehrwald, etc) is the proximity to the castles. The other towns I mentioned are all within a reasonable driving distance, and offer a huge range of activities, such as hiking, boating, biking, luge, and a slew of winter sports.

Hi Kirsten,

I'd agree with Tom if you were staying longer, but with 2 days, I wouldn't be driving too much as there's quite a bit to see and do right in the general area.
I don't agree with the statement about Fuessen. We've stayed there twice recently and think it's a beautiful old town.

Paul

I do a agree that Fuessen is a nice town (I stayed there once)... but with a rental car available, it would not be my first choice.

We also enjoyed the Ehrenburg ruins, be ready for a fairly steep uphill hike.

The luges would have been nice. Unfortunately, we were there mid October and they had closed the week before.

We stayed at the Gasthaus zum Schluxen (or something like that, an RS recommendation). It was expensive but very nice. It was our midtrip splurge between hostels, pensions and budget hotels. I picked it for the kids because it's also a "working farm". Except for the deer the kids fed, it didn't seem to be much of a farm but the rooms were nice, the area was great and the service was good.

With two full days, I think I would tour both castles one day. The second day there is a bus to Oberammergau. From there you can take another bus RT from Oberammergau to Linderhof. On the way back from Oberammergau, I think there are two buses that stop at Wieskirche an hour apart. One hour is way more time than you need for Wieskirche (I spent 5 minutes), but there is a restaurant nearby.

An €8,50 RVO-Tagesticket allows one person unlimited rides on the RVO (Regionalverkehr Oberbayern) buses for a day.

...and thinking about Fuessen again... even with a rental car, if you plan to visit the castles during the peak tourist seasons when arriving at the ticket office early is important, Fuessen may be a good option.

Thanks for the help!!! Now I have a bunch of great places to research. I thought it might be helpful to get some outside opinions before I decide on anything.
Kirsten