Neuschwanstein Castle

You may find this forum thread ( https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/neuschwanstein-castle-42af8981-566c-438a-ad25-bd4ebfa045c2 ) useful, along with the further link contained in first post of the discussion (from Kathy).

That is a helpful bit of information. Any idea how much alpine views/times the rest of the BOG gets?

I found this castle lovely to look at from the outside and a complete waste of time on the inside. I would not take an entire day from Munich to visit this location.

I was disappointed of Neuschwanstein. We went by there on our car trip down to Tirol--doing day trips out of Innsbruck.

I prefer the Austrian Alps to just about anywhere as they're so easy to travel to. You can catch a train down there for a day trip from Munich even.

Another vote to skip Neuschwanstein. As previously said, lovely on the outside, huge disappointment on the inside as we trudged along with our wooden delivery tour guide. Verrrry disappointing.

The village that Neuschwanstein Castle is in is charming plus you get to see the castle up high from the outside while walking around the village. The tour of the castle was only 30 minutes long, not very interesting and not much was included in the tour, still, you might want to check it off your list of places to see. If you are able, walk up to the castle for a lovely stroll instead of taking the bus. I might be confusing my castles, but I believe that there is also a very nice hike after the tour that you can take on your own, across a stream to experience the Bavarian woods.

We have been to Europe many times as well as traveling to other continents. The one place in all of our travels that totally turned us off was Neuschwanstein. We were so disappointed that we had spent our precious time there.

If I was going to ditch Munich for a day trip (not a bad idea) on your free day on your itinerary, I would travel to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for those Alpine views and time that you are yearning for. You can take a cogwheel train and/or gondola up to the top of the Zugspitze which is the tallest Mountain in Germany. There are many mountain lifts in the area for short hikes, and a beautiful gorge to walk through. You can reach it easily by train from Munch so need to worry about driving.

I haven't taken the Best of Germany tour, but I have taken 4 other RS tours and I think you will find that this experience will be far different than your other one. Each day has significant free time where you are making the choices. I found the groups are congenial and fun to be with.

I have visited Neuschwanstein 3 times and enjoyed each time, although I do think the tour now is not as good as it was 50 years ago ( I have noticed this at a few other attractions, probably due to greater numbers of tourists now ). What else would you do on your free day ? The trip is a long day. I would look for a tour that also visits Wies Kirche and Linderhof. To judge which tour to take, you just have to look at reviews and make your decision.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts! You’ve talked me out of Neuschwanstein but I am quite intrigued by Garmisch-Partenkirchen.