I read quite a few posts on this forum asking about the best way to see the castles and whether it can be done by public transport so decided to post an account of my recent trip for you. I stayed in Fussen for 3 nights with my mother only last week and we had a wonderful time! All our travelling was done on public transport as neither of us are experienced at driving abroad and are used to driving on the left coming from England!
Thursday 15th October 2009
My mother and I caught an early flight from the UK to Munich, arriving approximately 9.45am German time (we always fly via Lufthansa to Germany if we can, they are fab). We picked up our luggage and headed straight for the bahnhof (train station). On the platform there were automatic machines where we could purchase the Bayern-Takt (a ticket costing 28 euros that covers up to 5 adults travelling second class through Bavaria from 9am to 3am the next day - only available from these machines not from the ticket office. You can also get a single Bayern-Takt for 20 euros if travelling alone).
We caught the S-Bahn (S8) to Munich Pasing, where we changed for Kaufbeuren, and changed again there for Fussen, arriving mid-afternoon. Our arrival was quite magical as they had had a dusting of snow that morning and snow was still around when we arrived - most unusual for that time of year.
We walked to our hotel which was only 5 minutes away - Altstadthotel Zum Hechten - which I have reviewed here also. Having checked in and deposited our bags we went out to explore, walking around the town and visiting the Tourist Information Office who were most helpful. We were able to pick up local bus timetables for 30 cents.
Friday 16th October
Our main reason for travelling here - our visit to Neushwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles!
We had an early breakfast then walked to the bus stops (which are opposite the train station). We caught the 9.15 bus to Hohenschwangau. A return ticket cost 3.60 euros (although we did not realise we had bought a return ticket and bought another one on the way back!!!). We arrived in less than 10 minutes! From there it was a short walk up to the ticket office - we had already pre-booked tickets online but these still needed to be picked up and paid for - the queue is just a shorter one if you pre-book and the tour times guaranteed.
We then headed up to Hohenschwangau, our first castle. There was a horse and carriage going up and down but it was only a short (15 minute) easy walk. Luckily we arrived in plenty of time to take exterior photographs before going in - there is a small palace garden with a backdrop of mountains - it was so beautiful!
The tour was supposed to last 35 minutes but we ended up coming out an hour after it was supposed to start, only leaving us an hour to get to Neuschwanstein. That sounds like ample time, however my aged mother was not up to the 45 minute uphill walk (and I didn%26#39;t fancy it much either!), the buses were not running because of the snow they had had (despite the fact that all the roads we saw were clear, not even any ice!), and they only had two horse and carriages running up and down the hill - and the queue for these was long! By the time we had anxiously queued up and got up there we had missed our tour, not to mention not being able to enjoy the gradual appearance of Neuschwanstein and the carriage ride up. The member of staff letting people in for the tours put us in a side room for 25 minutes while we waited for the next English tour with spaces on it. We were hungry and thirsty but had had no chance to grab anything in the rush to get in Not a good start! I have since complained about this via email but have yet to hear anything - they should have allowed more time between tours or laid on more carriages.
Anyway - eventually we did get in and it was amazing. I won%26#39;t tell you any more, I will let it be a surprise!
We got the bus back to Fussen and had dinner at Gasthof Krone - a really great place to eat - again, I have also reviewed it here.
Saturday 17th October - Linderhof - by bus!
We were up even earlier this morning, and were at the bus stop in time to catch the 08:05 bus (by the way, I got all my bus schedules from the www.bahn.de website before I left home). Got off at Echelbacherbrucke at 08:56, 10 mins wait, then caught the bus to Oberammergau, arriving at approx 09:30. We had an hours%26#39; wait then till the bus to Linderhof so walked into town and grabbed a quick hot chocolate at the first open cafe we found - an ice-cream parlour.
Caught the 10:30ish bus to the Linderhof castle. No queues - it was very quiet - they had had several inches of snow that morning and snow was still falling so perhaps that put people off. But we thought it looked magical! We got onto the 11:20 tour - again, it was amazing. Then we walked up to the Moorish Pavillion then the Venus Grotto - make sure you see both! We also wanted to see the Huntsmans House but it was a lot further away and the snow was quite thick so we couldn%26#39;t face the walk. NB there is timed entry to the Grotto - we had to wait 15 minutes for the next tour! Do bear this in mind if the weather is bad.
Afterwards, we were hungry but there was only one sit-down cafe which looked pricey so we walked back down to the bus stop, grabbed a take-away coffee (to go) there, deciding to eat in Oberammergau instead.
We caught the 14:00 bus back to Oberammergau and enjoyed exploring there, ate in a nice Italian cafe, photographed the painted houses, admired the window displays of wood-carvings, went in the museum and saw the Passin Play theatre from the outside - there were guided tours of the inside but that didn%26#39;t interest us too much.
With it being a Saturday and fewer buses running we had to wait until 17:25 for the next bus back to Echelbacherbrucke, again a few minutes wait, then a bus from there back to Fussen, arriving there at 18:49. It had been a long tiring day but it was well worth and i just shows what can be done on public transport!
We had planned to dine in the Ritterstub%26#39;n next door but it was closed so we ate in the hotel, which was a bit disappointing - whilst a super hotel I would not recommend them for their food.
Sunday 18th October - Fussen %26amp; home
My mother was keen on going up the Tegelberg as she has not seen many mountains. Despite a cloudy start the hotel checked the Tegelbergbahn (cable car) website and its web cam showed the view at the top of being clear and above the clouds so we decided to go for it. Very few buses with it being a Sunday (loads of places close in Germany on Sundays) so we splashed out and asked the hotel to order us a taxi. It was snowing when we arrived at the cable car station and as the cable car went up more and more snow appeared. At the summit there was thick snow, about 18 inches!!! And no view - we were in cloud!!! Still, it was worth it for the novelty of the snow, which we get rarely where we come from and certainly not in that amount!
We got the cable car back down and another taxi back into Fussen. We followed a path along the river Lech to a lovely waterfall (thank you Earl Steinbicker - http://lifeslittleadventures.typepad.com/lifes_little_adventures/2009/05/f%C3%BCssen-and-neuschwanstein-germany.html). Then it was time to pick up our luggage and make the return journey to Munich. This time we were able to chose a train that went straight to Munich Pasing rather than having to change at Kaufbeuren which was much better.
Hope this is of help to someone. Any questions just ask!
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Great report, thanks for posting how it can be done on public transport!
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Wow! Thank you for taking the time to write. Very good information.
Paul
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Thank you so much for posting this! I also love using trains and busses, and loved hearing how much you enjoyed it. Yes, I really love all the explorations that are possible when %26quot;stuck%26quot; in a glorious place like Oberammergau, lol!!
I am also a real fan of slow travel!
Really enjoyed this. Thanks!
s
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