Füssen, Germany: A Perfect Day Trip from Munich

Neuschwanstein Castle

While my family and I were visiting Munich a few weeks ago we decided we wanted to take a day trip out of the city to explore more of the country. After some research, we decided the perfect day trip for us would be a quick excursion to the city of Füssen, Germany: home of Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle.

train ride to Füssen, Germany

Getting to Füssen and both of the castles is relatively easy. From the central train station in Munich, you simply purchase your round-trip train ticket and hop on board. The entire journey takes about two hours, and you are given the opportunity to view the German countryside as you go along. The closer you get to Füssen, the more you begin to see less of rolling hills and more of the mountains. Because the train only takes about two hours, it is the perfect day trip when you are trying to get out of Munich and see more of what Germany has to offer.

Hohenschwangau Castle

When you arrive in Füssen, you can either take a bus ride closer to the castles or walk. We decided to take the bus towards the castles (2 euro a person) and then depending how much time we have to walk back. The bus is a relatively quick ride- only about 5 minutes or so- but you cover a fair amount of distance. Once you hop off the bus, you will first see Hohenschwangau Castle, the first of the two castles in Füssen. Hohenschwangau Castle (or Schloss Hohenschwangau) was built on the remains of Fortress Schuangau, which was first mentioned in history texts in the 12th century. The Fortress fell to ruins until Crown Prince Maximilian began reconstruction in 1832. After reconstruction was complete, Schloss Hohenschwangau was the official summer and hunting residence of Crown Prince Maximilian and his family. Once we had viewed Schloss Hohenschwangau, we began our trek up the mountain towards the Neuschwanstein Castle!

View of Schloss Hohenschwangau from halfway up the mountain

Before heading up the mountain, we looked at purchasing tickets for the guided tours of the insides of the castles. A tip for this process is to order your tickets online and reserve them- then, you simply pick them up. Because we had not done this, the line to tour the castles was about an hour, and in the end we would not have had enough time to tour the castles. Instead, we decided to just view the outsides of the castles and the views of Füssen. 

getting closer to Neuschwanstein Castle!

my family in front of Neuschwanstein Castle

Walking up the mountain towards Neuschwanstein Castle took us around 45 minutes to an hour, moving at a pretty good pace. Once we arrived at the castle, it was definitely worth the walk! Neuschwanstein Castle was built in 1869 by Crown Prince Ludwig II, the son of Crown Prince Maximilian. Neuschwanstein Castle is well-known for being the inspiration for the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle. Currently, 1.4 million people visit the fairytale castle every year. 

one of the Castle towers

grounds inside the Castle walls

ivy along the castle

As we wandered about the castle, we overheard a tour guide (speaking English) telling his tour group where to go. He sent them along a short hike, telling them that they would pass a waterfall and eventually be led to the "best views of Füssen and Neuschwanstein Castle". Based off his description, my family decided to follow the crowd and head towards these terrific views. 

On our walk, we passed this waterfall. At first, we each commented on "if that is all the views are, these can't be that great!" However, and fortunately- we decided to continue on with our journey! Eventually, we reached a line of people. While we weren't sure quite where the line went, we correctly assumed that the line led to the terrific views. Eventually, we saw that the line led to a bridge- admittedly, a quite scary bridge to traverse. When we finally got on the bridge, WOW were the views ever worth it!

view of Neuschwanstein Castle

Second view of Neuschwanstein Castle

 As we stepped out on to the bridge, we could see terrific views of Neuschwanstein Castle and the backdrop against German countryside. In a word, it was simply stunning. All along the bridge, various people had also placed love locks.

Looking over the opposite side of the bridge, you could see some of the clearest, brightest blue water cascading down the mountainside and into a pool at the bottom, before continuing it's journey down the river. The bridge itself was slightly scary to be on- various planks of the wood would move and bend as you walked along. Because of this, we quickly got our pictures and got off that bridge!

the bridge we walked out on

After walking out on the bridge, we walked back towards the Neuschwanstein Castle. Once we reached the castle, we could spot the bridge we had just walked out on. Amazingly enough, it looked even more perilous in person than in the above picture! The bridge is located right about in the center of the picture.

view of the mountains

another view of Hohenschwangau Castle

looking out over the German countryside

After we felt we had seen all there was to with both the Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle, we decided to walk back to the train station. The walk took us quite a while, maybe 1.5 hours or so, but was very pretty and a nice way to get fresh air. Overall, we completely loved our day in Füssen viewing both of the castles. It was the perfect day trip from Munich, and a trip I would highly recommend to anybody passing through the area or visiting Munich! Have you ever been to Füssen, or visited other famous castles?