Fussen Travel Forum

Hi ,

Just wondering if anybody tried this from Frankfurt to Wurzburg and all the way down to Fussen in a day ?

Then spend the night in Fussen before going to see the castles the next day.

What's your experience like ?
I guess the stops are very short to take photos and have a quick look...if any ?

thanks in advance!

Hi

I have not done this by bus but have driven the Romantiche Strasse a couple of times. A day to get to Fussen is possible but you will miss a lot.

Firstly, apart of Wurzburg (worth seeing Baroque town) you should not miss Rotenburg ob der Tauber. This remarkable old town With half timber houses is amazing. Its worth a day there on its own! Then there is the former Imperial town of Dinkelsbuhl with its famous late Gothic churches - St. Georg's Minster.
Then through Nordlingen (another walled city) to Augsburg which has lots of interesting Churches (inc. a Cathedral) and lovely architecture. Further on you will come to a fork in the romantic road, to the right going to Fussen but it would be also a shame to miss Oberammergau (left) which is the town that does the Passion play every 10 years and certainly worth the detour. From there you could go to Fussen via another interesting Palace (great gardens), Schloss Linderhof.

Well, you will have to decide what to miss out on if you are short of time!

Hope this helps
John

If you only have a short period to travel, I would look at the German rail site. Travel by train should at least give you more time to enjoy Fuessen, and the surrounding area. For the castle(s), you might wish to look at the following web site: www.hohenschwagau.de. The site talks about tickets, the tour(s), transportation, and has other information as well. You can take all the photos you wish outside the castle. Photo opportunities are not allowed inside the castle, except for out of the windows. You will want to have your lodging booked before you travel. The castle area will be quite busy until probably the end of Oktoberfest. Gary

By bus in one day? What for? The road itself is not romantic at all, it's just another country road. It's the towns and villages along the road that the trip is about, and these cannot be seen from a bus. These require walking and exploring on your own, which takes time.

Pick one stop along the way and spend a couple of hours there. Rothenburg is what most people do.

Thanks all for you helpful hints

At least now I know where to aim for.

I have a few more questions,

Since I aim to see just Wurzburg and Rothenburg in 1 day and reach Fussen by late evening/night to spend the night. I may as well just use my Eurail pass instead of the Europabus. I hope that's more doable, assuming I spend about 5-6 hours sightseeing the 2 towns ?

If I travel via night train from Vienna, I reach Frankfurt at 6am and then to Wurzburg at 7.30am , I guess about 3 hours I would see quite a fair bit. So I'm just wondering how do I get from Wurzburg to Rothenburg by train ?
It doesn't seem to be in the eurail schedule. I'll need some pointers how to get to Fussen thereon .

I hope the morning is enough for me to see the 2 Ludwig castles, since I plan to wake up real early ?

Many thanks again!

Please look at a map. Würzburg is on the main train route from Vienna to Frankfurt, so if you are coming from Vienna that night, going to Frankfurt first and then back on the same track doesn't make sense. Take a train that stops at Würzburg - actually all trains on that route do, but I'm not sure about the night trains - and get off right there. This saves you at least 2-3 hours, precious hours on this long day.

As for the Wuerzburg - Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Fuessen part, the website of Deutsche Bahn - http://www.bahn.de, English version available - has all the connections including the tiniest and slowest local trains and regional buses. You'll find everything you need there. Note the correct spelling of the three places' names, otherwise DB will probably send you to the middle of nowhere.

Where do you fly out of Europe ? That should determine the order you visit your destinations. You could possibly travel by train from Vienna, to Munich, and then on to Fuessen. That route would eliminate travelling northward, then heading southward. I would try to overnight in the Fuessen area. Once you have seen Neuschwanstein & Hohenschwangau, you can determine how much time you have left to visit the rest of your destinations. Gary

The last suggestion is a very sensible one. It makes no sense to travel from Vienna to Frankfurt and then back to the south. Really take the train from Vienna to Munich and make your way to Füssen. There are direct trains from Munich to Füssen which take just two hours.

Then travel north to Rothenburg and Würzburg. This trip takes very long by train, nearly five hours. Rothenburg to Würzburg takes about two hours, and to Frankfurt it is another two hours.

Getting up early in Füssen is fine - still the castles will not open before 9am.

And if you are in Füssen you are still not at the castles as they are several kilometres outside the town. However, the bus trip takes only 5 mins. Then you have to walk up to the castles, and from one to the other castle, and you will want to walk up the hill to have the perfect view of Neuschwanstein...

So realistically you will not be back in Füssen before 12 noon.

If you get an immediate train connection to Rothenburg you will be there at 5pm.

Do you see the problem of doing everything in a day?

The only way to do it in a day, you would have to take the train from Vienna to Kempten (via Munich), rent a car and drop it off in Frankfurt.

I would just allow two days from Füssen to Frankfurt. In this case you would also be able to climb the world's highest church spire on the way from Füssen to Rothenburg, in Ulm.

Sissi

Thanks all for the suggestions,

ya, I know it's very odd, since I'm trying to save time actually by sleeping on the train and getting to an early start at Wuerburg. The other reason is I'm planning to fly via the budget airline easyjet from Munich to London. There doens't seem to be any in Frankfurt. But appreaciate if anyone can point me to an appropriate budget airline I can fly off Frankfurt at night to London.

That would be great, since then I can spend 1 day in Fussen for the castles and at least Rothenburg or Wuerzburg the next day before taking the flight out of Frankfurt.

thanks!

I agree, but my objective is this:

1) See 2 castles near Fussen

2) See at least Wuerzburg,

3) fly back to London on a budget flight at night

....in a matter of 2 days. And I'm coming in from Vienna by night train.

I'm sorry I should have made it clearer at the beginning. But appreciate which is the best direction, and how do I fly out to London by either late evening or night flight. But looks like I should go from South toward north. Seems like Frankfurt may be my best bet, unless it's on some remote airfield then this is not very doable.

thanks again!

You might wish to look at the web site for the Frankfurt am Main, (the "real" Frankfurt), airport for familiarity, flight information, and links. That website is: www.airportcity-frankfurt.com. As a previous poster mentioned, flights originating in Frankfurt do tend to be a bit more costly. That is due to the fact that Frankfurt is a very busy business and convention center. You might wish to compare fares from the Munich airport. Gary

ah , thanks for pointing out that important
fact. I see what you mean now.

In fact rethinking a better plan might look like this:
Day1
Arrive Munich 6.15
Munich - Fussen, arrive Fussen 8.56
Castles sightseeing 9.00 ++ till about 16.00 (7 hours sightseeing)
arrive back Munchen 17.07 I guess I spend a night here so I save travel time to Wuerzburg the next day. Any recommendations on place to stay in Munich ?

Day 2
Munchen - Wurzburg, arrive 8.54
sightseeing Wurzburg 9.00++ till about 15.00++ ( 6 hours sightseeing)
Wuerzburg - Frankfurt Main Train station (MTS) 15.56 , 17.05
Frankfurt MTS - Frankfurt/Hahn 18.00 - 19.45 via the Bohr/Ryanair Omnibus
checkin 21.00 for 23.10 Ryanair flight back to London.

1 hour extra time budgetted just in case of traffic, etc.

hmmm...I may have answered my own question ;-)
but please feel free to comment. You may have better solutions.

But more nagging questions on my mind....
How far is the train ride from Wurzburg to Rothenburg in case I change my mind and decide to visit Rothenburg instead ?
Anybody has any experience flying Ryanair ?
Appreaciate budget places to recommend in Munich ? ...unless someone has suggestion to stay in Wuerzburg, maybe I would consider taking a late train there...


I do really appreaciate all your inputs!


I hope I'm getting closer to my solution.


thanks again!

Würzburg to Rothenburg takes about 2 hours.