European Rail Travel - Munich-Salzburg to Paris + Neuschwanstein

Trying to figure out a 3 day period which includes part of a day, then a night and day either in Munich or Salzburg, then taking train to Neuschwanstein castle. Spend the day in that area and get up to Paris later in the afternoon or evening on that 3rd day.

I see the train from Munich, but seems about 2 hours would be wasted going back, but instead could maybe go up to Stuttgart and take the high speed train into Paris? Could take a flight from Munich or Salzburg, but the prices seem a bit steep, or a layover is required. Is this a good route or is there a better one? Travel in late summer. Thanks.

There is also a sleeper train, dep Munich 22:43, arrive Paris Est 09:23.

I thought about that for Munich to Paris, but would like to fit in Neuschwanstein on the way. Can't seem to come up with a good plan to fit Salzburg or Munich for that first full day, then the next day go through Neuschwanstein, and connect close by to Paris.

Do you know that there is no train station in Hohenschwangau? (This is the town closest to the castle.) There is a train station in Füssen, which is not very far from Hohenschwangau. From there is a bus that brings you to Hohenschwangau. There may also be tourist buses that will go directly to the castle.

The point of this is that a trip to the castle is not so simple or quick. The train trip from Munich is a bit over two hours on a local train. Munich seems to be the closest rail centre. So, you could return to another city, but it would probably take at least another two hours. This is a very rural area, quite a distance from cities and rather isolated.

I think you must consider it at least half a day, but more likely a full day, if you add the castle to your itinerary.

I think it was not very clear what I wrote above, hopefully, it will be clearer now.

Your trip is only three days and you want to visit several cities not close to each other. One day each in Munich and Paris is not enough. These are both fairly large cities with many, many things to see and things to do. However, both are quite easy to reach by train or plane.

The castle at Neuschwanstein is only one sight and it is not so easy to reach. I understand that you are quite interested in seeing it, however, with so little time, you must sacrifice time in the more interesting cities to go there.

I would recommend you concentrate on only one or two cities for this short time and you leave the castle for another trip.

The castle is part of a tourist package developed in Germany called "Romantic Street". You can read and see more about it here: https://www.romantischestrasse.de/showpage.php?SiteID=145&lang=uk

If you like castles and other similar sites, it would probably be quite interesting to take one of the tours offered on the site.

Good luck and I hope this is clearer now.

Thanks. But I think maybe I wasn't very clear and I made it more confusing.

I would come from Berlin down to either Munich or Salzburg. Then I'll have the rest of that day, plus 2 more days. On the third day or night I need to get to Paris. I already have a few days set aside for Paris.

So I would like see Munich or Salzburg, and the castle during those 3 days. maybe spend the night in Sazburg, take train to Munich spend night, then visit Neuschweiestin in the morning and take train later in day to Paris.

I'll take a look at the site you mentioned. Hopefully I'm making a little more sense. I appreciate your time and help.

Yes, that is a bit clearer now. I visit Munich usually once or twice a year. I was there about two weeks ago and stayed in the city for three days. I was sorry I didn't have more time. So, I would recommend at least two days there if this is your first visit, possibly three.

What I suggest is that you do the trip in two parts. If you like castles and towns, then I think you should really do the Romatic Street tour. If you look here: https://www.romantischestrasse.de/showpage.php?SiteID=155&lang=uk
and here: http://www.touring-travel.eu/?id=6&L=2
you can get an idea of the tour possibilities.

If you try to squeeze in Munich and the castle in the small time you have, I'm afraid everything will be rushed and you won't have a chance to enjoy the experience.

If you have no choice, then I would recommend the night train from Munich that Railways posted.

Hi Meter,

To be honest, I agree with JoostvD: I would generally recommend spending more time in Munich and not spending so much time to see Neuschwanstein, which I think is overrated anyway. You will be investing about 5 hours of extra travel to take a 1-hour castle tour. However, if you are definitely set on Neuschwanstein...

You can leave Munich on a weekday at 6:51, 7:52 or 8:52 to Buchloe, where you change to a train to Füssen, and then change to Bus 73 or 78 to Hohenschwangau (Schwangau). (The 8:52 goes direct to Füssen.) The trip takes approx. 2:30, which means you arrive at 9:23, 10:13 or 11:13.

You then can leave Hohenschwangau at 14:40 on Bus 78 to Füssen. From Füssen you take the 15:07 train to Buchloe, the 16:22 from Buchloe to Augsburg, the ICE at 17:03 from Augsburg to Stuttgart, and the TGV at 18:54 from Stuttgart to Paris.

For more options, see www.bahn.de/en.

By the way...if you do decide to go to Neuschwanstein, consider thaking the earlier train, and then you might have time to see Hohenschwangau Castle as well, which is not as spectacular as Neuschwanstein...but was acutally lived in!

I would generally recommend spending more time in Munich and not spending so much time to see Neuschwanstein, which I think is overrated anyway. You will be investing about 5 hours of extra travel to take a 1-hour castle tour. However, if you are definitely set on Neuschwanstein...

Thanks david7031,

Your trip detail is excellent. However I think everyone is probably correct in that time is too limited. And it may now be that we will only have 1 night to stay in Munich (or elsewhere). I would like to keep Neuschwanstein as an option.

So for example let's say we'll be in Berlin and then have Aug 24, 25, 26th with the 24th and 26th also include travel time.

Another possible option - fly into Frankfurt and take a day trip to Castle Road, and then the high speed to Paris? I had also thought of flying into Salzburg and visiting the Salt Mine and the castle there.

So we have an open time and are open to other ideas of where to visit between Berlin and Paris. If we could see some castles in either of those cities, then we could basically think about visiting somewhere else between the 2 cities and relaxing more.

Hi Meter,

Versailles is a suburb of Paris, and that is a very impressive palace. There is also a palace in Berlin: Charlottenburg. But if you are looking for the kind of castle that sits on top of a hill and guards the approach, you won't really find that in a major city. Are you more interested in the setting and the outside or in the inside? Another palace on the route you were proposing is halfway between Salzburg and Munich: Herrenchiemsee. This was also one of Ludwig II's palaces, like Neuschwanstein. It has impressive interiors and a beautiful garden. It's set on an island in themiddle of a lake.

Otherwise...there are *lots* of castles and palaces in Germany!

David7031, your suggestion for Versailles might work. I had heard of another Ludwig castle that was impressive, and that must be the one you mentioned. The main criteria is to see a few interesting (interior too) castles. They don't have to be hilltop fortresses, and maybe that's something for a trip with more time available.

The other idea since this has become a bit confusing, was to take a train to Amsterdam, spend 2 nights, then go to Paris. But the 6+ hour train ride, plus 3+ to Paris, takes some time up. Also not sure there is much scenery in between.

We have that as an option, or maybe it's better to just spend the extra days in Paris as we wanted to see Fontainebleau also. Thanks for your help! Have to make a decision soon.

Meter, I think the other Ludwig castle you are thinking about is Chiemsee, which is actually on the route between Salzburg and Munich. It is on an island in a lake, quite pretty. It fits your routing a little better, but I am still concerned that you are 1-2 days short of even a fast-paced itinerary. If you don't use night trains, you don't get down from Berlin until noon on day 1 and the last train from Munich to Paris leaves a little after 4 PM on day 3. So you really are talking about 52 hours, including some time to sleep on two nights!

Here is an idea that fits: you arrive noon at Munich the first day, store your luggage at the station and sightsee into the evening. Take the frequent one hour train to Prien (at Chiemsee) and spend the night there (many places to stay under $100). Day two take the frequent ferry from Prien to the Chiemsee castle. Later take the frequent one hour train to Salzburg from Prien and then some sightseeing and spend the night in Salzburg (pricier). Day three sightseeing in Salzburg, the train to Paris leaves at 1:51 PM, through Munich and Stuttgart arriving Paris about 11 PM. This will give a little flavor of Munich and Salzburg and one of Ludwig's castles.

Thanks Justin026, That sounds like it is the best Munich/Salzburg plan with castle included. Makes it much easier to figure out.

How about this as an alternative to the Munich area?

Fly Berlin to Amsterdam > Visit Muiderslot castle > Tour Amsterdam > train to Paris.

This would be the alternative. Have you visited there? I need 2 options and never have been to Amsterdam (or Munich). Thinking this might be a little more relaxing?

Sounds far more relaxing to me, although I'm possibly biased - I've been to Amsterdam and Munich and I prefer Amsterdam (although I haven't been to Amsterdam for 5 years and Munich for nearer 10). You could visit the Royal Palace in Amsterdam as well as Muiderslot

The Palace in Amsterdam is not a castle. It was originally built for city offices.

Muiderslot is a real castle, although it is rather small. Here is a nice picture of it: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Muiderslot_by_Edi_Weissmann.jpg

There is also, near Muiden, an old fort called Naarden-vesting. The town of Naarden was founded in the 10th century. The fort was built late in the 16th century. It is actually an island. Many of the walls of the fort still exist. Inside the island are the streets and buildings, many as they were built 300-400 years ago. It is a very nice place to visit especially in the summer.

That looks great! I think we may schedule this instead of Munich, and try visiting Munich and surrounding areas when we have more time. There's too many places we want to see in that region alone.

I hadn't any idea about the fort and Naarden Vesting. It looks like it would be an easy day trip, along with the castle. And still leave a day for Amsterdam.

Thanks for the help and the history!

I am quite happy to help. And I hope you will enjoy your visit.

Vesting, by the way, is "fortress" in Dutch. You can easily get there by bus from the train station at Naarden. Or if the weather is nice, it is an easy walk.

Here is a picture of the vesting from the air: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Naarden_kl_Bijgewerkt.jpg

I hope you understand this is quite different from a castle. The little village in the centre is the most interesting part. As you can see, there is a big church that you can visit. And the streets are very nice to walk along.

There are actually quite a few castles in the Netherlands. Most, I believe, are now hotels or restaurants.

Not sure if it would work into your plans, but Rick Steve’s (travel guidebook writer) favorite castle in "all of Europe" is Burg Eltz

I have not been, but it looks interesting:

http://www.burg-eltz.de/e_index.html

Caution: Rick Steve's website mentions some renovation work going on there.