Blog Archives
Neuschwanstein castle Hike
I had to spend my second day in Füssen going back to the castles because my cell phone die. I needed pictures! This time I did take the city bus. If you stay in Füseen overnight you get a card good for free buses. I made sure to get the first bus to the castles. The buses are right beside the train station. I skipped the smaller castle today. I hiked to the Neuschwanstein castle.
After you see the castle, make sure to follow the signs to Marienbrücke (Mary’s Bridge). There you can get great pictures of the castle. But it is very crowded!
KEEP GOING! Cross the bridge. There is a great hike. I hiked up to a restaurant and a gondola. I rode the gondola back down and took the bus back to Füssen.
This was one of my favorite days. Hardly anyone was on the hiking trail. This was a fairly easy hike although it is all uphill.
Walk to the Castles
Most people make a day trip from Munich to Füssen to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. You can catch a bus right at the train station to the castle however I decided I wanted to stay in Füssen instead. I found that you can walk/hike to the castles instead of taking an overcrowded city bus. I asked around at the hostel to see if anyone has done that. No one had but a guy from Australia wanted to walk too so we got lunch for later and headed out in the morning. It was lovely. Not difficult by any means.
First we crossed the river
Next we come up to this:
The view of Füssen
This is a lovely walk; you pass a couple of lakes
Make sure to bring water though. We saw this water source along the path however there was a sign in germen: do not drink.
We got a little turned around at one point however you can see the castle so it was easy to find it. The little “town” where you get dropped off if you take the bus is where you buy tickets if you want to go inside the castles. There are two castles the Neuschwanstein Castle and the Hohenschwangau Castle. The Hohenschwangaucastle is the smaller of the two. We started there. We did not go in the castle but walked around it and the gift shop in the castle.
The view of the “town” from the castle.
This is in the castles gift shop:
This is when I discovered my phone for some reason did not charge during the night and died! I did not get anymore pictures but I decide I’d come back the next day to take pictures. We went on to the big castle, it was amazing plus you can go up into the courtyard without paying. We then went to Marienbrücke (Mary’s Bridge). You can get great pictures of the castle here however there is a ton of people. Keep going pass the bridge and up the hiking trail. Not too far up is an even better view of the castle. I’ll post picture in my next post about the castles. We unfortunately interrupted a marriage proposal at this view point. We ended up taking their picture for them though. This was a great place to eat lunch. We then headed back to town. On the way back the guy from the hostel (I can’t remember his name) joined the locals in a swim in one of the lakes. There were a lot of locals out enjoying the weather. Thankfully we left when we did because a thunder storm moved in and it started to pour.
To be continued: dinner, renaissance festival, and more castles.
Old Kings Hostel in Füssen Germany
Old Kings Hostel in Füssen Germany
This was my first hostel experience. I was in the room called “Prince of Persia” it was a mixed dorm room. The bottom beds had a curtain that you can close, a light, an outlet, and a little shelf. The beds were comfy too.
The bathroom was nice and clean and right outside the room. I never saw anyone in there.
You can get breakfast for 5 euro’s. There were bread, cereal, meat, and coffee. It was a little odd because it was all for me. They asked me the night before what time I wanted breakfast and had it ready for me. It was okay but I found a lovely coffee shop right around the corner.
The location of this hostel could not have been better; it was right in the old town.
I loved staying at this hostel. I met a lot of cool people and I was not the oldest person there. I actually fix in quite well. This is not a party hostel thankfully. On my next Trip I’m planning on staying in mixed dorm rooms.
Traveling to Füssen Germany
Sept 6, 2014
I had a long travel day to Füssen Germany today. I got the 8am gondola out of Gimmelwald. I just bought a ticket to Interlaken Ost. I had to ride a gondola, a bus and a train to reach Interlaken. My train ticket to Füssen was 148 CHF and had 4 train transfers in the following places:
Start in Interlaken Ost 11:00 -11:52
Bern 12:02-12:58
Zürich 13:16-16:41
Buchloe 16:46 -17:54
Füssen arrived at 17:54
I was nervous when I saw my ticket. Not a lot of time between trains. But it was smooth. No problems making connections. Before I left tried to use all my swiss francs. I got coffee and food at the local supermarket.
That coffee was so good! It was around 2.50 CHF. As soon as I was on the train I put my hands in my pockets and found 10CHF! Oops. It turned out to be a good thing. I bought 2 espressos on the train, it was a long day.
Things went so smooth unit I got to Füssen. I could not find my hostel. I was staying at the Old Kings Design Hostel in a mixed dorm room (a first for me) more on that later. First I had to find it. Füssen is not a big town but I forgot to print out any information about the hostel. I finally went to an internet cafe to find directions. All I could find was the address. It was on Franziskanergasse street, I figured that was all I needed with a name like that. I was wrong. The locals I asked didn’t know it. I finally went into a different hostel for help. After TWO HOURS I finally found it. I was so hungry I dropped off my backpack and ate dinner. My grand Füssen adventure started the next day, I had 3 nights there.
Stay tune: Hostel review, Füssen overview, and hikes to the castles to come.