Getting from Munich to Neuschwanstein Castle
· Updated · BootsnAll
Ludwig II commissioned Neuschwanstein as a retreat and died before it was finished. It opened to the public within weeks of his death in 1886, which is the kind of irony the guides never let you forget. Walt Disney borrowed the silhouette. About 1.4 million people a year come to look at it.
In July 2025 it stopped being merely famous and became official: UNESCO inscribed Neuschwanstein along with Ludwig's three other palaces, Linderhof, Schachen and Herrenchiemsee, as Germany's 55th World Heritage Site.
Book the ticket before you book the train
This is the part people get wrong, and it ruins the day. You cannot turn up at Neuschwanstein and buy a ticket at the gate. Entry is by timed slot, booked in advance through the official Hohenschwangau ticket centre, and slots for the good times go weeks out in summer.
Book a slot between about 9:15 and 10:30 in the morning. You get in ahead of the coach tours out of Munich, and you still have the whole afternoon and the light for the walk up to the Marienbrücke, which is where the photograph you have in your head was taken from. In the 2026 summer season, 28 March to 15 October, the last entry to Neuschwanstein is at 18:00.
One thing worth saying plainly: the interior tour is short, about half an hour, and only a handful of rooms were ever finished. The reason to come is the setting and the approach, not the furniture.
Trains from Munich to Füssen
Regional trains run from Munich Hauptbahnhof to Füssen in about two hours, roughly hourly, some direct and some with a change at Buchloe. Deutsche Bahn has the times.
Buy a Bayern-Ticket rather than a point-to-point fare. It costs around 34 euros, covers a whole day on Bavarian regional trains, gets cheaper per head as you add people up to five, and it also covers the local bus at the far end. The catch is that on weekdays it is not valid before 09:00, which on this route is fine: the 09:00-ish departure still gets you there in good time for a late morning slot.
If you already hold a Deutschlandticket, that covers the regional train to Füssen and the bus as well, and you can ignore the Bayern-Ticket entirely.
From Füssen station to the castle
Bus 73 or 78 from outside Füssen station to the stop marked for the castles at Schwangau. It takes about ten minutes and costs in the region of 2.80 euros each way, and the buses are timed to meet the trains.
From the bus stop you are still below the castle. It is about a thirty minute walk up, steep enough to matter in summer heat. There is a shuttle bus partway and there are horse-drawn carriages, both paid separately, and neither goes all the way to the gate. Give yourself an hour between getting off the train and your ticket slot, and more if you want the Marienbrücke first.
Driving
It is about 128 km from Munich on the A96 and B17, an hour and three quarters without traffic. The car frees you to add Linderhof or the Wieskirche on the way back, which is a genuinely good day. What it does not free you from is the ticket slot, and parking at Hohenschwangau fills early in summer.