Hi,

I just wanted some feedback on our trip plan. I know it's a bit intense.

Day 1 - Flying from Canada
Day 2 - Land in London, Fly to Munich
Day 3 - Munich
Day 4 - Neuschwanstein Castle (taking train, staying overnight)
Day 5 - Neuschwanstein Castle to Salzburg (Or is it better to train to Munich and then train to Salzburg)
Day 6 - Salzburg
Day 7 - Salzburg to Vienna
Day 8 - Day Trip to Bratislava (Or stay in Vienna?)
Day 9 - Fly Vienna to London (Taking a late afternoon flight?)
Day 10 - Fly back to Canada from London

Any feedback would be appreciated

When are you going - anyway the quickest way by rail between Fussen (Neuschwanstein) and Salzburg is yes to go back thru Munich and change there - takes about 3 1/2 hours all told - the route via Reutte, just thru the gap from Fussen, and Garmisch would take a lot longer - check www.bahn.de/en for schedules and advance purchase discounts though if you take regional trains only you can use the Bavarian Pass (sold locally) where for qabout 30 euro 2 or more can travel all day on unlimited regional trains - including those from Fussen and all the way to Salzburg even though it is a few km inside Austria.

Fussen to Munich is basically only served by regional trains but for Salzburg you have a choice of fast trains or stopping regional trains that may take about an hour or so longer than the fast trains upon which the Bavaria Pass ain't valid, being valid only on regional trains.

For lots of goodies on rail travel in general check www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

I ask when you are going as in winter days get dark early the weather can be funky so I would reconsider staying in Fussen area and do that as a day trip from Munich - about 2-3 hours all told Munich to Mad Ludwig's fantasy castle (which some call a palace!)

Salzburg to Vienna www.oebb.at - Austrian railways sells discounted tickets for those trains and www.westbahn.com does too - the latter always cheap even on walk-up tickets I believe.

Hi PalenQ,

We haven't nailed down the week yet, but it would be in July or August or possibly September.

Thanks for your feedback

You actually have only 6 full days (Day 3-8) and maybe one half day (Day 9) on the continent; you will have your hands full of interesting places and experiences if you just stay in Bavaria and Salzburg. Vienna and Bratislava make for a sprint across the continent for no good reason. One day in Munich?? You won't have time for any of these places, really. Vienna is WAY too big to see in the time you have, even if you stay there and don't bother with Bratislava at all.

Vienna has a UNESCO World Heritage old town center - but so does Regensburg, an easy day trip from Munich - suggest you see Regensburg instead:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1155

Vienna has Schönbrunn Palace, but Nymphenburg (and the wild carriage museum) is right in Munich, and Herrenchiemsee Palace is only an hour or so from Munich, on the way to Salzburg:

http://www.schloss-nymphenburg.de/englisch/palace/
http://louis2debaviere.com/wp-conten...ry-d42xpev.jpg

Herrenchiemsee: http://www.schloesser.bayern.de/engl...cts/hch_ns.htm

And in Salzburg you probably have enough time for some basics, but with an extra day there maybe you could take a short outing to Hohenwerfen Castle (and falconry show) in Werfen, or to Berchtesgaden and the Königssee:

Hohenwerfen:
http://www.markmarissink.com/wp-cont...n/DSCF0697.jpg
http://www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/wer...rfen/index.htm

Königssee: http://images.fotocommunity.de/bilde...366c66aa75.jpg

Berchtesgaden: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...a_Bavaria.html

Agree to drop Vienna - mush as it has to see and do. You would end up spending so much of your time just in transit (have you looked at train schedules and deducted from sightseeing time?) that your expenditure of time and money would end up being mostly a blur.

I think this is a crazy plan. You have 1 jet lagged day in Munich, are devoting 1.5 days to Neuschwanstein, 1 day in Salzburg, maybe .75 of a day in Vienna. Basically about 5 days of your 10 days are spent IN/seeing places and 5 days are spent traveling.

Your plan would be a smidgeon less crazy if you booked open-jaw tickets instead of looping back to London to fly home, but yes, it's still crazy - all over the continent, spending hours and hours in transit versus actually seeing anything, and spending all kinds of money you don't need to just to fly by the attractions.

Why don't you find a flight more directly into Munich? As StCirq says why fly back to London, fly Vienna to Canada.
This would give you more time on the ground.

Day 6 - Salzburg
Day 7 - Salzburg to Vienna
Day 8 - Day Trip to Bratislava (Or stay in Vienna?)

Practically speaking, assuming you catch an 0700 train from Salzburg on Day 6, you will arrive at the Vienna's Westbahnhof a little past 0900. Give yourself an hour or so to find your hotel and drop your bags, and you could conceivably enjoy a full day in Vienna, but what exactly do you plan to see in one day? Walking around the Inner Stadt, UNESCO or not, is essentially a slog through three streets of chain stores and expensive boutiques, with some interesting architecture (if you know what you're looking at). Stephansdom and Peterskirche are the usual highlights, and you will have to queue to be herded through Stephansdom. If you are visiting on a Sunday or a holiday, that will also mean stores will be closed; on a Monday, many museums will be closed.

Do you have a specific reason to use one of your Vienna days to visit Bratislava? If you do not have a plan, you will spend 90+ minutes each way on the trip, plus the time getting to and from each train station to points of interest. We visit Bratislava on a semi-regular basis for exhibits, Sunday shopping (Austria is closed on Sundays) and festivals and markets, but absent a specific purpose, I would not use a Vienna day for Bratislava.

Really, writing as someone who lives in Vienna and has visited everything on your suggested itinerary, I too would suggest cutting Vienna and devoting the time to Munich, Salzburg, and surrounds. You will enjoy a much more rewarding holiday.

I think we'll amend our plans to:

Day 1 - Flying from Canada
Day 2 - Land in London, Fly to Munich
Day 3 - Munich
Day 4 - Neuschwanstein Castle (taking train, staying overnight)
Day 5 - Neuschwanstein Castle to Munich
Day 6 - Munich
Day 7 - Munich to Vienna
Day 8 - Vienna
Day 9 - Fly Vienna to London (Taking a late afternoon flight?)
Day 10 - Fly back to Canada from London

I really want to see Vienna over Salzburg. We are only going to Munich to see the Castle, I'll use the day to see stuff and recover from the flight.

Any reason why there is a preference for Salzburg rather than Vienna?

I still don't understand why you're not flying open-jaw tickets. There is no reason to backtrack to London to get home. Even if there are no flights from Vienna to Vancouver, you can jiggle your itinerary around to get back home from SOMEWHERE closer than London.

Day 6 - Munich
Day 7 - Munich to Vienna
Day 8 - Vienna

This itinerary is even nuttier, if you'll pardon the intended polite criticism. Our son has shuttled between Munich and Vienna for his summer job, and the better part of a day is wasted in transit. Effectively you will have one day and a few bits in Vienna, depending on how you travel. I have endured this routine with family, friends, and friends of family and friends, and the end result is always, "Wish I'd spent more time in (Vienna/Salzburg/Salzkammergut)."

Skip Vienna. Summer is a beautiful time to be in Salzburg and the Salzkammergut (Hallstaat, Wolfgangee, and so forth.)

Your new plan is not an improvement at all really.

Random points/questions:

Why on earth are you devoting 1.5 days to Neuschwanstein?

You are staying in Munich twice -- one night each sandwiched around Neuschwanstein. That isn't practical at all. Packing and moving/checking in/out multiple times.

Staying in London one night doesn't make sense either. You won't see any of the city so fly home from Munich or Vienna. It will save you the expense of getting back to London and net you almost a full extra day to sightsee.

I really want to see Vienna over Salzburg. We are only going to Munich to see the Castle, I'll use the day to see stuff and recover from the flight.>

then why spend a couple of days in Munich - go straight from Fussen to Salzburg or onto Vienna spending more time there - if you want to do Bratislava it is an easy one-hour day trip from Vienna by train - I did this not long ago and found Bratislava a neat city but perfect for just a day.

Munich is nice but I've never fallen in love with it as I do many cities - too modern for example though it does have some stellar sites - and Dachau is just in the suburbs if you want to add a Nazi camp to your experiences (not to everyone's taste however though Dachau was mainly a work not a death camp though many died here of disease and execution for misbehavior.

"We are only going to Munich to see the Castle"

Day 2 - Land in London, Fly to Munich
Day 3 - Munich
Day 4 - Neuschwanstein Castle (taking train, staying overnight)
Day 5 - Neuschwanstein Castle to Munich
Day 6 - Munich

In that case, Days 2-6 are all for the Neuschwanstein - which is NOT a real castle and which you are allowed inside of for only 30 MINUTES! This itinerary makes no sense at all to me.

Neuschwanstein btw is a late 19th-century palace created by a set designer to LOOK like a castle.

Don't waste 5 days on this 30-minute tour. Fly into Vienna instead. See the much more awesome Schönbrunn Palace there. See Hohensalzburg Castle in Salzburg and Hohenwerfen Castle in Werfen (just outside of Salzburg.) And you will still have time to see the rest of Salzburg and Vienna too.

I am flying back to London because it's the cheapest city for me to fly to from Canada (I do not live in Van.) So I'd rather pay $1K to London and just use easyjet/train to get to Munich, Vienna vs paying $2.5K to fly directly to Munich and Vienna.

I do plan to see Munich for the 2.5 days we are there. I didn't want to do a daytrip from Munich to see the castle as I want to get pictures of the castle at sunrise and sunset. And I also want to see Hohenschwangau Castle while I am there. Maybe I'll see if I can travel to Salzburg to the Castle and skip Munich. I know easyjet flys to Salzburg from London.

I am staying in London for one night as I found it tricky to get my flight connections from Vienna to London to match up. We have family there, so I'd probably meet up with them and go see a show. I am not really concerned about that one. I am not concerned about see London, I've seen it, it's just the cheapest place to get home from.

Thanks everyone

Have you even looked into open-jaw flights? I don't think you even understand what they are.

Anyway, it's still a crazy, expensive plan that won't give you much time seeing anything, anywhere. Go for it.

I do understand what an open jaw flight is, it's what we are planning to do for our other trip.

I did look into open-jaw flights for this trip and unfortunately it's still more expensive than using easyjet.

Well those who view Neuschwanstein as just a 30-minute tour miss so much IME - especially in warm weather - the area around the castle is great for hiking - easy hiking or there is a chair-lift up to top of hill or small mountain Mad Ludwig's Castle sits near the bottom of.

Be sure to trek up to the Marienbrucke and ponder the spector of the castle (or palace or whatever you want to call it but it is one of the world's best known or best known castles, right or wrong in terminology - this is where Mad Ludwig came to ponder his construction of a dreamy medieval castle, yes Ersatz but so so whimsical and dreamy, especially set against the lush setting - the large lake down below it and there is also Hohenwhatever its name is near Neuschwanstein - an older more authentic looking castle (though also rather Ersatz I think) and Schwangau, the town on the lake below the castle is a neat place to stay.

I stayed once in Schwangau and at night the local band came out to play - a great setting for it - on the shores of the lake.

So for me and many Neuschwanstein is anything but a 30-minute tour itself.

Read up on the history of the castle - weird Ludwig who bankrupted the Bavarian Treasury with his castle-building (Herrenchiemsee is the Bavarian Versailles and lovingly set on a lake - much nearer to Munich than Fussen/Schwangau and a nice possible day trip from there - very different and very nice and Linderhof - anyway his castle extravaganzas threated to b ankrupt the Bavarian Treasury so officials pulled the plug so to speak by having Mad Ludwig mystgeriously drown in a lake near Munich - many think he was murdered - just a few days before Neuschwanstein was finished and he only stayed in his fantasy castle a few days before his death.

and the inside of the castle has a neat surprise at every turn - not your typical, often IME boring castle interior stuffed with old furnishings, etc.

Fussen itself is a neat town to explore though sadly overlooked by many who yes do just flock there for the 30-minute tour -I have also stayed in Fussen - lovely walks right in town along a roaring river that shoots thru a gap into Austria.

Views from the Marienbrucke high above the castle:

https://www.google.com/search?q=mari...FQYbPgodoVAPfA

Fussen is a cute resort town nestled in at the foot of the Bavarian pre-Alps:

https://www.google.com/search?q=fuss...w=1745&bih=890

Few folks stay in such a neat area - obviously much different than Munich, just another large city - there are many guesthouses with thick feather blankets and heart breakfasts, etc. Much cheaper to stay here than Munich too.

>> so I'd probably meet up with them and go see a show.<<

Won't be possible w/ a late afternoon flight. A 5PM flight will get you into London after 6PM and curtain is usually 7 or 7:30PM. It takes more than an hour to get from any London airport to any theatre. Even w/ a 3PM flight it would be difficult since you'd have to drop your luggage somewhere - most likely wherever your relatives live or at a train station. (you can't leave them at the theatre) - so you'll be commuting to and fro in London (just like the rest of your trip in general).