We will be visiting Fussen in a couple of weeks. All of the hotels that I wanted to book were unavailable. The remaining hotels all have cancellation policies so, if we arrive and find the rooms unacceptable, we pay anyway.

I am thinking of waiting until we arrive Friday afternoon (by car) and trying to find a vacancy at that time. Can anyone familiar with Fussen advis me whether we are likely to encounter a problem finding good accommodations at the last minute?

In a couple of weeks, you may have more problems. If you have a car why not consider staying outside of Fussen?

If you're going to Fussen to see King Ludwig's palaces at Hohenschwangau, look at hotels in Hohenschwangau itself. There are several, and being right there will allow you to get an earlier start, before the other tourists descend.

I can't imagine that you will find your pre-paid room at a hotel in Fuessen "unacceptable" provided you have done some research. There are over 20 hotels listed on Trip Advisor for Fuessen that have a rating of 4 or above. I think that if you book a room in any of these hotels, you should be perfectly satisfied with your accommodations.

While I have never had to book a room at the last minute in Fuessen, it's not something I would want to try on a Friday afternoon in September.

I stayed and prepaid at the Luitpolpark hotel. My room was on the top floor.... A suite with 2 bathrooms and a wooden sauna in the main bathroom! Very cool. And great views from my windows of
Fuessen's castle!

I have tried booking rooms online at several hotels, only to find that most are unavailable. I have sent emails and other requests to additional hotels and have been surprised at the lack of responses. In fact, I have had only one response (I think it was the Parkhotel) and I wasn't certain as to the quality of the rooms from the online information I could find.
The Luitpolpark hotel was already booked.

Mimar - you mentioned Hohenschwangau, which I thought was part of Fussen. Is it a different town? What other places are outside but near Fussen?

Hohenschwangau is about 3 miles from Fussen. Look at a map for other towns in the area. Some hotel sites show the hotels on a map.

Woodstockguy, at first you said that "the remaining hotels all have cancellation policies" and now you say the additional hotels have not responded to your requests. Which is it?

As Camporico pointed out, there are plenty of quality hotels in Fuessen and it's doubtful you would go wrong booking one of those, even with their cancellation policies. For example, the Parkhotel in Fuessen has a Trip Advisor rating of 4.5 with 29 reviews (many of them by senior reviewers or top contributors)and the only bad review was from 2008. I would certainly book a room there after reading those reviews.

Another alternative is to call those hotels that have not responded to your emails. Having lived in Germany for a number of years, I can attest that lots of Germans speak English, especially at hotels in tourist areas such as Fuessen.

Which hotels are unavailable?

Unavailable hotels include: Hotel Sonne, Aktiv Hotel Schweiger, Hotel Hirsch, Hotel Sommer, Luitpoldpark, Hotel Schlosskrone, Europark Hotel and others - I've lost track of all of them. Is the September equinox a special event or a heavy tourist time?

I have found a few b&b type accommodations, but those have strict cancellation policies, hence my posting. I would certainly appreciate any recommendations if anyone has stayed at places other than what I listed already.

We stayed in Reutte, Austria at Burgenwelt Ehrenberg. This is a short drive to Fussen. Here is a link from Trip Advisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...rian_Alps.html

The apt. we rented was recently remodeled and spotless. It was also very quiet at night.

They call it "october" fest but it starts on different dates each year; always, I believe, starting in September. This year September 22 - October 7.

Lots of places will be well traveled during this time. No where more than Munich, I think. Simply because there are tons of tourists who like to go to Octoberfest.

If the hotels you're looking at are already booked, why in the world would you think there will be more rooms available when you get there? There are likely to be many fewer choices then - and do you really want to spend your valuable vacation time touring around and checking out hotels?

You can easily stay within an hour's (scenic) drive of Fuessen...the town is nice but it isn't the end all and be all.

The whole area is nice.

We stayed at the Dreimaderlhaus, just outside of Fussen. It's on a lovely lake. There is a park and a walking path around the lake next to the property. There is so much to see in the area we spent almost no time in Fussen. You might try www.booking.com to see if the Dreimaderlhaus or other properties are available for your dates. Good luck, Deborah

I was quite surprised by the color of the river in Fuessen. Turquoise blue! I now know why but think you should take a stroll to the bridge or out of the castle gate to get a great view!

We liked out 2 stays at the Hotel zum Hechten in Fuessen.

www.hotel-hechten.com

Paul

Hi again,

About 40 minutes from Fuessen is the "Zugspitze Arena" area in Austria. This is comprised of the villages of Berwang, Ehrwald, Biberwier, Bichlbach, Lermoos and Heiterwang. In addition, the Zugspitze cable car trip is right in Ehrwald. This is quicker and cheaper than the ascent from Garmisch.

www.zugspitzarena.com

www.zugspitze.at

Paul