RollTide_Houston

My wife and I just booked our plane tickets for Europe last night and we will be spending 4 nights in London and 5 nights in Bavaria. I had originally planned on staying in Garmisch-Partenkirchen but it seems I am a bit late booking and the hotel prices are a bit high. My main observation is that it seems the temperatures can sometimes get pretty hot in July. I know it may annoy some Europeans but growing up in the South in the U.S. we get acclimated to having A/C and if a heat wave comes through I will not get any sleep if it is hot at night. I looked into Fussen and it seems to have an overall lower mean temperature throughout the year and it also looks to be just a beautiful as Garmisch. Plus the room mates are a bit more reasonable. Am I making a mistake by going to Fussen instead of Garmisch?

swandav2000

Hi RollTide,

I live in Garmisch but adore Füssen (if you can't make the umlaut, the name of the town is spelled Fuessen --to avoid confusion).

Though Füssen is smaller than Garmisch, its pedestrian area is larger, with interesting streets branching off in different directions. It has a castle in town (in addition to the two nearby), a large lake just outside town, and a lovely river running by the side of town. It would be a great area for hiking or biking, and it's convenient to Linderhof, Oberammergau, Ettal, and Garmisch itself. It would be a bit far for trips to Mittenwald, but not difficult. The very only downside would be that there may not be the number or variety of cafes and restaurants in town as you would find in Garmisch.

Habe fun as you plan!

s

Macross

Did you look on the Partenkirchen side of town? Oberammergau is a winner.

PalenQ

Fussen is nice but also consider staying in Schwangau, on the lake below the castle for a more rustic setting and close to Fussen. Will you have a car - from last thread seems no but buses are frequent enough to all places swandav mentions.

RollTide_Houston

Swan, thanks so much for your reply, that really helps. Do you think there are enough decent restaurants in Fuessen for us since it is only a 4 night stay? Also isn't Mittenwald just outside of Garmisch? I am open to suggestions on which you think is the better choice. It is just that the prices in Garmisch this close to booking have gotten so high and with the higher temperatures in Garmisch compared to Fuessen I am afraid of getting a hotel without A/C.

RollTide_Houston

Yes we will have a rental car since Germans drive on the right side of the road haha.

swandav2000

Oh dear. Well, I won't be able to help further.

Since public transportation is so good here, and so much fun.... and since driving a private car is so bad .... I can't help with this plan (I've lived in Garmisch for 9 1/2 years without a car). I'm sure you'll get all the help you need from other posters.

s

PalenQ

With car Schwangau will has less traffic problems than Fussen as to getting to hotels and parking. Be sure to drive to the Weisskirche on the Romantic Road. Drive thru the gap to Austria too - Reutte a nice old town and this is the fastest way to Garmisch I believe -via Austria as trains go.

Melnq8

I've been to both Füssen and Garmisch several times. Last time I was in Füssen (December 2017) it was wall-to-wall buses. I couldn't believe how much it had changed since I'd last been there. I didn't enjoy it at all (having said that, I was just there for the day).

If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Garmisch hands down. If air con is your deciding factor (and I sure hope it's not), this list might be of some help:

https://www.expedia.com/Garmisch-Par...-Filter-Hotels

Adelaidean

We enjoyed our single night in Füssen, it is a gorgeous little town in a stunning area. I think a longer stay would be lovely.
I don't recall any of our accommodations in Bavaria having A/C.

No need for a car. It is easy to train there, and then we took the bus to Reutte and train to Mittenwald.

We weren't interested in touring castles, just did a hike from the Tegelberg (cablecar up) to Neuschwanstein from the rear, so lovely. The forests, mountains, river and lake are gorgeous for walking or cycling.

PalenQ

Right in Fussen is a gorgeous walk along the rushing river - a neat town that few take time to explore beyond their hotel and the castles.

Adelaidean

I hear you, Mel, I recall feeling dismayed when streams of day trippers rushed off the train onto the 'castle' bus.
We jumped on the almost empty 'Tegelberg' bus, and had a delightful 'tour' of some suburbs, local kids getting on/off, a few hikers alighting with us at Tegelberg.
Quiet and peaceful up there, the walk an easy 2 hours, ...then hit the crowds at Mary's bridge, and the walk down.
Pal is right, the river is a lovely walk too.

RollTide_Houston

I found a pretty affordable hotel called the Hotel Schlosskrone in Fuessen that has A/C in every unit so I will probably end up booking there. I went to Garmisch when I was 18 so maybe we should try Fuessen this time for something new. We visit Colorado every other year and most of the time the accomodation in the mountains do not have A/C. But they do not get heat waves at the mountain resorts there as often due to the altitude and other weather patterns. I am sure that 90% of the time you do not need A/C in the Bavarian Alps. But my luck would be that when I am there it is hot as hell and it would really ruin my trip if I had to sleep in the heat. I blame that on growing up in the Southern United States where every square inch of indoor space has the A/C set on 70. Once you get used to it you can't go back. I am not sure how my ancestors survived down here in the South without A/C, it is borderline torture. Thanks everyone for the input (though I was confused by Swan's last post). We thought having a rental car would allow freedom to drive over to Innsbruck and other towns nearby including Garmisch. Unless there is reliable public transportation that goes from Fuessen to Innsbruck.

PalenQ

Yes reliable transport to Innsbruck from Fussen - take bus from Fussen thru the gap to Reutte, Austria and catch direct trains to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and change for trains to Innsbruck. Takes 2.5 hours including change time (put bags in station locker and reminensce around town). Fares at 24.90 euros on www.bahn.de/en for same day travel.

I've based in Fussen (well Schwangau) and took bus trip to Linderhof, another Mad Ludwig fantasy castle though more traditional looking and spent a day walking in forested hills around Neuschwanstein - like others say up to Tegelberg and over to Marienbrucke (high above castle and where Ludwig famously went to ponder his fake medieval fantasy castle under construction). It's full of tourists but the view is still neat with the castle backdropped by the lake at Schwangau far below. Even if just doing castle it's neat to walk up to the bridge -not that far away. In fact minibuses from the parking lots to castle dump folks off there so can see if not into hiking.

swandav2000

Hi again,

Hmmm. I didn't intend to be confusing; I guess I thought it was clear -- car emissions contribute to global climate change, so it's better to use public transport. I do think it's more fun to use public transport because you won't be isolated inside your private bubble; you'll be closer to the locals and the culture, and you'll be in a great position for some world-class people-watching. Also, since you're American, you may not have used public transport very much, so it can add a layer of European adventure to your European adventure.

Also.... to try to slow down future heat waves.... best to avoid contributing to gcc.

Yes, public transport is dense here. As I said, I lived here for 9 1/2 years without a car, and I got around just fine. I certainly understand why people drive in the US or in rural France or in rural Italy, for example, because public transport is awfully weak there. But it just doesn't make sense to me, that when there is a viable and fun choice, that people would choose to drive. Take a look at the German rail site to get an example of schedules:

www.rail.com

For most of your trips, you'd be using a Bavaria Ticket (31€ for two) or a Werdenfels Ticket (28 € for two) that works like a day-pass to use trains and busses all day. As you calculate the difference in price for driving, be sure to add in the costs for parking (can be up to 20€ per day in some places) and the costs of gas (very expensive).

s

Melnq8

Good to know about Tegelberg for next time Adelaidean.

RollTide - FWIW we live in the Colorado mountains and don't have air con, nor have we needed it. We lived in Perth, Australia for awhile with no air con - now that was torture

I just googled average July temperatures - 71 F in Garmisch, 65 F in Fussen. Just open the window mate.

PalenQ

There is the rare heat wave in southern Germany but after years of leading bike trips there and camping I can say it may well be cooler too than you'd like.

Macross

We love public transportation in Germany. We rented for a couple of days last trip since we were on the army base and I had a walking boot on for my broken foot. Staying in town would have made that preventable. Swandav, my husband loves figuring out bus and train schedules. We did it all by public transportation in Mildenhall, UK. We never rent in Ireland anymore. We also have no trouble getting off the beaten path as they say.

Ask for the basement room.

PalenQ

Even though public transit is so great in Bavaria and cheap having a car is nice too - like if going to Weisskirche - pain to get off one bus and depend on schedules of others, etc. Or to just stop at some small town for a cafe break, etc. But definitely don't need a car to get around. Driving right up to a hotel with bags is also nice.

RollTide_Houston

I know some of the environmentalist on here will not approve but I will have a car in Bavaria. Our time is short and some of the places we want to visit take much longer via public transport. With that being said I have the option of renting a car at Munich Airport directly or renting it from the train station. Which would you all recommend? I thought renting directly from the airport may save some time since the roads will go on the outskirts of the city.