Munich day trip: Ludwig's castles or Salzburg?
 

Will be visiting Munich in June and have one free day to take a day trip out of town. We initially planned on visiting King Ludwig's castles, but wonder if this is mainly a photo op. Alternatively, we are considering a day trip to Salzburg.

Any advice on which place to visit?

Hmmm....dilemmas dilemmas! I personally prefer Salzburg to Fussen. The castles are neat, and I enjoyed touring them, but overall I enjoyed visiting Salzburg more. I drove to Salzburg and Fussen, but I do believe its easier to get to Salzburg from Munich, and Salzburg would not require a bus transfer. Both are in beautiful locations, and make for great photos, so you can't go wrong either way.

Tracy

My vote also goes to Salzburg. Easier to get to, for one thing, and many more and more interesting things to explore.

We took day-trips to both Salzburg and Fussen from Munich one June, by train. As I recall, both train trips were about the same length of time, and cost the same with the Bayern Pass. I think there were maybe more trains running to and from Salzburg than Fussen, as we had to take a circuitous route to return to Munich late that night, after dinner.
I, too, would recommend Salzburg. Although I thought the mountain setting around Fussen was prettier, like you said more of a photo op. Salzburg itself seemed to have more things to do. Go to the fort at the top of the hill overlooking Salzburg for an interesting historic sight. Walk along the river for a nice view of Salzburg from within. A nice town to stroll around in, and larger than Fussen.

Some would say that Salzburg is simply a bigger photo op and in some ways, it is. I don;t think the views and vistas in S-burg are any more memorable than the ones in Fuessen but that's obviously very subjective. Neuschwanstein IMO is kind of a disappointment on the inside but from the outside, well, you know....

But there are more things to go INTO in Salzburg including the cathedral than you'll find in Fuessen. You might also want to consider leaving the old town Salzburg and going to Schloss Hellbrun and the trick fountains.

I would make the most of it by leaving EARLY since the train only takes 1.5 hours and spend a full day there.

I suggest picking the train to Salzburg with care if maximizing your time in Salzburg is part of the objective.

Travel times can vary from 1 hour, 26 minutes to 2 hours, 5 minutes.
The earliest of the faster connections departs at 7:28 and arrives at 8:54.
Returning, there is a fast train departure at 19:03 and another at 21:03.

The fastest trains make 0 stops; the slowest ones make something like 14 stops.

Which to choose? Good question.
I have been to Salzburg more than Neuschwanstein. The settings are vastly different. I think it depends on what you want to see.

The consensus here if for Salzburg.
If you have had seen neither and have time for only 1, then I would vote for Salzburg.




Taking the fastest train precludes use of a Bayern ticket, as I understand it.
There is a distinct trade-off there between time and money.

I think I would opt for Salzburg over the castles around Fußen with one caveat. If you drive, there are others places to visit including the Wieskirche which is a small Baroque masterpiece.

Thanks for the informative replies!

I initially was considering taking a Panorama Tours day trip to either Salzburg or the Castles, but I'm wondering if it would be easy, and less expensive, to just take the train from Munich to Salzburg. This way, we'd have more time and be on our own to tour.

Is it an easy trip from Munich? Is there a nonstop train from the Munich train station? Anyone know about how much a roundtrip fare would be to Munich?

We just did this daytrip two weeks ago from munich. There were 3 of us and we bought the bayern pass which cost 27 euros from the euraid office. The pass covers the bus ride to the ticket station. It was very easy to do.

Does anyone know the price of a coach train ticket from Munich to Vienna? Or would we be better off paying for a first class ticket?

Hi again, I just want to clarify above. This daytrip was for Neuschwanstain(?sp) Castle.

Yes, the train ride is easy and should not require a train change. Check out http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en for train schedule. It only takes about an hour and a half.

The train from Salzburg to Vienna takes about 3-4 hours, if I recall correctly.

Tracy

Do check on the Bayern Pass. As stated above, it's very inexpensive, and one pass covers up to FIVE people. So the 27EUR isn't just for one, it's for up to five people. You can get it the day you travel at the train depot, but certain travel times are restricted. I think 'rush hours' are blacked out. We left after 9 a.m. and returned late that night, after evening rush, so no problem. Definitely easy to do. Much cheaper than buying one of those bus tours.
Maybe the Bayern pass covers all the way to Vienna from Salzburg, too? It's worth looking into.
Have fun!

We've taken 8 trips with Panorama. Been very happy with them. It's easy and it leaves the driving to them.

If you take the train you will really sacrifice your touring time with the Bayarn pass. I understand it is good for non-peak hours. It will cost a few extra Euros but your time over there is worth a lot.

We took the Panorama Sound of Music tour in Salzburg (a little over a half a day, as I recall). It was great, we went to several movie sites in Salzburg and drove out into the Saltzkammergut to Mondsee where the Wedding scene was filmed. The countryside was beautiful. I would look to see what in included in the Panorama tour to Salzburg. The other highlights for me in Salzburg were the fortress, and a couple of Mozart's houses.

I just looked up the Panorama tour and it says it does include the Mondsee area but does not mention Mozart's birth house or the fortress. It is 45 Euros for Adults and takes 11 hours.

I have spent time in both Salzburg and the castles. If I could only do one, it would be Füssen. Neuschwanstein is such a symbol of Germany, you really should see it. In addition, there is Hohenschwangau, which is older and was really lived in - Ludwig grew up in Hohenschwangau. The old town in Füssen, the pedestrian zone, is also worth spending some time.

As for Salzburg, walk from the train station to the old city, stopping on the way at Mirabell Palace where so many scenes from SOM (the Do-Re-Mi steps, the Pegasus statue, the dwarf garden, and the arbor) were actually filmed. Go downtown and you can see square where Maria caught the bus and the Residenz where they hung the big Nazi flag. You can walk around to Nonnenberg and go into the chapel. I particularly enjoyed the tour of the fortress, although no SOM scenes were filmed there.

However, I could never waste my time and money on an SOM tour. I am a huge SOM fan, and a few years ago my children got me the latest CD of SOM. I listened to director Robert Wise's commentary on the filming, and I can't believe how unauthentic the place on the tour really are.

Most of the authentic scenes of Salzburg can be seen just walking around the city.

The gazebo in Salzburg was used for some distant shots, but the close up gazebo scenes were all shot in a sound stage in Hollywood.

The interior shots of the Frohnburg, supposedly the Von Trapp house, were also shot in Hollywood.

Leopoldskron was not used for the lakefront scenes, the owner wouldn't let them. A temporary copy of the patio and boat landing was built elsewhere on the lake and used for the shots facing the lake. The shots facing away from the lake show the back of Frohnburg, which is nowhere near Leopoldskron.

It would have been nice to see the wedding church at Mondsee, but not worth the time and the money.

I like The Sound of Music, but the tour I took in reality took me for a ride, literally and figuratively. Big ripoff.

I think you can do Salzburg on your own if you read a little before you go.

Other than the obvious places like Schloss Hellbrunn, the Festung, a couple of the churches, and the old town, I enjoyed the guided (for a fee) tour of the Festspielhaus. (another SOM site by the way). We were taken backstage for a good look at what is back there.

I might add that the tour was interesting from another point of view.
There were about a dozen of us, with my wife and I being the only native English speakers as far as I could detect from the accents. The tour started off in German and in English. The German speakers told the guide to say it in English. No need to repeat it in German.

Again, the Bayern pass does restrict you to local trains.

Two important points:

On Monday through Friday, the Bayern ticket is not valid until 9 am.

This restriction means that on a weekday you cannot leave Munich until 9 am, thus reducing your stay in Salzburg.

Also, the trains you can use it on are limited. The ticket is NOT valid on
trains designated EC, ICE and IC.

That means you take the slow train to Salzburg, the one that takes about 2 hours. In reality because of the schedule and the restrictions with the Bayern Karte, you cannot leave Munich's main station until almost 10:00 am and arrive in Salzburg at noon.

(In German the DE website says:

Die Bayern-Tickets gelten nicht in den Zügen des Fernverkehrs (z. B. ICE, EC und IC).

What this boils down to is that you would limit yourself to going to Salzburg on a weekend day and you would need to take the slower trains.

The time difference is about 40 minutes x 2. You must return on a slower train as well.

The savings are large enough that you could well wait until Saturday to go, if you have the flexibility to pick your day.

Five people of the same family can travel for 25€ in Bavaria, including Salzburg. Separate tickets would run a whole heck of a lot more!!

I did the Bayern ticket bit for 2 and saved over 50% versus an ICE train.

I would like to expand on Bob Brown's comments on travel from Munich to Salzburg.

The express trains make the trip in about 1 1/2 hr. The full fare is €26 per person each way, €104 for 2 people round trip.

Regional trains make the trip in about 2 hours - half hour longer. Full regional fare is €90; the amount saved is definitely not worth the extra time.

On the other hand, with a Bayern ticket, two people (or five) can make the round trip (2 hours each way) for only €25, total. You can leave anytime on Sat or Sun, but not until 9:42 on M-F.

That is really enough time. A few years ago, we left Munich after 9 AM, went to Salzburg, had time to see everything I wanted to see and returned to Munich for a late dinner. We didn't even stay for dinner in Salzburg. But that's a different story.

It is not true that you can't leave until 9:42 on weekdays with a Bayern ticket; you can but it will cost a little more. If you buy an MVV all zones partner day pass for €17, you can leave on the 8:48. The MVV ticket will cover you in the MVV district until you reach Grafing Bahnhof at 9:10. From there you are covered by the Bayern ticket. €42 is still less than €104.

Lastly, there is a promotional fare from German Rail called Freizeit Ticket. It is only advertised on the German language side of the Bahn website, but the tickets do show up when you order on the English side. It is a special fare for round trip travel in a single day and includes Munich to Salzburg. A RT ticket for a single person is €29, so for two people, it is €58. This is good for express trains leaving Munich as early as 7:26, and for trains leaving Salzburg after midnight.