There may be another option. My wife and I took a day trip by bus/coach from Munich, visiting Linderhof (a visit to and tour of the castle), Oberammergau (free tiem to walk around the town) and Neuschwanstein (a visit to and tour of the castle; you can go via Marienbrucke if you choose) all in the one day. Certainly took the hassle out of driving... Google for bus/caoch tours (it might even have been Gray Line) if you're interested.

Another possibility if you are into all things Ludwig...first, in Munich, try to see the Residenze. About half way between Munich and Salzburg is the largest and more elaborately-decorated Ludwig build of all: the palace (not castle) at Herrenchiemsee located a short distance from Prien.

You can drive or take a train to Prien and a short boat ride from nearby Stock over to the island.

The palace is Ludwig's untilmate tribute to Louis XIV and the interior decoration far, far surpasses both Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. The Hall of Mirrors is even larger than its namesake at Versailles.

The place is very popular amongst the Germans and, sadly, most American and other tourists miss it entirely which is unfortunate.

bmw - were you on that bridge at the same time I was? LOL. I was totally fine walking out on the bridge until a bus load of Japanese tourists came and that bridge really started moving.

Hello to you all,
We have reservations for the castles tours- the 1st on at 12:45. Our reservation states that we need to be at the ticket counter to pick up our actual tickets 1 hour prior to our scheduled tour.

I am worried that traveling after 9AM with the Banyan ticket will not allow us enough time.

What are our other options by train? Is there a huge price difference between 4 tickets (2 adults and 2 kids - 11 and 13) and the Banyan ticket?

>What are our other options by train? Is there a huge price difference between 4 tickets (2 adults and 2 kids - 11 and 13) and the <Bayern> ticket?

You can look up the price for a ticket at www.bahn.de.
In this case you would ony have to pay for the adults and mention the kids on the ticket. Take an earlier train (let's say 7:52) and buy two tickets from Munich to the first stop the train makes after 9:00, and a Bayern-Ticket.

Btw. there is no 9:00 restriction on weekends and holidays.

December 26 is a public holiday in Germany, and thus the 9am restriction of the Bayern Ticket does not apply. You can go as early as you want.

Great... thanks for the information. I did not know that the 26th was considered a German holiday. That puts a whole new spin on our plans for the castle tours.

Thanks again!