dabneyc

My son and friends want to spend a night or two in a small town near the castles, experience the Alps and countryside. Is there a way to accomplish this using public transportation? They will be on their way from Munich to Rome (or vice versa). Thanks for any suggestions.

treplow

Both Fuessen (where the castles are) and Oberammergau can be reached from Munich by train, unfortunately on different train lines. Check www.bahn.de. The connection between the two is awkward, by bus. Schedules also available on the above website.

Coming from Rome, there is another way, but also somewhat awkward. Get off in Innsbruck. Take the train to Garmisch- Partenkirchen (very scenic) and from Garmisch take another train line to Reutte (Tirol). From Reutte there is a bus to Fuessen.

If the next destination is Munich, take the train from Fuessen to Munich. Check out the requirements for the heavily discounted Bayern Ticket. It's a day ticket and will cost ypour fruends (2 of them?) EUR26 combined.

Cowboy1968

As treplow said, this is a somewhat uncomfortable or awkward side trip if squeezed into a Munich-Rome itinerary unless they have two days to play around with. We did not invent the car for nothing, after all
In addition, the real mountains are in Austria (or Switzerland, but which is not en route to Rome or v.v.)

november_moon

The Fuessen area is really easy to visit by train and the castles are easy to visit from there. The area is also nice for biking - relatively flat right there, plenty of bike and pedestrian paths.

As mentioned Oberamergau is a little more involved - also for myself, I wasn't particularly fond of Oberamergau and wouldn't go out of my way to go there. It is famous for the Passion play and is a nice enough town, but if I were chosing one alpine town to visit, that would not be it.

dugi_otok

If starting in Munich.
Take the train to Fussen(0-1 changes) (2 hrs). Stay 1-2 nights.

Next day.
Take the train from Fussen to Mittenwald, a "living picture book" of an alpine town.
(2 changes)(4 hrs). Stay 1-2 nights.

Proceed to Rome via overnight train from Munich.