Zugspitze or Neuschwanstein?
 

We only have a limited amount of time in Munich and wanted to visit Bavaria. With only one day, would you recommend Neuschwanstein or the Zugspitze? Could both be done? We will be visiting Berg Eltz and staying in a castle at Hirschhorn. Not sure if this would be "too" much castle but hear Neuschwanstein is incredible. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Jenni

If you do Neuschwanstein early enough you should be able to do both. Neuschwanstein is very different from other castles.

You could let weather help you with your decision. I went to a mountain peak outside of Salzburg. About half way up I disappeared into cloud, saw the inside of a cloud at the top and came out of the cloud half way down. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but sometimes you have to take what happens.

Jenni--- like Art said, if you start early enough you can do even more than that. We drove from Munich towards Fussen and visited Neuschwanstein early, then continue on towards Garmish and visited Zugspitze in the afternoon. We still had time to have dinner in Obberammergau, a fairy tale town nestled in the Bavarian Alps and about an hour from Munich. <BR><BR>As far as how worthy I thought Neuschwanstein was, it was a bit dissapointing. If are up to it, try to get to Maria's Bridge nearby with an amazing sight of the castle in the background (caution if you are afraid of heights, outstanding photo op). The sight of it from the road is gorgeous, but then again there are so many gorgeous castles in Bavaria. I actually thought Linderhoff was far more interesting. Since it was Ludwig's favorite retreat, it really offers a nice collection of furnishings and the grounds are quite a sight as well. Your vacation sounds awesome, have a great time!!

I think the advice above is very sound.<BR>It corresponds totally with my experience. I think you will enjoy Neuschwanstein, but I recommend getting there early if you go on a weekend.<BR> When you purchase your ticket you are assigned a group number. The tours are given in several languages and the logical groupings are by language. We arrived there well before noon, but we had to wait about 30 minutes before our group number was called.<BR><BR>The day we went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen enabled us to see some of Bavaria's finest clouds. The mountain top was socked in to the extent that we did not even attempt going to the top.<BR><BR>If you catch a cloudy day, there are other attractions in that section of Bavaria. I thought the Wieskirche, literally church in the meadow, was a masterpiece of baroque. It is not a cathedral, and does not look like much from the outside, but the inside is worth seeing. <BR><BR>I hope it all works out for you. Hopefully you will arrive on a clear day.<BR>Also, we rented a car for the day and drove from Munich. I think having a car to explore that area is beneficial.<BR>The bus connection from F&uuml;ssen to the castles is relatively slow, and tring to get there from Garmisch is a lengthy ride time wise.<BR>

Jenni:<BR>I can only add to Maria and Bob Brown's assessments...which I concur.<BR><BR>I found Neuschwanstein better from the outside than inside! Even better from Marionbrucke (Mary's Bridge) I always go to Garmish..great base for the other wonderful Bavarian sites!<BR>Enjoy!<BR>JOHN

I agree with the above posts. If you can, try and get both in. The castles are very interesting and the areas is just wonder. We almost decided against going up Zugspitze, but at the last minute decided to do it. We just loved it. You have to do both.<BR><BR>Enjoy.

Both of these are wonderful experiences. I want to put a plug in for Zugspitze, which was fantastic, but it was a beautiful day, just at the beginning of ski season, and I found it breathtaking. I think trying to do both Neuschwanstein and Zugspitze in one day is a little much, however. Neither really takes a full day, but both in one day feels like overload to me.