How to Visit Neuschwanstein, the Fairy Tale Castle

Although you can reserve a spot on a castle tour when you arrive, the lines can be immense. We reserved a spot in advance, entered a separate line for reservations, and were in and out of the ticket lines in 10 minutes.

You’ll need to submit your desired time of entry and your information (including credit card, for the €1.80 reservation fee). They will send you a confirmation email detailing the time you must be at the Hohenschwangau ticket center for the tickets. They require that you pick up the tickets 1 hour before your entry time, or they release your spot to those waiting. I submitted our request on a Thursday for a Sunday visit. I got my email on Friday with spots on a 12:30 tour, meaning we had to be at the ticket center at 11:30am.

*Note: You can only use the online reservation system if your desired time of visit is minimum of 48 hours later. If it’s too late for that, you should plan on arriving to Hohenschwangau as early as possible. They don’t open until 9am though, in case you had crazy thoughts of being there at sunrise (though it would make for UH-mazing pictures of the exterior!).

If you’re able to reserve your tour in advance, plan your route so you ensure you arrive to Hohenschwangau with enough time to pick up your tickets. From Munich, allow at least 2.5-3 hours to get there.

It’ll take a 2-hour train ride from Munich’s Central Station (München Hbf) to Füssen, and then 15-20 minutes by bus to the Hohenschwangau (73 towards Steingaden/Garmisch-Partenkrichen OR 78 towards Schwangau). The bus stop is just outside the train station entrance. When we got there, there were two empty buses waiting to take the train full of tourists up.

With the Bayern ticket, you’re covered round trip on the bus and train, the best value for sure. Just know that if you’re planning to travel M-F, it is only valid after 9am. The www.bahn.de website is pretty easy to navigate for timetables; they’ve even got an English version of the site.

Travel Cost: €23 “Bayern ticket” for one (if traveling with additional people, it’s only +€5 for each additional person, up to 5 passangers per ticket)

Whether or not you were able to reserve a spot in advance, you will need to pick up your tickets at the ticket center. It’s just a few hundred meters up the road from the bus stop/visitor information center. If you have reserved tickets, look out for the line entrance for “Reservations.” There were so many people waiting in same-day line that we almost didn’t see this second line which is minuscule in comparison to the other.

Castle Admission: €12 per person for Neuschwanstein, or €23 for a Neuschwanstein/Hohenschwangau combination ticket

You’ll get a map at the ticket center showing you the roads to each castle and the approximate time needed to walk up each. In our experience, it doesn’t take quite as long as the pamphlet says, but I think they overestimate to give you time to take some stunning pictures! Although it’s possible you may need to go slow or take breaks if you’re not inclined to walk up inclines 😉

We were there in winter, so the bus that normally drops you off near the Marienbrücke photo op was not running due to icy conditions as well as road work. It’s run by an independent company, so your Bayern ticket won’t work here, but it’s €1.80 uphill/€1 downhill or €2.40 roundtrip and you can buy your ticket on the bus.

Another option is to pay a horse carriage to take you up to the castle. We thought this sounded romantic, and fitting for the magical castle visit. After waiting a good 15 minutes in the unmoving (and long) line, we decided to walk after all. It turns out we made it up faster than the horse carriage did! Carrying 6+ people and a carriage uphill is still rough for those workhorses after all. Even if you take a horse carriage, the drop off point is still a short walk from the entrance, so there’s no way to completely avoid the hill.