Greetings! I am taking a business trip to Germany. However, I was able to get FF miles tickets to fly my wife out with me. We have a couple free days and would like some suggestions on where to go. My wife has always wanted to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. So we are going to visit that early in the day on April 29th. After that, I have to be in Freiburg by late Tuesday night (May 1st). This is our first international trip, and we want to spend some time in the mountains. We don’t have much time, but it’s a free trip so I won’t complain. My wife is a little less adventurous than me, so I want to keep it Class 2 and under. Anyone have suggestions for a backcountry trip? Huts? Summits? Good trips from Fussen? Or should we go to a different town late the 29th and plan an overnighter for the 30th? Your feedback will be greatly appreciated, as I mentioned before… it’s our first trip over the pond!

Day trips suggestions are also possible... but sleeping outdoors or in a hut sounds much cooler than hotel.

I would highly recomend a visit to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen area, this is not too far from Neuschwanstein either. A 30-40 minute train ride away from the best city in Germany (Munchen), this small area is gorgeous and offers lots of hiking in the German alps. You are very close to the Zugspitze, the Alpspitze, and other great mountains. Try looking for day hikes around here and you are sure to be happy. Lots of huts where great food is served and great beer as well, (make sure you get some Fransiskaner Heffe while you are there!)

Dan

I would highlight that Fuessen is right at the start of the Allgaeu Alps, written about here. Also Gangolf wrote a neat trip report from a few weeks ago about it here. Plus I was there for a rock climb 2 weeks ago, and the area where I was (30 minutes from Fuessen) had plenty of hiking trails, and if you can climb moderate snow, there would be a class 2/3 route up the Rote Flueh.

The huts are closed until summer, mostly. Maybe someone knows of some that are open this early, like for ski tourers, or because they are low elevation. Anyway, there are great hiking peaks right behind the castle too. Have fun!

We went to Neuschwanstein this past summer. It's nothing like the posters show - it's actually at the base of some hills, and totally overrun with tourists. Get there early, or you may have a long wait to get in. Then you get hustled through the place (you have to be part of a guided tour).

We stayed in Garmisch and had a really good time. Some great hiking and climbs in the area and since it is on the rail line, easy to go other places from there.

Wilden Kaiser, OK it´s in AUstria...just, is well worth a visit. Kampenwand area behind Rosenheim is great too.

Whether it is Füssen, Garmisch, Oberstdorf or any of the other villages of the area actually doesn't matter too much if you are free in your choices. If you plan a stay at Füssen anyway,it's like mvs says: you can remain there for the whole stay and have good choices. In fact, Füssen is rather centtral - you can reach several mountain groups within less than an hour:

Wettersteingebirge
Lechtal Alps
Allgäu Alps
Ammergau Alps

If you look at the maps on the pages you won''t find Kempten - but it's always just outside the frame. For Wetterstein, it''s half a frame to the left, for the Lechtal Alps, it's some 10 miles north of Reute, for the Allgäu Alps it's just outside the top right corner and for the Ammergau Alps it's left of the large lake you can see there.

Generally the Alps are crisscrossed by hiking trails - marked hiking trails that is - so you won't have trouble finding an appropriate trail for you and your wife. Probably weather is a more severe limitation as there still might be snow on the upper north sides of the mountains. Get yourself a good map - Kompass does some good ones - most of them 1:50000 which would suit you well. You'll get the maps for between 6€ and 8€ at any bookshop in the area, sometimes even in the supermarkets. All real trails are marked on these maps and you only have to take care not to get onto dotted ones or ones marked with a ladder. Those will probably exceed class 2.

As for suggestions: if you really want to see Neuschwanstein (it beats me how anyone might be interested in this fake castle) you can add Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain, to your list. The crowds will be similar as several cable-cars and a train lead up to the summit. You'll probably even meet people you met in the queues at Neuschwanstein. However, there's not much walking area up there and at nearly 3000m there is bound to be snow up there, too.

If you don't want to reach the summits but rather also like the valleys, Lechtal west of Reute, is a good destination. It is rather lonesome (if there is such a thing in the Alps) and rather beautiful. The mountains might be a bit tough for your wife, but then, there certainly are the lower ones to be considered as well.

As for huts - most of them will be closed during the time you plan to stay. The winter season ends at Easter and the summer season starts in late May at the earliest. Some of the lower alms and huts might be open all year but they often don't take guests over night. Some of the higher huts have a "winterraum", which you can use, but there won't be any food and these rooms are rather only shelters.

If you want to leave Füssen for another place, I wouldn't go to Garmisch because it is too close. Both towns can be used as base for the same area. I would rather go to Sonthofen or Oberstdorf in the west, where you have a completely different lookout. And they are closer too Freiburg, which probably will be quite a hassle to get to from any of the towns close to the Alps. It's either a large detour along the motorways or a slow drive along small highways.

Next to Neuschwanstein is an easy via ferrata to Branderschrofen (~1.800 m). It´s a 1-day-trip. Interesting, not too difficult and with a great view to the Alps in the South and to the Bavarian lakes in the North and West.
When you descent from Branderschrofen you can pass Schloss Neuschwanstein again. For descending there are several possibilities.
At the end of April normally no hut is opened as it´s too early. (Most of them start at June)

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions... I will keep you posted on our activities!

P.S. The castle is for my wife... I have to let her do ONE touristy thing. Most of our vacations involve hiking boots and tents for a week. I'll cut her a break this time

mrCrane wrote:Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions... I will keep you posted on our activities!

P.S. The castle is for my wife... I have to let her do ONE touristy thing. Most of our vacations involve hiking boots and tents for a week. I'll cut her a break this time

Good idea, collecting browny points is always worth while! You could temper it with a trip to the Hofbrauhaus in Munich.