Neuschwanstein from Munich: the timed €21 ticket, the train with a change, the shuttle bus, the tours and Linderhof

💡 The Short Version: Neuschwanstein is seen only on a guided tour of about 30 minutes at a fixed time. The official ticket is €21 plus a €2.50 booking fee online, and the same-day tickets at Hohenschwangau sell out by late morning most days, so buy first. There is no direct train: 2 hours 18 minutes to Füssen with a change at Buchloe, then bus 73 or 78 for 8 to 10 minutes. On your own the day costs about €57.50, with the Bayern-Ticket. Until 27 March 2027 the castle is open 10:00 to 16:00, and it is closed on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January. The shuttle bus stops above the castle, with a 10 to 15 minute walk downhill. Or book a tour: the full-day trip from Munichad is from €71 and the Neuschwanstein and Linderhof tripad from €76 (GetYourGuide). The tour replaces two changes and a bus.

Tickets and prices

Prices are the adult rate from the operators, in 2026. Neuschwanstein is run by the Bavarian Palace Administration; Hohenschwangau Castle, the Museum of the Bavarian Kings and the ticket shop belong to the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund and sit at hohenschwangau.de. Searches for Neuschwanstein tickets also return sites with the castle’s name in their web addresses that are not the operators.

• Reduced (ages 65 and over, students, disabled visitors) is €20 at Neuschwanstein, €19.50 at Hohenschwangau, €13.50 at the museum and €38.50 for the Kings-Ticket. Under 18s enter free, but a free ticket still has to be booked, and the fee applies. Hohenschwangau is €12 for ages 7 to 17.
• Online tickets are for one date and one entry time, in the operator’s shop. They cannot be changed, exchanged or refunded, and the shop takes credit card or PayPal only.
• Same-day tickets are sold at the Ticket Center in Hohenschwangau, Alpseestraße 12, from 8:00 to 15:30 until 27 March 2027 and from 8:00 to 16:00 in summer. They are for that day only, with no reservation by phone or email and no waiting list. The operator writes that “most days” they are sold out by late morning. Arrive in the village 1.5 to 2 hours before your Neuschwanstein entry time.
• Annual and 14-day palaces passes still need a booked time: choose the free-pass category in the shop and pay the €2.50 fee. The €40 palaces ticket covers Neuschwanstein and not Hohenschwangau.
• Buy the ticket before you ride up to the bridge. Without one you can walk to the main gate and the outer grounds, and into Hohenschwangau’s courtyard, but not into Neuschwanstein’s courtyard. The Museum of the Bavarian Kings is closed from 9 to 11 November 2026, and the museum, Prince and Swan tickets cannot be bought for those days.

If the official tickets are gone

GetYourGuide sells two entry products for Neuschwanstein: Neuschwanstein Castle Skip-the-Line Ticket with Audio Guidead from €45 and Neuschwanstein Castle Ticket with Guided Express Tour & Bus Shuttlead from €58. The official ticket is €23.50 with the fee, and it is already a guided tour with a fixed entry time, so a skip-the-line ticket buys nothing the booked time does not. They are the option when the shop and the Ticket Center are sold out, at roughly twice the price.

Tours worth paying for

A tour fixes the day. Check each listing for whether the castle ticket is in the price. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices for one adult.

Full-day trip from Munich

From €71 · 10 hours · 4.7 stars from 4,414 reviews

From Munich: Neuschwanstein Castle Full-Day Tripad is marked Bestseller on GetYourGuide. It describes a two-hour train and bus ride and a stop in Füssen. On your own the day costs about €57.50, so the tour is for not planning the connections.

Neuschwanstein and Linderhof

From €76 · 10 to 10.5 hours · 4.6 stars from 17,080 reviews

From Munich: Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Tripad adds King Ludwig II’s palace near Oberammergau, which is two buses from the train at Oberau on your own.

Other tours

Getting there on your own

Train times are for the timetable valid to 12 December 2026, which changes on 13 December.

• The Bayern-Ticket is €34 for one person, €44 for two, up to €74 for five. On weekdays it is valid from 9:00 only, which rules out the 6:21 and 7:20. At weekends it is valid all day. The 9:20 is the first one it covers.
• Cost on your own: €34 plus the €23.50 ticket is €57.50 for one adult and €91 for two (€44 plus €47), before the €5 shuttle bus.
• By car the castles cannot be reached: park in P1 to P4 in the village, at €12 for up to 6 hours, €1 for each extra hour and €16 a day at most. The main road through Schwangau is closed until about mid-December 2026, with a detour via Hohenschwangau, so allow extra time.

From the village to the castle

The shuttle bus runs from 8:00 to 17:30 up and 18:45 down in summer, and from 9:00 to 15:30 up and 17:00 down in winter. It does not run on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January. The bus does not stop at the castle: it stops at the Jugend viewpoint above it, and the walk down to the entrance is 10 to 15 minutes, 500 to 600 metres with a gradient of 12 to 19 per cent. The Bayern-Ticket, the Deutschlandticket and the Königscard are not valid on the shuttle. Hohenschwangau Castle is a 20 to 30 minute walk uphill, and its carriage (€5.50 up, €3 down) does not run in winter.

What to see

Allow the whole day: the train is 2 hours each way, the climb is 30 to 40 minutes and the tour itself is 30.

Neuschwanstein Castle from the Marienbrücke. Photo: Tauno Räsänen and Simo Räsänen, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

1. Neuschwanstein Castle (the 14-room tour). King Ludwig II’s castle above the village. The tour is guided in German and English, with audio guides in 17 other languages, and runs for about 30 minutes for up to 35 people. It has about 350 steps, and a lift for visitors who cannot climb stairs has to be reserved in advance. Photography and filming are not allowed inside.
2. The Marienbrücke (Mary’s Bridge). The bridge over the gorge is the viewpoint for the castle photograph. It is free and reached from the Jugend stop in five minutes, or on foot from P4 in about 45 minutes. It closes in ice and snow, and hohenschwangau.de shows the day’s status on its start page. The castle tour does not depend on it.
3. Hohenschwangau Castle. The castle in the village below Neuschwanstein. The tour is about 45 minutes with about 180 steps and no lift, and the entry is €23.50. Do it if you have time before or after your Neuschwanstein slot.
4. The Museum of the Bavarian Kings. Open daily 9:00 to 16:30, €14.50, not timed.

Hohenschwangau Castle. Photo: Thomas Wolf, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de.

The order that works: book the Neuschwanstein slot first, reach the village 1.5 to 2 hours before it, take the shuttle up, see the bridge, walk down and be at the gate 15 minutes early. What to skip: the museum on a first visit, and the Alpsee circuit if you have a late slot.

Linderhof Palace

Palace €11 · Venus Grotto €9 · both €18 · guided tour only

King Ludwig II’s palace in a valley near Oberammergau. The palace is by guided tour in German and English, about 25 minutes for 40 people. The Venus Grotto (€9, a 15-minute tour every 20 minutes) and the Moroccan House are summer-only. The park buildings close from mid-October to mid-April, and the palace opens 10:00 to 16:30 then, against 9:00 to 18:00 from 15 April to 15 October. The Moorish Kiosk is under scaffolding and cannot be seen inside or out; the operator hopes to reopen its interior for the 2028 season. The palace is closed on 1 January, Shrove Tuesday (9 February 2027), 24, 25 and 31 December. Some tickets are sold online at schlosslinderhof.de, and “usually” the rest at the cash desk.

Linderhof Palace and its terraced gardens. Photo: Cayambe, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

On public transport it takes 2 hours 15 minutes to 2 hours 35 minutes each way with two changes: the RB6 or RB60 from Hauptbahnhof at :32 to Oberau (about 1 hour 12 minutes), then two buses to the stop “Linderhof, Schloss”. The palace’s own page names the buses 9622 and 9624, and the DB planner shows them as 316 and 326, so search by stop name. The Bayern-Ticket covers them. From 23 October to 9 November 2026 the Werdenfelsbahn turns round at Starnberg, with buses to Hauptbahnhof. Adding the palace’s €11 to the ticket makes €45 for one adult, and the Neuschwanstein and Linderhof tourad from €76 is the realistic way to see both in a day.

Hours, rules and dates

• Closed on 1 January and 24, 25 and 31 December, castle, Ticket Center and shuttle bus alike.
• Bags: rucksacks, prams, child carriers and bulky objects may not be taken in; hand luggage may. Leave them in the car or on the bus.
• Security checks before the tour are possible, so allow extra time. Tours start on time and latecomers cannot join.
• Museum of the Bavarian Kings: closed 9 to 11 November 2026.
• The one thing that ruins a visit: arriving at the Ticket Center without a ticket after late morning. Book online first.

Neuschwanstein is one of the day trips from Munich. Dachau, the Zugspitze and Salzburg are the other long days. What to book before you go to Munich has the other timed tickets, Munich public transport covers the MVV tickets for the city, and Munich City Pass or Munich Card says that neither covers the Neuschwanstein ticket. Where to stay in Munich compares the areas, and 3 days in Munich fits the castle between the city sights.