Guia de Viaje por Europa: Munich - Füssen

For these 2 cities we spent about 3 days (2 days in Munich and 1 day in Füssen), and we can say that we would liked to spend some more days in Munich... It gave us no time to see everything. In Füssen with only one day we visited all their most important tourist attractions.

Munich

Franz Josef Strauss airport is located approximately 40km from Munich city center, and if you don't have vehicle, the best way to get there, taking into account the price and duration of the journey is by Urban train (S Bahn).
Tickets can be purchased inside the airport, in the sales point.
You can take lines S1 or S8, and the name of Munich central train station is Hauptbahnhof. The trip takes about 40 minutes, and before boarding the train is necessary to validate the ticket in the machines that are located in the platform.
One-way ticket: € 7.40.
Round trip ticket: 13 €.

To move around the city, we used mostly the U-Bahn (subway), and sometimes the S-Bahn, and we think that is a very quick way to move from one place to another.
The ticket costs € 2.20, but if you know you are going to take several trains, you can get the 1-day ticket, which costs 5 € and you can travel all day (this ticket does not include all areas, nor S Bahn trains, but it's useful to visit all places of the city centre). U Bahn works from 4:15 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., every day.

As we only stayed in Munich for less than 2 days, we cannot give advice on all the places to see, but there are 2 things that we highly recommend:

Dachau Concentration Camp:
How to get to Dachau Concentration Camp? To reach Dachau from Munich, you have about 45 minutes. You have to take the S Bahn, line S2 heading toward Peterhausen and get off at "Dachau" train stop. There you take the bus number 724 or 726 right at the train station exit. Both will leave you a few yards from the Concentration Camp. Just follow the tourists that will be arriving, it is not necessary to ask how to get there!
The entrance to the Camp is free, but if you want an audio guide you have to pay around € 2, which is highly recommended if you are not in a guided tour, because you will learn many important historical things.

Oktoberfest:

Oktoberfest (the beer party) lasts 16 days, and its dates varies somewhat from year to year, but it is usually about the last week of September until the first week of October (in 2008 will be from 20 September to 5 October).
If you travel to Munich in this time of the year, you should be aware that it is very difficult to find accommodation, so you should plan it in advance.
The festival takes place in a giant campus, and many people attend to it, so the best way to get there is by public transport:
- S1 or S8: Hackerbruecke subway stop.
- U3 or U6: Goetheplatz or Poccistraße subway stop.
- U4 or U5: Theresienwiese or Schwanthaler Höhe subway stop.

The party starts in the morning, around 9 am or 10am, and extends until about 22.30, so it's good to try to get there early, or at least before 5 pm.
The price of the beer is 9 € for 1 litre, and is the best beer in the world! We specially suggest you to drink the HB (Hofbräu). It was the more tasty! :D

Here we leave a video that shows a bit of our experience during the Oktoberfest!

Although we are sure that Munich has many other interesting things to see, as we didn't have enough time we could not saw them all. If anyone knows about other places to visit in Munich, and wish it to be here, do not hesitate to contact us and we will include it here.

Füssen

How to get to Füssen?
To make the journey from the city of Munich to Füssen we used the train. Trains depart from Hauptbahnhof (main station) approximately every 1 hour, and the trip lasts 2 hours.
As we had the InterRail/Eurail ticket Global Pass, and because it was a regional train (REG), we did not have to pay anything to make the trip, and neither had to make any reservation, it was enough just to jump into the train and nothing more. In case you don't have an InterRail/Eurail Pass, you will have to pay a € 20.80 ticket. (If you want more information about how to use the InterRail/Eurail Pass, go to our previous post: Trains: InterRail - Eurail).

It is very small city, so most of the trips can be made on foot.

Undoubtedly the most recommendable tour in Füssen is to visit the "Crazy King Castle": Neuschwanstein. It is about 3 km away from Füssen downtown so if you want (and the weather let you do it, because when we went it was raining and very cold), it's nice to go walking. If you are a bit more vague, you can take a bus near the train station. Lines 73 and 78 takes you there, and you have to get off in Hohenschwangau. Again, if you are a bit lost, follow the tourists. ;)

To visit both castles you have to buy the entrance in Hohenschwangau, before going up through the hill, to the castels. To go up, you can go on foot but are like 40 minutes uphill, or go by a car pulled by horses, or go by bus (the ticket costs around € 3). The horse cars are more expensive than the bus.

When you buy the entrance, you receive an entry schedule for your visit. This is really worthy because even though there will be many people over there, you will save time that in other case you would have been losing in the queue.

Lastly, while waiting for your turn to visit the castle, I specially recommend that you walk up to Marienbrücke, which is a bridge from where you can get the best views of the castle, the river and the Alps with a small waterfall that runs below this bridge! Simply amazing! It's just 5 minutes away by walk ... (The photo was taken from the Marienbrücke bridge).

Accommodation in Munich and Füssen

In Munich, as mentioned earlier, if you travel during Oktoberfest, you should take special care and look well in advance in order to have a cheap place to stay, as that time is considered peak season.
In Füssen, the problem is that there are very few hostels or cheap accommodation, so you also must book with some advance to avoid running out of place.
Below you can look for more information about accommodation in this two cities.