Bavaria weekend: Neuschwanstein and an e-bike ride through the Alps, without doing the puzzle yourself

Bavaria is one of the destinations we tested three times before adding it to the Favotrip catalogue. Hills, villages, alpine foothills, and at the end Füssen at the foot of the Alps with Neuschwanstein as the anchor. From the UK most travellers arrive via a short flight to Munich (then a two-hour drive south) or via a longer Eurotunnel and motorway run. We believe this weekend only really works when hotel, castle ticket and an e-bike route are sorted in one booking, instead of you chasing three websites in the daily castle-slot lottery. That is exactly what our Bavaria package is built around.

Why we picked Füssen as the base

Füssen is a small medieval town of about 15,000, exactly the scale where you can still find a table in the evening without booking, but big enough to walk around for two days. It sits twenty minutes from Neuschwanstein, and e-bike routes leave straight from the centre into the alpine foothills. Our editors also tested Munich (two hours from the castle) and small Allgäu villages (no restaurants in the evening), and to our minds Füssen is the right balance between location and life. For our Bavaria packages we therefore mostly select hotels in Füssen or Garmisch-Partenkirchen, on the same logic.

What our Bavaria package includes

Our Bavaria deals are designed as a car-reachable alpine-foothills weekend: a 4-star hotel in Füssen or Garmisch with parking included, usually half-board (breakfast and dinner), and castle tickets as an optional add-on. Half-board pays off: restaurants in Füssen are full in the evening, and with half-board your dinner is sorted with no faff. We think that, on this destination especially, it is a meaningful difference between a relaxed and a hurried evening. The Neuschwanstein ticket also no longer needs to be booked yourself via the official castle site, with the well-known daily stress of high-season slots being gone. We claim the timeslots with the booking. That is one of the main reasons this package exists.

Arrival in Füssen, first evening

Walk from the hotel to the Marktplatz, five minutes. We always eat the first evening at Hotel Sonne on Reichenstraße: Allgäu Bergkäse dishes, Schweinsbraten with the proper brown gravy, and a house Hefeweizen from Brauerei Allgäuer. After dinner, walk past the Lechfall, five minutes from the centre, lit up at night, where the emerald-green water from the Alps enters the town. A good way to walk the road miles out of your legs before bed, with an early start the next morning for the castle. We send guests this rhythm in the welcome notes.

Day 2 morning: Neuschwanstein, early

Twenty minutes' drive to Hohenschwangau (or a local bus from Füssen, ask at reception). In our package the castle ticket is usually included with its slot, so you head straight to the bus stop for the Marienbrücke. Bus up and then twenty minutes on foot, or the horse carriage for the more romantic version. We recommend being at Hohenschwangau before 9 am, otherwise you stand in a crowd: from 10 the coach tourists from Munich pour in and the view from the Marienbrücke fills with selfie sticks. Tip we always pass on internally: the iconic shot of the castle is not taken from the castle itself but from the Marienbrücke looking back. Take those extra twenty minutes.

Day 2 afternoon: e-biking through the foothills

Hire at Sport Schropp on Augsburger Straße in Füssen, four minutes' walk from the Marktplatz. E-mountain bike with helmet and detailed route map included. Our standard route is the Alpsee-Schwansee loop: from Füssen along the Lech, then into the woods towards the Alpsee. Two hours of riding at a calm pace, the perfect counterbalance to a morning at the castle. Along the way you pass the smaller Schloss Hohenschwangau (where Ludwig actually grew up) and can stop at the Alpsee for a swim if it is warm enough. In some Bavaria packages e-bike hire is included as an activity. We have built it in deliberately because many packages miss this afternoon: doing only the castle is half a day, not a weekend.

What we deliberately leave out of the package

Many guidebooks sell Linderhof as a Ludwig II combo with Neuschwanstein, but it is two hours there and two back, and your afternoon is gone. We have decided to skip it in our editorial routine. What does work as a day-2-afternoon alternative for non-bikers: the Tegelbergbahn cable car to 1,730 metres with a walking route back down, or the Wieskirche, a UNESCO-listed Rococo church 30 minutes north of Füssen. The Wieskirche is free and usually a half-hour visit, a small wonder so compact it surprises you that it is not busier. One of our editors' tips that costs nothing on its own but quietly makes the day better.

What the package actually saves you

Three things that we did the hard way on earlier visits and that finally convinced us to build the package. One: castle tickets. In high season they are nearly impossible without booking ahead, and third-party single bookings often add commission. In our package the slot is already in the diary. Two: hotel with parking in a village where parking is limited. Three: half-board. Sounds old-fashioned, but in a packed Füssen at night that is the difference between three loops looking for a table and just walking into the dining room. Our customer service rings you the same day if there is a problem with the castle slot. With single tickets you have two suppliers to chase.

Which Bavaria package suits your weekend?

Two bases to choose from, and we keep both for good reason: Füssen for the Neuschwanstein focus, or Garmisch-Partenkirchen if you want more mountain and the Zugspitze. First-time visitors to Bavaria: we recommend the 3-day Füssen variant, castle and e-bike compactly in one weekend. For repeat visitors or a more active break, take the extended Garmisch variant: three nights, so you do not have to get back in the car on day two. On the way back, Rothenburg ob der Tauber slots in nicely as a coffee-and-lunch stop. The relevant packages are below: filter on half-board if you also want dinner sorted.