Fussen is a midsized town in the Bavaria region of Germany. It is located at the begining (or end, depending on which way you are traveling) of the sightseeing tour of the country known as the Romantic Road. We weren't traveling along the Romantic Road ourselves but for us, Fussen was the begining of a week long trip that we took in August to Bavaria.
The town is situated on the border of the Alpine mountain range at a pretty high elevation. Its over 800 meters above sea level which actually makes it the highest town in the region. It's also very close to the country of Austria (only 1km away), making it an excellent location if you want to visit more than one country in a single afternoon.
We arrived to the city quite early in the morning, around 8:30am. The town was pretty empty by that point but was starting to prepare to welcome tourists to the area.
Though it was mostly empty when we first got there, later in the day after our hike up to the Neuschwanstein Castle the city was filled with tourists and was really quite busy.
Fussen is a fairly old town of around 700 years, and it maintains a lot of its old world charm in its downtown center.
It is also idylically situated along the Lech river and very close to several attractions in the area, which makes it a great spot for site seeing during the day.
For instance, it's only a short walk away from Lechfalls, which is a man made waterfall and just an hour and a half hike from Neuschwanstein, a fairytale castle that sits on the mountain and which is completely surrounded by forest.
The Altstatd (or old town) of Fussen has plenty of shops, restaurants and cafes that are set within a blend of brightly colored buildings. I personally really love the traditional Bavarian style architecture.
There is quite a bit to do and see in town as well, including visiting the 9th century Benedictine monestary of St. Mang.
It was built in a Baroque style architecture and today holds a large collection of Baroque style artwork.
The building is quite massive and hard to see in its entirety from the streets within town.
But it was built near the bank of the river and you can get a pretty good view of it by crossing the bridge and viewing it from the other side of the Lech.
Another thing to admire in town is the Hohes Schloss (or High Castle) of Fussen. It was built in 1505 as the summer residence of the Lord Bishop's of Augsburg. It features a large clock tower that can be seen from the center of the Altstadt, as well as many of my photographs.
Another interesting building is the church of the Holy Spirit, a bright red colored building with an elaborately painted facade.
The Lechfalls is a man made waterfall located on the Lech river only a short 10 minute walk from the Fussen town center.
It's not the most impressive waterfall in existence but the surrounding scenery is beautiful and the falls are surprisingly powerful given it's short height of only 3 meters.
I'd say that it's worth taking a gander if you happen to be visiting the town.
The structure of the falls was originally built in the 18th century as a means of flood control and consists of a series of five steps that allow the water to build up behind and spill over the edge of the steps.
From there the water travels down river through the Lech gorge, which is a natural limestone and dolomite rock formation that was created by the moving water.
Near the falls is a free parking lot with a viewpoint and and close to that is a large bridge that spans the water.
The bridge is an especially nice spot to view the falls.
We spent a bit of time there watching the water before continuing our hike into the forest up to Neuschwanstein Castle.
But that will be a post for another day.
