Füssen is a small Bavarian town at the foot of the Alps, right on the Austrian border, and the southern terminus of the Romantic Road. Most visitors come for one reason: the castles. Neuschwanstein — Ludwig II's fairy-tale fantasy perched on a crag above the Pöllat gorge — is just four kilometres away and draws over a million visitors a year. Next to it sits Hohenschwangau, the more modest but arguably more interesting castle where Ludwig grew up. The classic photograph of Neuschwanstein is from the Marienbrücke bridge above the gorge.
But Füssen itself deserves more than a rushed castle day trip. The Altstadt is attractive, with painted facades, the baroque St. Mang's Abbey, and the hilltop Hohes Schloss with its remarkable trompe-l'oeil painted courtyard. The Lechfall waterfall at the southern edge of town is a 15-minute walk worth making. The Forggensee lake stretches north of town, the smaller Alpsee sits below the castles, and the Tegelberg cable car climbs up to the high Alps. In winter the surrounding foothills offer downhill and cross-country skiing.