Harburg Castle

PLEASE learn from our mistakes. We are a 60ish couple in good shape. This castle is in the middle of nowhere, and there is a reason why it was never overtaken. We made the horrible decision to take the train. First off, the town train station is closed so the end of the trip was on a little bus. It dropped us outside of town. We finally found an open cafe [on a Sunday] and they looked like they couldn't understand why we were going up there. Google maps horrendously underestimates the walking time. For part of the hike, my partner's phone showed different directions than mine, both in Google maps. Not to dump on Google, they've done a fantastic job of mapping every inch of the planet it seems. At first we hiked up until we were in weeds, then turned back. Then we hiked to a highway, then turned back. Finally found a TINY arrow pointing up. After about 2km were finally at the top. We paid to go in. Then we found out to enter the buildings we would have had to pay yet again to be on a formal tour. We were worried about finding the bus stop in the middle of nowhere again, and whether we would have enough juice left to hike back down, and to find the bus stop if we took the tour. We took a few photos, rested, and hiked back down. This is NOT a place to go if you don't have a car or are on a tour. I had visions of needing the town police to come carry me down the mountain or being trapped there and not able to find our way back to Munich the same afternoon. I did do a lot of research and YouTube videos, and it is a lovely place. The logistics though are horrible, and it took most of the day when our time here was at a premium. So I would advise only going as part of a group and if you have a lot of days to spend in the area. It just wasn't worth the time and physical effort to get there and back to Munich. Add in the anxiety of trying to find a tiny bus stop sign when you can't read German and there are many checks in the minus column. Sorry Harburg, but the town needs much better signage and realistic walking times. Never should have attempted it, pretty countryside, but riding trains and busses all day does not make a good vacation day.