It has always been a dream of mine to visit the 19th century fairy tale castle that was the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.
We had 5 days in Munich and one of those days we had allocated to spend at Neuschwanstein Castle. If we had had more time then we would like to have driven the romantic road, but we didn’t, so we chose to do a fuss-free tour. Yes, we could have saved some money and made our own way there by train, then connect with a bus then another, but I just wanted to maximise our day out and let someone else do the organising for a change! The tour we found didn’t cost that much more than doing it independently. We wanted a small group tour that wasn’t too expensive and after trawling the Internet I found one through Viator which suited us just fine. The tour was advertised as small group and you travelled by train. Lunch wasn’t provided which gave us the option to choose where we ate and we had free time which was also a bonus. For the two of us it was €79, not a bad price, I thought.
On the day of our tour we made our way to the designated meeting point, Radius Tours in the central train station (Hauptbahnhof). The process was simple, we handed in our voucher and met with the rest of the group of about 10 mainly Europeans, a couple of Americans and two sisters from Sydney. Our guide Austin was an American in his 30’s with German heritage. He was a hit with us right from the start with his Lederhosen pants and great sense of humour.
Our journey was 2 hours to Füssen and what a memorable journey it was. In between looking out the window at the magnificent Bavarian scenery and passing villages, we were chatting with our fellow tour passengers. As we neared Füssen the beautiful Alps came into view.
A minibus met us at the station to take us to the nearby village of Hohenschwangau, set at the foot of the Alps. Above the village stood both the majestic castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein shrouded in a little mist.
Before heading up the steep hill to Neuschwanstein we had lunch at one of the café’s. Both Vaughan and I tucked into the old German fast food favourite of currywurst. It’s not the healthiest of meals but it sure tasted good! We had a little time before we met back at the minibus so we took a stroll through the village which is mainly hotels, restaurants and shops. The Bavarian Alpine chalet architecture was captivating with its low dark timber roof line and artistically painted white facades. It was like each building told a story.
The ticket office for the castles is located in the main street of the village. This is the only place you can buy your entrance tickets and the queue can stretch for miles on a very busy day. If you already have a reservation then you can skip the long queue and pick up your tickets at the reservations window. Our guide organised this for us.
There are a few options to get up to the castle: private tour bus, shuttle bus (€2.6 return), a stiff 40 minute walk or a more romantic option of horse and carriage (€6 up and €3 down) although at the speed the horses were moving, you could definitely walk faster! The road is edged by forest so you unfortunately won’t be rewarded with too many views. More information on transportation, tickets etc. can be found here.
We met back at the minibus and headed up to our first stop, Marienbrücke. The beautiful cantilever bridge is where you will have the opportunity to see a full view of the castle and capture it on camera. Unfortunately it’s very popular so you will be fighting the crowds for that ultimate selfie ;-). A fifteen minute walk further up the hill takes you to the castle entrance.
On our walk up we stopped to meet a local busker who Austin seemed to know. He played us a tune on his hurdy-gurdy and Austin sang along with him, it was most entertaining.
Before entering the castle Austin wanted to give us some history on Ludwig II and how the castle came to be. His story was so interesting that our small group started to expand with “The Magpie Tourists” you know the ones I mean, they see a tour and they freely attach themselves so they can listen in and hopefully not be seen (we are all guilty of it!). Unfortunately for our extra guests, Austin not only has wit he also has a sharp eye, so our red faced “tag alongs” moved on very quickly!
As the story goes..
“King Ludwig II was born in 1845 to parents King Mazimillian II of Bavaria and Marie of Prussia. He spent much of his boyhood years growing up in Hohenschwangau Castle. Both he and his brother Otto grew up with the emphasis on duty as opposed to having a normal close family relationship with their parents. As a result Ludwig became increasingly detached and a loner living in his own imagination and fantasy world. Following the death of his father he succeeded to the throne at just 18 with no real political experience and two years later Bavaria allied with Austria in a war with Prussia (German War). Losing the war to Prussia was quite devastating for young Ludwig as he was no longer a sovereign ruler but a vassal for a Prussian ruler. This drove him further into his own world where he became even more obsessed with the arts, medieval fantasy and fairytale and planned for a castle and kingdom of his own. As a young boy he was obsessed with Wagner’s opera of the “Swan Knight Lohengrin” and once he ascended to the throne he summoned Wagner to his court . As time went on he became increasingly obsessed with mythology and fantasy which motivated him to build his own castle and palaces where he could detach himself more from Prussian rule and create his own world and kingdom. In building his extravagant real estate he neglected his royal duties and plunged Bavaria into debt. As a result the government declared him “mad” and not fit to rule. He died under mysterious circumstances in 1886 shortly after being removed from his duties. Sadly, he never got to see the final completion of his dream castle Neuschwanstein which started in 1868 and took 24 years to complete”
Austin believed he wasn’t a mad king at all but a king with a creative imagination who simply wanted to be ruler of his own world.
Tours are organised into timeslots with a set group size and allocated guide. We had some time before our group was taken through so it was an opportunity to take photos of the exterior. After you pass through the gatehouse you will enter the courtyard where you will see the Knights House and Citadel where Ludwig spent his final years. Despite its medieval look the castle was built with modern materials of brick with a limestone stucco facade.
When it was our timeslot we joined with the rest of the group and castle guide and were led into the castle. The tour was 30 minutes and you are forbidden to take photos, probably because they wanted to move you through quickly and stopping to take photos would cause delay. I did manage to sneak a couple of shots before getting caught! oops. The castle is just how we imagined, the walls and ceilings adorned with beautiful paintings of sagas and medieval fantasy particularly paying homage to Richard Wagner’s “Swan Knight Lohengrin” and the Grail King. The castle was never really lived in so it is pristine.
Corridors with external windows rewarded you with breathtaking views over Hohenschwangau and the beauty of the surrounding alpine countryside. The castle and its setting was truly magnificent and beautiful and you could easily see why it was the most beautiful castle ever built.
After the tour we had a quick look through the shop before exploring more of the grounds and trying to get that one photo framing the whole castle but it proved to be a challenge with so much vegetation. The best photos are definitely from Marienbrücke bridge.
It was an easy stroll back down to the village. We would have liked to have gone through Hohenschwangau Castle but time wasn’t on our side as we still had to catch the train back to Munich. The castle is a good 20 to 30 minute walk and it deserves some time to appreciate its grandeur so we opted for a coffee shop instead. I think we will be back this way sometime in the future so we will make time for Hohenschwangau Castle on our return.
The 4pm train back to Munich was much busier than our journey to Füssen, it was so busy it was standing room only. Back in Munich we hooked up with the two Aussie sisters Shannon and Siobhan to finish off a great day at one of Munich’s oldest beer gardens – Augustiner-Keller which is a stones-throw from the station.
Overall it was a fabulous day out and if you are wanting a simple small group tour at a reasonable price then I would recommend the one we did with Radius Tours. Our guide was excellent and there is plenty of time to enjoy at least one of the castles, although you can squeeze in both if you don’t mind feeling rushed. If you are wanting to do the trip independently then the Visitor Information Site specifically for Neuschwanstein is a good place to start and will give you all the information you need on transport and tickets.
Date Visited: 23rd July 2014
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I would love to do this. It looks so beautiful and the surrounding countryside looks just as I imagined. You should write a book on your travels DIL xx