Neuschwanstein Castle

Table of Con­tents Show

Overview:

Set atop an impos­ing hill deep in the beau­ty of the Alps of the Ger­man Bavar­i­an coun­try­side, the Neuschwanstein cas­tle stands alone as not just the great­est cas­tle in the world, but thanks to the goth­ic inspired design, reach­ing tow­ers and embell­ished inte­ri­or set against the back­drop of stun­ning scenery, Neuschwanstein cas­tle has pro­vide the inspi­ra­tion for some of the great­est fan­tasies ever told – includ­ing sleep­ing beau­ty and Cin­derel­la – and now right­ly earns the nick­name of the ‘Fairy-tale Cas­tle.’

Com­mis­sioned by the ‘mad king’ of Bavaria King Lud­wig II in the mid-1868 to cope with his grief of los­ing his pow­ers fol­low­ing the sev­en years’ war, Neuschwanstein was final­ly com­plet­ed in 1892 some six years after the mad kings death in 1886. While orig­i­nal­ly intend­ed be a grand recre­ation of the Hohen­schwan­gau cas­tle, where the King spent his child­hood, the cas­tle also reflects the admi­ra­tion the mad king had for the com­pos­er Richard Wag­n­er – which is par­tic­u­lar­ly evi­dent in the inte­ri­or design of the cas­tle in the rooms on the third floor.

Even though the fairy-tale cas­tle attracts some 1.5 mil­lion vis­i­tors a year – both the Neuschwanstein cas­tle and the Hohench­wan­gau cas­tle remain incred­i­bly acces­si­ble and are open all year round – with the dif­fer­ing sea­sons com­bined with the pic­ture per­fect view spot of the Marien­brucke bridge mak­ing for an excep­tion­al expe­ri­ence in which to observe, explore and tra­verse your­self in the fan­ta­sy won­der of the world that is the Neuschwanstein cas­tle.

Where:

The Neuschwanstein cas­tle sits in the south of Ger­many close to the bor­der of Aus­tria, with the near­by town of Fussen serv­ing as an ide­al base from which to jour­ney to and set out to dis­cov­er the won­der.

Best time to Vis­it: Neuschwanstein cas­tle remains open all year around – with the dif­fer­ing sea­sons reflect­ed in the sur­round­ing Bavar­i­an coun­try­side which serves as a back­drop to the cas­tle offer­ing unique pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties and expe­ri­ences of explor­ing the cas­tle.

That being said it’s best to avoid the peak sea­son of June and July due to over­crowd­ing – with either Decem­ber for the win­ter expe­ri­ence of a fairy-tale snow-capped Cas­tle or Autumn where the chang­ing leaves, mild tem­per­a­tures and clear blue skies offer­ing a serene chance to explore the won­der – and of course vis­it the cas­tle as a day trip from the always enjoy­able Okto­ber­fest !

 

Explore:

Although offi­cial­ly fin­ished – there are only 14 rooms of the cas­tle which are con­sid­ered com­plete and which are open to the pub­lic through tours only. So once arriv­ing at the foot of Hohen­schwan­gau and hav­ing booked your tour tick­ets well in advance – it’s advised to take a relac­ing stroll up to the path­way that leads to the sum­mit of the hill and to the doors of the Neuschwanstein Cas­tle for the start of your tour.

Although each tour lasts only 35 min­utes, you’ll get to expe­ri­ence the throne room (although in reflec­tion of the depos­ing of King Lud­wig II there’s no actu­al throne) and the grot­to, the king’s bed­room and the long Singer’s Hall – all main­tained in their orig­i­nal state and in the style and vision of King Lud­wig – with the tour con­clud­ing with a 10 minute film which seeks to dive into the mind of the king and explain the con­struc­tion of the cas­tle.

Once com­plet­ed there’s then amble time to take in the vast­ness of the cas­tle and it’s archi­tec­ture from the sum­mit, with the goth­ic design and pro­trud­ing tow­ers all offer­ing a unique pho­to spot and sto­ry of the incred­i­ble won­der. From here a trip back down the hill will take you to the Marien­brucke bridge where the beau­ty of the Alp and the bavar­i­an coun­try­side lend them­selves to a pic­ture-per­fect pho­to spot of the cas­tle.

For those want­ed to go fur­ther a sim­i­lar tour of the neigh­bour­ing old­er Schloss Hohen­schwan­gau is also high­ly rec­om­mend­ed, not least for its stun­ning court­yard foun­tains and a chance to see where the ‘mad king’ spent his final days before his mys­te­ri­ous drown­ing, that adds even more mys­tique to the fan­ta­sy cas­tle of Neuschwanstein.

Cost:

Expect to pay €16 for a tour of the cas­tle – and be warned that food and sou­venirs from the cas­tle will like­ly be slight­ly inflat­ed in price espe­cial­ly around the peak sea­son – with tick­ets on the train from Munich like­ly to set you back €20 as well – all in all mak­ing the won­der an incred­i­bly afford­able sight to vis­it.

 

Top Tip:

Book the tick­ets for the tour at least 3 days in advance – while the cas­tle is open from 9am – 6pm in the spring to autumn months and 10am – 4pm in the win­ter months tick­ets will sell out fast – so it’s strong­ly advised to head to Via­tor or id9810.munich.ticketbar.eu/en/excursions/neuschwanstein-castle-guided-tour-/] to grqab your tick­ets for the tour before they sell out !

Getting there:

Neuschwanstein cas­tle is incred­i­bly acces­si­ble, with it being locat­ed just off the main high­way 17 of Ger­many for those self-dri­ving – for those with­out Cars or who don’t fan­cy jour­ney­ing along the Auto­bahn the best option is unques­tion­ably get­ting a train from Munich’s cen­tral sta­tion to the town of Fussen and from here it’s the mat­ter of get­ting the reg­u­lar bus (nor­mal­ly the 9651 ) to the foot of Hohen­schwan­gau where a small walk will take you to both the tick­et cen­tre, Schloss Hohen­schwan­gau and after a short trek (or by horse and car­riage) to the entrance of the Neuschwanstein cas­tle.

Fun Fact:

Along­side being born out of the mad kings desire to live in a fan­ta­sy land – the Neuschwanstein cas­tle reg­u­lar­ly serves as the inspi­ra­tion for Dis­ney and fan­ta­sy films with a vis­it through the cas­tle and to the Marien­brucke bridge allow­ing vis­i­tors to relive and recap­ture their child hood dreams.

Best photo spot:

Unques­tion­ably the best pho­to spot is from the Marien­brucke bridge locat­ed off a short path when approach­ing the Cas­tle which allows a panoram­ic view of both the cas­tle and the sur­round­ing coun­try side – you may have to wait your turn but grab­bing a snap of the won­der from this van­tage point is some­thing that will stay with you for­ev­er.

 

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