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backpacking, Bavaria, Castles, countryside, europe, friends, germany, Hohenschwangau, munich, Neuschwanstein, Photography, tours, travel
A couple years ago I bought a book on impulse at Chapter’s entitled “World’s Must See Destinations”. I became a bit obsessed with the book but there was always one destination that stood out: Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian countryside of Germany. So when Danyka and I were planning our trip this was my top ‘must see’.
Neuschwanstein Castle (translation: The ‘New Swanstone Castle’) is a 19th century palace located in above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in Bavaria, Germany. But what is really special about Neuschwanstein (at least if you’re a Disney fan) is that the Sleeping Beauty castle in Disneyland was modelled after this very castle. It’s pretty easy to see why, it’s absolutely magical.
We arrived at the train station to meet our tour guide, Blake, before heading off into the beautiful Bavarian countryside. Poor Blake. Out of the six girls on his tour, five of us were under 25 and from North America. We were very inquisitive, a little loud (okay maybe more than a little…) and all hungry at one point or another. Yikes!
The seven of us got on the train and headed off for our fairytale. We arrived in the small village and of course, all of us had to use the washroom. One interesting part of visiting Europe is that most often you have to pay 30p to use the public facilities. Luckily we pooled our resources and all managed to get into the washroom. Thank goodness!
The first stop of our tour was at the base of the Hohenschwangau Castle, which was originally built in the 12th century by medieval knights but was last occupied by King Maximilian II of Bavaria and his family. Maximillian’s eldest son, Ludwig II, spent much of his childhood in this castle where he lived a life mostly of make-belief. As he was quite isolated growing up and ignored by his father he became fascinated by fairytales, which later inspired the design of Neuschwanstein.
After learning a bit about this first castle we wandered up the hill to take a closer look. This castle is just a museum now so we skipped going in and just took a couple pictures outside. It was quite a chilly and foggy day but if you stand on the observation deck and look over to your left you can see the top of the Neuschwanstein castle through the forest.
Once we finished at Hohenschwangau we moved on and took a stroll through the forest surrounding the beautiful lake. I would definitely recommend doing this if you are to ever visit. We were the only ones of the path and it was so amazing and serene. There’s a little lookout with a bench and I could have just sat there for hours taking it all in.
After that it was time to see the castle we had all come for! It was quite the trek, but we made it! We got to the top and my goodness, was the it worth it. Such an amazing site to see. Unfortunately, Sleeping Beauty wasn’t home and the fog had started to settle around the castle, but we did manage to get a few minutes of admiring in before it was completely out of site.
The castle was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a homage to musical icon, Richard Wagner, and was a dedication of sorts to his childhood of make belief and fairytales. Sadly, Ludwig II didn’t finish the interior of the castle before his death in 1886. Because of the cost in building the castle the royal family was forced to open the castle immediately after his death to tourists to cover costs.
As the inside of the castle isn’t finished we chose to forgo a visit inside to instead take a walk behind the castle to a ‘secret’ pedestrian bridge where we could get some good photos. This was when we ran into a bit of trouble, the trail to the bridge was closed off due to weather restrictions with a big ‘CAUTION’ sign. But who listens to signs? We climbed up and around the gate and started our trek. It was definitely icy, there were a few ‘almost’-spills and three more gates to climb around but we ended up making it in one piece. Sadly, the fog has almost completely engulfed the castle by the time we reached the bridge so there wasn’t a whole lot to see. (That’s us below on the bridge…)
This is a definite must do if you visit. If you take the trail off to the right behind the castle up the hill and then left you’ll come to the Marien Brücke (Mary’s Bridge), which is named after Ludwig’s mother, Queen Mary of Prussia. However, a word of warning to those who are afraid of heights (like myself): the bridge is quite high and it can be a little bit scary! But I swear it is definitely worth it. The views of the castle are breathtaking and so is the surrounding scenery. And if I can make it out to the middle, I know you can too!
Overall it was a pretty perfect day. We had an awesome tour guide, met some lovely and hilarious girls and all got to live our little ‘fairytale’ for a day. So, if you ever find yourself in Munich or the surrounding area, I would definitely recommend visiting Neuschwanstein. It is truly an amazing site.
With Love,
CW
With Love, CW 