Schloss Neuschwanstein, Munich

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Schloss Neuschwanstein is one of the most beautiful 2nd set of seven wonders of the world. King Ludwig spent the Bavarian empire into bankruptcy to build this and other castles in the proximity area. Ludwig was trying to fulfill his childhood dreams of living in fabulous palaces and being the emminent ruler king when he got control in 1864 at age 18. Neuschwanstein was build between 1869-86. It is a 5 story castle build in Romanesque style.

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Schloss Neuschwanstein is one of the most beautiful 2nd set of seven wonders of the world. King Ludwig spent the Bavarian empire into bankruptcy to build this and other castles in the proximity area. Ludwig was trying to fulfill his childhood dreams of living in fabulous palaces and being the emminent ruler king when he got control in 1864 at age 18. Neuschwanstein was build between 1869-86. It is a 5 sotry castle build in Romanesque style. Linderhof was built between 1870-78 as tribute to French monarchy reigns.

We decided that among the things we wanted to see while we were in Bavaria was "Cinderella's Castle" which is Neuschwanstein castle just outside Munich. Since we were pressed for time we took a Gray Line tour from Munich.....they charged $50 US for transportation once at the castle it was 10 Euro's to enter. I must say if your pressed for time then take this tour.....they take you straight there, once there they give you a tour time to enter and then ample time to make your way down and have lunch at your leisure....after seeing Cinderella' castle they take you to another smaller royal castle and then with a stop at small Bavarian town where they have the passion play every 10 years.... I don't know the name of the town, I think Omergauwdein (sorry don't know how to spell it)

But the Castle itself is breathtaking, You have a chance to walk up to Mary's bridge at take that great picture with the castle in the backround.......

Once inside the castle it is just beautiful to hear the story of it !!!!! The tour is very short and only 10 rooms are open to the public, it last about 45 minutes.......

But the drive to the castle is beautiful in the middle of the Bavarian country side and in and out of the Alps !!!!!!!

Well worth the trip, one of the most beautiful sites in all of the entire world !!!!!!

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Dont do the organized tours, which are a rip off. You are basically paying for someone to escort you on the train there and the tour at the actual castle is only given by castle employees.

Get a ticket to Fussen. You can buy the Bayern Ticket to Fussen and it is good for up to 5 people I beleive for roundtrip for the same day. I want to say it is 29 Euros, but that was last summer so it may be a bit more now. Its about 1 hour 45 minutes there. Once you get to the cute little fussen train station, walk through it and out front and there will be busses that will take you on the few minute bus ride to the base of the castle. I cant remember if the Bayern ticket covered the bus ride, I want to say no, but the cost wasnt too much, a few Euros maybe.

You will most likely have to wait in line for the tickets, and they are given for a very specific time, you expect some time to walk around the the little town around the ticket office. The tickets were about 12 Euros. If you walk down by the lake it there are amazing views and spectacular photo ops. To get up to the castle itself, there it a steep, uphill walk. There is the option of buying another ticket for a bus to take you up the hill, although there is still another walk after that, but it is mainly down hill to the castle. The bus up the hill is something like 4 Euros roundtrip. It saves about 30 minutes of extra walking. The bus gets extremely cramped, so get in line early and expect an uncomfortable ride, but it is short. The whole trip, bus up the hill the walk to the castle, takes about 30-40 minutes. Give plenty of time to get to the castle, because they are very strict with making your time, and if you miss it you will have to go back down to the ticket office and hope they have any tours that day left.

The tour is alright, but you have to endure it to get inside, as taking an organized tour is the only way. It of course ends in the over prices gift shop. One of the more interesting things to see at this location is the bridge over the waterfall. When you take the bus up the hill, you will be let off at a stop among trees. You can read the signs, the path to the castle is to the left, the bridge (I think is is the Maria Bridge) is to the right. It is a think, but stable, bridge over a narrow valley with a waterfall below it. There is an amazing view of the castle from on it, with my favorite, another great photo op. There is no fee to go onto the bridge. If you have some more time in the area the day you are there, there are hiking paths all over around the castle, including one down to the waterfall and lagoon below the bridge.

This is an interesting site to go see and one of those things you have to do when you are in Bavaria.

Schloss Neuschwanstein is one of those places that you have to slap yourself in order to determine that your not dreaming.
It is literally something of a failry tale and was the brain child of King Ludwid 2. Ludwig withdrew into a world where he could realize his childhood fantasies - a world reflected in the operatic works of Wagner; a world which gave birth of Neuschwanstein.

built in the neo-late romanesque style.
With its turrets and mock-medievalism, its interior styles ranging from Byzantine through Romanesque to Gothic its a real fairy-tale fantasy come true.

The surrounding of the castle are truly unbelievable and it is a must should you visit bavaria.

A beautiful fairy tale castle built for the mad king Ludwig II. To get there, take a regional train to Fuessen and a short bus ride from the train station will get you there.

I joined one of the tours (cheaper than the roundtrip ticket price to and from Fuessen) to get there as I didn't know about the Bayern-Ticket, but it seems the Bayern-Ticket is the most economical way to go. I liked some stories told by the guide, though.

The 3rd stop was to Schloss Neuschwanstein -- the real-life fairytale castle that inspired the Disney Castle in Disneyland, Anaheim!

Wow!

It sure was majestic, seated atop the mountain, rising spires into the air...

You can choose to walk up, take a bus ride, or a pony drawn carriage up -- all in ascending order of cost! :)

I took the bus ride up and thought I'd walk down on my own... took the wrong turn and ended up on the road OUTSIDE of the town!!! Ack!

After a brief bout of panic, I walked briskly backed into the town... whew! Thankfully, I didn't miss the bus ride back!

The bus is a wonderful air-conditioned double-deck one and I managed to get a seat in the 2nd row from the front, and a window seat at that! :) Yay!
Real happy as I managed to get a nice view of all around.
The guide was really good too -- she was humorous and full of little anecdotes to share with us.

I remember how there was this 2 women travelling together that were just super irritating.

They had with them a small little cow beanie toy and they were taking photos of it wherever they went -- just like the story of how a garden decoration of a duck was stolen from someone's front yard and the house got sent photos of the duck on its travels around the world? Anyway, it was a tired trick.

But besides that, these women were irritating in their insistence to mis-pronounce the word "Neuschwanstein" which the guide had mentioned a number of times.

They pronounced it as "New - wand - steen" and that just jarred my ears! It was as if they had it right and the guide had it wrong! Why do people insist on behaving like this, I have no idea!

If you want to see more photos, check out my travelogue. :)

Neuschwanstein was built from 1868 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and is probably the best known castle in the world. It is a mixture of styles and the initial blueprint was penned by a theatre designer rather than an architect.

The castle was built 2000m above the valley floor and its centre piece became the lavish Sängersaal (Minstrel's Hall) where Ludwig could indulge in his obsession with Wagner and medieval knights. Rather madly, for all the money spent on it, when it was finished in 1886 the first sky scrapers in America were being built.

Its near Füssen, southwest of Munich

This is a photo of the Marienbrucke (bridge) not too far from the Neuschwanstein Castle... I am VERY scared of heights but managed to walk across to the other side (twice) - although I may have had my eyes closed just a bit... ;)

When we asked a man to take a photo of us together he asked us to step back onto the bridge...I ended up with a very worried look on my face in that photo...haha! ;)

Neuschwanstein from the bridge across. It took several hours to drive here and then a steep climb to get to the bridge.

Yes, that is me!! My pre-Japan look...stressed, skinny (before the Weisswurst!!), even messier...