A day trip to the fairytale world of Neuschwanstein Castle
Some places have become so famous that they're embedded in an entire region's, or even country's, identity. Think the Eiffel Tower - can you imagine Paris without it? Or New York with the Empire State Building?
The Neuschwanstein Castle is one of those places. This 19th century castle, perched atop a rock in the foothills of the Alps, looks straight out of a Grimm Brothers story. Over the years, as the image of this castle spread, it has become the symbol of Bavaria and the entire south Germany. And not surprisingly, it's is among the most visited tourist attractions anywhere in Germany.
I was fortunately to have had the opportunity to live and work in Germany for 2 months in 2019. The company I did work for had a project in Berlin, so I was asked to be there for the duration of the project. While I stayed in Berlin Monday through Friday, I usually drove to different cities on weekends. The weekend I spent in Munich, I decided to do a day trip to the Neuschwanstein Castle as it wasn't too far from the city.
I left Munich at 7am in the morning. Because it was a Sunday, there was very little traffic on the road, and I was able to the Autobahn pretty quickly. Getting to Neuschwanstein Castle is very convenient; while most people take the bus or train there, I drove there since I had a car. The scenery on the way there was gorgeous, especially on route 17 as I got closer to my destination. The lush countryside, rolling hills, fresh air all made this a very pleasant drive.
I got to the foot of the castle by about 9:30am. Finding a parking spot was easy enough, as there are 4 parking lots in the town of Hohenschwangau, which is the tourist basecamp for the Neuschwanstein Castle. Parking cost me 7 euros for the entire day, and the lot was a short 5-minute walk to the ticket office.
As soon I got to the ticket office, though, I realized I had made a mistake by not buying my ticket ahead of time. As one of the top tourist attractions in Germany, the Neuschwanstein Castle receives lots of visitors on a daily basis. Furthermore, the entry to the castle is only at certain time slots, and each slot has a limited number of visitors allowed. In the peak season in the summer (June to August), these time slots will usually get sold out. This means that if you don't have a prior reservation online, it is very likely that you won't be able to see inside the castle at all.
Luckily for me, there were still slots available when I got there. However, the earliest slot was for 2pm, meaning I had to wait 4 hours before I could get into the castle. The other thing to be careful of when buying ticket is that there are actually two separate castles you can visit. One is obviously the Neuschwanstein Castle that you're there to visit; the other one is its "ugly duckling" sister the Hohenschwangau Castle. This castle actually predates the Neuschwanstein, and it belonged to the parents of King Ludwig II, the Bavarian King who built the Neuschwanstein Castle. While it's still worth seeing this castle, many tourists accidentally buy tickets to this castle instead of the one they came to see.
After waiting in line for 40 minutes and finally getting my ticket, all I could do was wait, since my visiting hour was still 3 and half hours away. I walked around the town of Hohenschwangau to familiarize myself with the lay of the land, and settled into little restaurant on the main road for some brunch. The food decent ("not great but not terrible"), and I ended up Redditing for the next hour.
Feeling recharged after my brunch, I felt ready to finally climb the hills to the castle. My first stop was the Marienbrücke, the bridge behind the castle that offers the best exterior view of Neuschwanstein. Climbing up from the base to this bridge was not a proverbial walk in the park. The climb was actually fairly steep, and even though I'm in pretty good shape I was sweating by the time I got to the bridge. The climb took me 25 minutes, but if you don't want to climb there's also a shuttle bus that you can take to the bridge for 2 euros.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the bridge was jam packed with tourists. In fact, there was a 15-minute line up to get to it, as it's quite narrow and has a limited load capacity. But holy moly was the view from the bridge gorgeous. I could see the entire castle in all its glory, exactly like how I imagined it to be. From this vantage point, the picturesque Bavarian countryside spread out in every direction behind the castle, forming the perfect backdrop for this fairytale building.
After spending about 30 taking probably far too many photos than I'll ever need , my entry time was approaching and I decided to head to the castle. Going from the bridge to the castle was an easy, slightly downhill walk. By the time I got to the front courtyard of the castle, I could see on the overhead display that my time slot was approaching. When it was finally my turn, I scanned my ticket and in I went.
The inside of the castle was every bit as whimsical and fantastical as the outside. As I learned from my tour of the castle, the Ludwig II was very much an artist at heart. He was the King of Bavaria, but he was far more interested in his various architectural and cultural endeavours than he ever was in running his country. He sunk so much money into Neuschwanstein and his numerous other castles that his own cabinet deemed him unfit to rule, and staged a coup d'état to strip him of any real power. He was detained within a few short months of moving to this castle, and a few days later he died under suspicious circumstances. The castle was then nationalized, and ironically became a major source of revenue for the Bavarian government. Finally, Bavaria itself was shortly absorbed by Prussia to form Germany.
Walking through the castle, it was abundantly clear that this was the ultimate self expression of a man who saw himself as the hero of his own story. There were motifs and symbols throughout the castle that glorified the exploits of the great kings of the ancient times, intermingled with images and statues of swans, a symbol of himself. It really is ironic, that Ludwig was more interested in the narrative of great kings, than actually being one.
Photography and video recording inside the castle is forbidden, but it really is a feast for the eyes. The tour started at the grand throne room that radiated grandeur, followed by a walk through of Ludwig II's private quarters that was fitted with every modern amenity of the time, finally ending in the top floor ballroom that looked straight out of Cinderella. The attention to detail and the choice of architectural style and decorations really made me feel like I was in a fictional "once upon a time" kingdom.
The entire tour lasted about 40 minutes, which I thought was far too short. Afterwards, I decided to call it a day and drove back to Berlin.
If you're in Munich, absolutely do not miss this gem. To avoid the mistake I made, make sure you reserve your tickets online. That will help you save several hours when you get there! You can buy tickets from Schloss Neuschwanstein's official website: https://neuschwanstein.de
