Pops' Neuschwanstein Castle Travel Guide

If you want to visit a real faerie tale then I would recommend seeing Neuschwanstein Castle. Neuschwanstein is located in the Bavaria region of Germany at the base of the Alps. The palace was commissioned by  Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to his friend Richard Wagner, a German composer. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.

The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886.^[Since then more than 60 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

 

In the Middle Ages, three castles overlooked the villages. One was called Schwanstein Castle. In 1832, Ludwig's father King Maximilian II of Bavaria bought its ruins to replace them with the Hohenschwangau Castle. Finished in 1837, the palace became his family's summer residence, and his elder son Ludwig (born 1845) spent a large part of his childhood here. Ludwig led a faerie tale life. When we toured the Hohenschwangau Castle we learned that when Ludwig was a child his bedroom had pin holes in the ceiling that at night would have lights from the room above shine through to look like the night sky.

 

 

The surrounding town is a very typical looking Bavarian town. What I would suggest is walking the city and then touring both castles. The Hohenschwangau Castle was a working castle that I would describe for lack of another word as a real castle. Neuschwanstein Castle for all its beauty was built on the cheap and a lot of the structure is a replica. What looks like marble pillars are plaster and what looks like real gems are really fake. Don't think that because of this it isn't worth seeing. It is still one of the best castle tours I have been in.

 

 

At the base of the Alps, it is in one of the most beautiful areas in the world. We stayed in Munich and drove to the castle. I would suggest that and to make it a full day trip. In the area is a tram taking you up into the Alps. We missed the tram but it looks like it would have been worth seeing.