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28 Sep 2010
Today, we will be making a day trip to the small town of Hohenschwangau where the famous fairy-tale-like Schloss Neuschwanstein and the Schloss Hohenschwangau castles are. Hohenschwangau means high (hohen) swan (schwan) district (gau). Neuschwanstein was built in 1892 CE for the "mad" King Ludwig II of Bavaria, the interior was never finished but is the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. To get there by train, we used a combination of our 3-day Munich City Card and the €28 Bayern (Bavaria) Ticket. Both tickets are good for up to 5 people.
First up, breakfast at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station)
Next, pack some pretzels in case there is no time for lunch
The regional train, RE 32604 to the town of Füssen. Catch the 8:52am train that reaches Geltendorf (the last station valid for the City Card) at 9:22am. From then on, since it is after 9am, the Bayern ticket can be used to continue the journey to Füssen without getting off.
The Füssen train station, bus to Hohenschwangau is at the back of this building
Bus 73 to Hohenschwangau departing at 11:05am, Bayern Ticket usable. There is another bus number that should arrive at Hohenschwangau as well. Look for the castle pictures on the bus.
Rotating stone fountains while passing through Füssen
Hohenschwangau Bus Stop, remember to check the return bus timings! They end early, e.g., 6:30pm, when it is not summer.
Map of Hohenschwangau showing ticket centre, beer garden where we had dinner, and bus stops. View larger.
First look at Schloss Neuschwanstein in a distance
The ticket centre to purchase the castle tours, a short walk round the corner from the bus stop. Tour timings for various languages for both castles are displayed on screens inside. Tell them you want a Royal ticket (€17) and they will space it out so that there is enough time for both castles. Tourless visits are not allowed!
€2 per person to ride up to Schloss Hohenschwangau, but it is easy to walk, takes a few minutes without posing for pictures
The walk up to Schloss Hohenschwangau, about 5 minutes non-stop
Schloss Hohenschwangau as seen on our way up. It was built on top of the remains of the medieval Schwanstein fortress and fully completed in 1855 CE by King Maximillian II, Ludwig II's father.
The town of Hohenschwangau, very serene and very nice buildings
The beer garden where we will be having dinner later
Iniside the castle, a swan fountain. The swan seems to be the royal family's mascot and is commonly featured everywhere
Main building of Schloss Hohenschwangau
What looks like an outdoor bathing area
The surroundings on the other side of the hill
Schloss Hohenschwangau is where Ludwig II spent most of his time as a child with his brother. It is his father's summer palace.
A suit of armour. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed further inside
Back outside the road down the main gate of Schloss Hohenschwangau. We came up via the side footpath
We took a €2 per person ride on the horse carriage for kicks. It takes the longer road along the lake, back to the town
Passing those taking the long way up to the gates of Schloss Hohenschwangau. Once down below, we rushed to queue to buy tickets for the bus up to Schloss Neuschwanstein. Takes about 40 minutes from the bus stop at the town to the castle tour entrance and costs about €2.80 for a return trip. There is a short walk from the terminal bus stop to the castle entrance.
View of Schloss Hohenschwangau on the way to Schloss Neuschwanstein's entrance.
Approaching Neuschwanstein
The main gate of Neuschwanstein. Ludwig II had a thing for an idealised Middle Ages from watching operas. He never stayed in the castle though, he was declared insane and then, he drowned in a lake under mysterious circumstances.
Inside the Neuschwanstein compound, the Palace and Knight's building (right). The castle was never finished. When Ludwig II died, only the gateway building, knight's building and palace were finished. Within the palace only the kitchen, royal apartments, throne roome and singers' hall were complete.
No pictures were allowed in the castle but I managed to get one of the concert(singers') hall. This illustrates why the castle was never finished. Every room is heavily decorated with scenes from operas that Ludwig II enjoyed. The throne room is so lavish that seems more for a Roman Emperor than a king. Ludwig II's bed has wooden carvings of numerous gothic church towers on top. There is even a man-made cave in the castle! It must have been a really costly.
The palace kitchen on the way out
Hohenschwangau down below
Panorama of the surrounding area from Schloss Neuschwanstein near the palace kitchen
Marienbrücke (Mary's Bridge) behind Neuschwanstein, where you can get nice photos of the back of the castle. Don't forget to walk to it before returning to town!
At Marienbrücke, a little waterfall below
Schloss Neuschwanstein from Marienbrücke, but with ugly restoration scaffoldings
The bus back down, if you did not buy a return ticket, you can buy it on the bus
Back at the town, we walked to the nearby lake
The Schloss Beer Garden where we had dinner, they close early, about 5:30pm
At the beer garden, buy your food outside and sit, someone will take your order for beer. We went inside as it was cold outside
Konig Ludwig beer, schnitzel with bread and some sausage, all these for €13.80
The beer hall
Walking back to the bus stop another one of those nice buildings, perhaps it will be nice to stay overnight here
Back at the bus stop, we were shocked that there's only one bus remaining that departs for Füssen at 6:30pm! Thank goodness the beer garden closed early, otherwise we will have to stay overnight
Back safe and sound at Füssen bahnhof, waiting for the return train to Munich
So ends our visit to the fairy-tale castle. Hohenschwangau is one of the nicest towns I have visited. A very relaxing place. The only negative thing is the lack of good sunlight for nicer pictures. But the clouds did add to the dream-like feel of the place. Tomorrow we will be making an even longer daytrip further away to the city of Salzburg in Austria, where Mozart hails from and the Sound of Music was filmed.
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