Germany - Neuschwanstein Castle

7th November 2014

We planned a day trip for the Neuschwanstein Castle, simply because it looks too beautiful on all the photographs we've seen online. It was also the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Plus, everyone told me that I had to visit the castle if I were in Munich.

We were definitely not the least bit disappointed!! It was even more amazing than we'd imagined. The entire Hohenschwangau area where the castle is located was so beautiful! It really reminded me of Interlaken, and what's better? It's cheaper! Haha.

We found a really good travel guide for a day trip to Neuschwanstein from Munich. We initally planned to follow it, but because of the train strikes, the 9.53am train from Munich Hbf to Füssen was cancelled that day. The frequency of the train is usually once per hour, but with the strike, we could only choose between 8.53am and 10.53am. Of course, I would say 8.53am is a much better choice, since Füssen is 2 hours from Munich, and we wanted to have abundant time to enjoy the scenery and take good photos. The Bayern ticket would provide the best value for the trip, as it includes all transport within the Bavaria region, and is only 27€ for 2.

On the train, we were already blessed with great countryside scenery, and approaching Füssen, the Bavarian Alps line the horizon.

We arrived at Füssen at about 11am, and both the buses 73 and 78 were waiting for us. It's good that they actually coordinated the bus timings with the train timings, unlike the ones at Hohenzollern Castle, if you have read my post about it... The bus ride was fast, about 15 minutes. We were dropped off at the bottom of the hill, where we had to buy tickets first. 11€ for students (12€ is the standard fare). Pretty expensive. The ticket includes a guide - either a physical or an audio guide. We got the audio guide because the timing was better. Note that you cannot enter the castle without a guide!

You see, the architecture really resembles that in Interlaken :)

We could already see the castle at the foot of the hill! So excited x_x

After buying the tickets, we took the bus up to the castle (1.80€ per person for single journey, 2.60€ for return). We bought the single journey ticket because we wanted to take the horse carriage (3€ per person) down :D

We headed straight to the Marienbrücke, or the Mary's Bridge, where we could get a nice view of the castle from afar. This is where everyone takes their photos, so be sure to go and get some good pictures! It was quite a cloudy and foggy day, but it didn't stop us from getting really cool pictures of the castle and its surroundings. Quite the contrary, the fog veiling the forest added a tinge of mystic charisma that immediately made us fall in love with the castle and feel like we were in a fairy tale.

It was really cold up there. We took our time to take in the view, and left at 12.40pm for our 12.55pm tour. Along the way, the scenery was breathtaking as well.

The tour was only about 40 minutes. Time passed in the blink of an eye... I thought the audio guide tour was really rushed, but I guess it's the same situation if you had a real guide. They are probably required to limit the time inside the castle to facilitate the huge amount of visitors every day. Also, photos are not allowed inside the castle. Oh wells.

After the short tour, we went back to Marienbrücke because the sun was out!

We headed downhill at about 2pm. The horse carriage was quite big! Could fit about 12 people. It was the first time for me, so I was quite excited :P The ride was super smooth, and I just loved the winding roads that were lined with colourful trees on each side.

The journey was super enjoyable for me, so I think the 3€ was well spent! We got some post cards from the souvenir shop near the ticketing office, which cost 2€ for 3D and 0.40€ for normal 2D ones. I got a necklace for 9.50€ too!

I saw a friend's photo that was taken at the lake just 5 minutes from the ticketing area, so we went over to take a look. The water was so clear, and there were ducks digging around in the shallow areas with their butts facing the sky :P

I was starving and we went around looking for food but everything was pretty expensive there! Tourist traps... We settled down at a restaurant by the lake, and ordered a Braised knuckle of lamb with pepper vegetable and polenta strudel (16.50€) and Ravioli stuffed with wild boar ragout, port wine onions, wild herb salad (13.50€). Fortunately both were quite delicious!

We went back to Füssen at about 4.30pm. However, the next train was at 6.06pm T.T I wanted to get back to Munich before 8pm for shopping, but I guess luck was not on my side!! I had to ditch my shopping plans and ended up walking around Füssen.

It was a nice and cozy little town, which, like I mentioned, really reminded me of Interlaken. Even the river there had the chemical blue-green colour, exactly like the Interlaken lakes.

I managed to get a hat at Füssen for 10€. I was really freezing there. Somehow, Munich was colder than Mannheim, even though its temperature was reportedly higher..

So I hope you enjoyed the post as much as I enjoyed Neuschwanstein Castle :P It was one of the best places I've been to so far. And true enough, it is a must-go, especially if you are already in Munich.