skriss

Can you please tell me about your visit to Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany? Should I purchase tickets in advance? How long does the tour take? What is there to do in Hohenschwangau area? Thanks.

jdraper

skriss: There is no need to purchase your ticket in advance. Just purchase the ticket when you arrive and they will let you know when your tour begins. If I remember correctly the tour took less than an hour for the castle itself. However, we spent several hours walking around outside and enjoying the wonderfu fall weather. This was one of the highlights of our first trip to Germany so I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. The castle is beautiful and the grounds are wonderful as well. J

T4TX

We went to Neuschwanstein Castle as a day trip from Munich. We hired a driver who picked us up at our hotel and drove us first to Linderhof castle and then Neuschwanstein. We got to the latter around 2pm or so and the tickets were sold out for the day. I was NOT happy. We ended up driving ourselves back the next day, arrived around 9:30am, did the tour, walked the grounds, got the photo from Mary's bridge, and then had lunch at a local spot around 12:30pm before heading out to our next stop.

We were there in the summer, not the fall, probably why our experience different from jdraper.

Dutch

Hi skriss,

I've been in the winter several times and there was never a problem with tickets - even in the afternoon (we almost missed the last English tour of the day, though.)

If you are going in the summer, it might be a good idea to buy tickets in advance.

The tour itself only lasts about 20-30 minutes. I really enjoyed it. I really liked the tour of the Linderhof castle near Ettal. See if you could work that in as well.

rosiecaro

We were there in July 2007 and there was a wait, but when you buy your tx they will give you a time, so do that first, then you can visit the other stuff and enjoy. It is a wonderful place. RosieCaro

basingstoke2

Neuschwanstein - what is there to say that hasn't already been said on this forum ad infinitum? This was the 3rd time for me but the first for my son. We arrived when the ticket office opened and bought our Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau English tour tickets and headed up the hill. After hiking up to the upper ruins at Ehrenberg the day before, the walk up to the castle was a Sunday stroll in the park with still steaming reminders of passing horse carts filled with uphill challenged visitors decorating the road at almost regular intervals. Memories are made of this.

Unlike castles like Berg Eltz and Marksburg that have up close interest, Neuschwanstein is best viewed from a distance where its fairy tale qualities and spectacular setting can be appreciated. Up close, it is just a big, not too old, building. We did the tour which seemed much shorter than tours past and DS in truth did enjoy it. Some people collect stamps or matchbook covers. DS collects famous sights. It doesn't matter what, if it is famous he likes it. That was especially frustrating the time I had taken him to Paris when he was a novice teenager. He actually had a list of Parisian "famous sights" that he dutifully checked off. If it wasn't on his list, he did not consider it worth while to see. When his list was done, he was done with Paris and ready to leave. So of course he loved Neuschwanstein (he is getting much better about that). For my part, we walked back down the hill with the refrain of Peggy Lee's "Is that all there is" running through my brain.

On the other hand, Hohenschangau was something else. It was the first time there for both of us and we both reallly enjoyed it. It is more of a palace than a castle and those readers who have been there will understand when I say that for a palace, it is really homey. A visit there will give you a feeling how the family lived. Although we had booked an English tour, there were only eight people (Hohenschwangau is not nearly as popular as Neuschwanstein) and six turned out to be native German speakers so the guide did the tour in German rather English, giving us audio guides in way of compensation. The audio guides were fine but we missed out on the cute stories about little Ludwig that are a mandatory feature of live guidance. The terraced area of Hohenschwangau is delightful and there is a great view of Neuschwanstein in the distance as it is meant to be seen.

ira

Hi sk,

If you book your tickets in advance, you know that you will have a spot on a particular tour at a given time. Not all tours are in English.

I suggest booking both castles together.
See http://www.hohenschwangau.de/548.0.html

There are a lot of steps on the Neuchswanstein tour.

We stayed at http://www.hotel-hechten.com/ in Fuessen when we visited.

Mimar

We stayed overnight in Hohenschwangau, did the earliest tour in the morning, then continued driving up the Romantic Road. I regret not going to Hohenschwangau Castle. But I remember walking to a nice lake nearby.

Delaine

In addition to Neuschwanstein, you should definitely visit Hohenschwangau Castle. It is, as a previous poster said, "homier," and gives some insight into Ludwig.

There are lots of steps in Neuschwanstein, and the walk up is pretty steep too. However, if you don't want to walk all the way you can take a carriage ride part way up or take the shuttle bus all the way to the top and walk a little ways downhill to Neuschwanstein.

While you are there, try to go to Marienbrucke, Mary's Bridge, where you can see the famous views of the castle. The shuttle bus will stop by the bridge.

My first visit was only a short stop, but on my second visit I spent the night at the Hotel Müller in the village at the base of the castles. It was quite charming. If you do spend the night there or at one of the other hotels in the village, be sure to take some photos of the illuminated castles at night; they are beautiful.

november_moon

We went in the summer and were very happy that we bought our tix ahead of time. We got there at about 9am and the line for ticket purchase was about 100 people deep. We went to the will call window, picked up our tickets and were on our way.

In the immediate area - in addition to the things already mentioned is a cable car to the top of a mountain and a fun summer luge you can ride. The Forgensee is also nice. Just over into Austria is the Plansee.

TNTraveler2Europe

As part of my daughter's graduation present, we visited there in June 08 and stayed at a B&B in Hohenschwangau (about 1-1/2 miles from Fuessen)-Garni Schlossblick Hotel- we stood on our balcony and could see Neuschwanstein - got some really good pics. It was really cool. There wasn't much to do in the little town of Hohenschwangau so we walked into Fueseen and went into some really neat shops with old time German clothing, found the internet cafe for my daughter of course, and had a very nice dinner there. The walk wasn't bad at all and the little town was quite enjoyable to see! The next morning, after an early breakfast, packing up and leaving our bags at the front desk, we made our way to the ticket office around 10:00 a.m. (we had to wait in line about 25 minutes), bought our Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau tickets and ate lunch at a little restaurant while waiting for our 12:00 entrance to the first castle - Neuschwanstein. I've got a bad knee so we took the carriage ride to the castle & back. I think I would have done it even without a bad knee, that is one steep hill. Oh, don't forget Marienbrucke, Mary's Bridge - the view is breathtaking. It was nice, in my opinion, the tour was too short though. They had us in and out in about 40 minutes. In my opinion though, Hohenschwangau, although less visited, is is more beautiful of the two castles.

pja1

Hi skriss,

Just wanted to add that the Tegelbergbahn is just a mile or so from Neuschwanstein castle. Excellent cable car and luge ride (sommerroddelbahn).

www.tegelbergbahn.de/index.php?id=160

www.tegelbergbahn.de/208.0.html

Paul

SydneySteve

We stayed at the Hotel Mueller in a room with a long balcony. We had the corner room adjacent to the balcony with an unimpeded view of Neuschwanstein Castle. There is only one room in the hotel like it and better than any other option we could find in the village after much research. We booked tickets to the castles in advance. Pick up in the main street was convenient and prompt. The other most memorable experiences were taking walking tracks near to the bridge where you are able to look back to the castle and down into the surrounding countryside. One morning we walked across the fields to Tegelbergbahn. We took the cable car to the top of what is a considerable mountain and there we had a beer in the bar and watched hang gliders taking off toward the beautiful lakes and countryside. There is also a great bobsled there. Totally recommend that excursion.

zelka

I was there in May last year on our own "Mad Ludwig tour". So we visited Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. The first of them is fascinating from outside and from Marienbrueck. Inside is nothing special. We bought the tickets on the ticketcentre and was waiting for 10 min. We slept in beautiful and charming Oberammergau in hotel Arnika (Recommendation!)35 min by car from Neuschweinstein. Next day we went to Etall church (with brewery) and Linderhof castle. This castle itself and little lake in the cave above the castle is extraordenary.
We finished our tour on Koenigsee in the NP Berchtesgaden near Austrian border and Salzburg. On a lakeshore reachable with boat there is a St. Bartolomey church and the landhouse of King Ludwigs father. I recommend that also.

missypie

The luge is way fun! I also recommend Linderhof castle and grounds. The hotel restaurant across the street from the Etal church had about the best food we had in Germany...it was a cold rainy day and this was comfort food: spatzle & local Etal cheese - the macaroni & cheese of your dreams!

On the drive from Neuschwanstein toward Linderhof is a lake with the bluest water ever.

One caution if you reserve advance tickets to the castles: Give yourself plenty of time to get there. We looked at a map and carefully timed our drive from Mittenwald to arrive in plenty of time...but we didn't count on following an extremely slow moving truck for many many many kilometers up and down the narrow two lane (no room for passing) highway.

RufusTFirefly

I'm going to disagree about the interior of Neuschwanstein not being anything special! We found it very special, not just the usual collection of dusty suits of armor, big wooden tables, and cold stone floors that you often find in older castles. While fewer than 20 rooms were completed in the castle, they are truly unique, reflecting Ludwig's obesession with Germanic mythology and the Wagnerian operatic vision of that mythology. The decor and furniture include some really fine 19th century craftsmanship, and is often fascinatingly bizarre.

The only thing I don't like about touring both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles is that you can't do some roaming around on your own.

november_moon

I agree with Rufus. I found the interior of N to be really neat. The workmanship is incredible and the decor is over the top. And I liked being able to see some of the unfinished rooms - it was interesting to see what was under all the paint and plaster in the finished rooms.

AisleSeat

You asked what is in the area. You can hike up the the Ehrenburg Castle ruins over Reutte Austris. The Wiesekirche (Rococo Chrusch) is on the way to Oberammergau, Linderhof, and the Ettal Monastery, then Garmish if you want to Go up the Zugspitze. Mittenwald (violin maker's village) is about 10 miles from there.

skriss

I have made reservations at Garni Schlossblick. The tegelbergbahn looks fun...there are kids coming on the trip and they want to "slide down a mountain". They were referring to alpine sliding, but luge sounds similar...I wonder if the luge track is only for adults though? It was hard to determine that on the website.
Mittenwald sounds very interesting because we are bringing a violinist along. These suggestions are so helpful!

bratsandbeer

We purchased our tickets online and we were happy we did. There is a horse and wagon that will cart you up the hill for a fee. We rode up and walked down.
We stayed at a hotel in Reutte. Was a good choice.
It is a beautiful area, make sure you have time to visit the other castles and villages.