The castle of Neuschwanstein is thought to be the inspiration behind the Disney castles. It is an easy visit while you are in the Bayern/Bavaria area. I visited Schloss Neuschwanstein on route to my skiing holiday in February 2019. Schloss Neuschwanstein is a great destination year-round. When we visited it was unusually hot for a February, so the views did not contain much snow, but I think every season makes for a good visit.
Visiting the castle
It is possible to bring a guided visit to the castle, you can buy tickets for a specific timeslot in advance via the website: https://www.hohenschwangau.de/1392.0.html. A ticket costs € 13 per person. I don’t love classic interiors and I do love architecture, so we decided to skip the visit to the castle itself, but do a hike in the surroundings of the castle instead. We parked in Hohenschwangau, there are several parking lots and we paid € 7 for the day.
Hiking
The hike we did starts at the bottom of the castle. We followed the signs to the Mariënbrucke and started venturing off road from there. It is a walk of about 30 minutes before you will be at the Mariënbrucke. The Mariënbrucke is pretty crowded and it is difficult to take a good picture of Schloss Neuschwanstein with yourself in it, so we continued our hike upward.
We followed a rocky footpath upward into the mountains and made sure we kept near the castle (you actually hike at the backside of it). I think it took us about 30 minutes before we found the great views of Neuschwanstein, this viewpoint is not indicated with signs. From this point it was a short, but very steep way down back to the pathways, we kept the castle on our right hand side while going down. Once you get back down you will be at a viewing point close to the Mariënbrucke again. I would not recommend going up at this side of the mountain, as it is really steep and quite dangerous, while going down at this side I had to do some small jumps. You will be rewarded with amazing views though!
I did not expect this, but the hike was pretty challenging at times, make sure you bring comfortable shoes and some food and water. There are some food stalls and restaurants opposite Neuschwanstein itself, but once you pass the castle, you will not find any anymore.
To be honest I don’t get how some bloggers take pictures in long dresses. I think they must do the hike in comfortable clothes and change once they are up the mountain. Don’t be fooled by Instagram and prepare well for this hike. Find some examples of the pathways below.
Other activities in the area
While I was in Bavaria I also enjoyed these activities which were located nearby:
The city Füssen is the perfect location to explore the area.