On Tuesday, September 28^th, we took a day trip out to the Bavarian Alps to see the Neuscwanstein Castle and mountains.  In hindsight, we probably should’ve prepared a little more before making such a long journey, but we didn’t want to “overplan” our trip so we’re in ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ mode.  The ride out to the castle entailed a 2 hour train ride from Munich to Füssen followed by a 10 minute bus ride, and then a 10-15 minute uphill walk (some may say hike), which some may argue is a hefty trip to just be winging it.  We’ve been sleeping quite a bit on the trip so far, which may be a combination of over excitement (stress) planning the trip and jetlag, so our 12:00pm departure from our hotel already put us a little behind in terms of getting there at a reasonable time.  We also learned that you must purchase tickets at least two days in advance, which of course we hadn’t done so we were really taking a chance that there was a last minute ticket available. Despite that, at the very least we could at least see the castle so we caught the 1:53pm train.

A day pass on the train, which included our bus ride fare in Füssen was €30 for the two of us, which wasn’t bad!  We bought our tickets, stopped for a quick beer across the street plus a couple more for the train ride along with a brezel (pretzel) with butter and hopped on the train.  Upon arrival in Füssen we walked over to catch the bus, which was a delight for Mike since we were surrounded by Italians.  As we’ve grown accustomed to with Italians, they talked the entire bus ride to each other, over each other, and were very emphatic.  Mike actually understood a lot of what they said (Rosetta Stone DOES work) and was on the verge of jumping in when the fear of being asked multiple questions and words he didn’t know took over…

Once we reached the ticket booth, we were excited to learn that there was a 5:45pm tour available, but the tradeoff was that we definitely miss the 6:06pm return train to Munich (last direct train) and would need to hop on a later train, either 7:05pm or 8:33pm, both requiring transfers.  Regardless we bought our tickets and hiked up the hill to the castle.

We were informed ahead of time that this is (one of) the castle(s) that Walt Disney modeled some of his castles after, and after seeing it, it’s understandable why one may get that impression.  That said, this isn’t the first castle Mike has been to in Europe and there hasn’t been one yet that someone didn’t make that statement…  The castle is beautiful and placed right in the Bavarian Alps, so in various seasons you can imagine what the surrounding mountains would look like. One Italian ‘donna’ (woman) said upon seeing it the first time “bello!”, which of course means beautiful.

The interesting thing about this castle is that King Ludwig II, as he became evermore reclusive, had it constructed to look like a medieval castle built during that time period. However, the castle was actually constructed in the late 1800s during his reign and therefore is really not as old as you would think given the design inside and out. We learned during the tour he was later ruled unfit to rule by reason of insanity and died mysteriously at the young age of 40 after being taken out of power. Despite the stunning inside design and the fact there is actually a fake grotto or cave like section of the castle, we were unable to take pictures inside.  However, we walked around outside and snapped some photos, which you can see here.  There were other castles in the surrounding area along with the mountains and late afternoon sun, which made the views quite breathtaking.

Views from the castle toward the Bavarian Alps and the plain.

Views of the Castle and various features outside:

Different types of finishes within the castle

View of castle and mountains in background

View of stone work on ground

During the tour, Mike lost our day pass ticket for the train, which meant no ticket for the return ride on the bus or the train ride back to Munich, over two hours away!  After our tour we walked back down the mountain, but stopped at a shop to buy some beer and wine to make change so we could buy a bus ticket.  That backfired though as the brief stop caused us to miss the bus by a couple of seconds and ultimately we missed the 7:05pm train.  With the next (and last) bus being 30min away and our alcohol in hand, we walked back to Füssen instead of waiting.  Initially this seemed like a sound plan until the road started to divide up and the sign to town pointed in a direction we knew was wrong, plus it said it would take 1.5 hours instead of the planned 30-40 minutes since it was only 2 miles and downhill.  On top of that, the path went through the woods and the sun was falling fast behind the mountains.  Regardless, we pressed on and laughed about our situation.

In the end, our hike turned out to be a fortunate one as we passed a number of beautiful sights of other castles and the mountains as the sun set.  Additionally, we passed a field full of cows with bells on grazing in the grass and took a brief video to capture the moment.  We made it back to Füssen and caught the train at 8:33pm.  The transfer was uneventful as well and we arrived back in Munich around 10:45pm, which turned out to be unfortunate because most places stop selling food or are close to closing around then. We found a solution, but more on that as we recap Munich.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers and Love,

Mike and Erica