NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE ~ Mad King Ludgwig’s unfinished dream… Germany / Fussen

This is one of my favourite places in the world!! Not only the castle but the countryside and mountains surrounding it, its like being in a dream for me. I love the castle, I love the story behind it and I even like that its still not completed after the death of King Ludwig

The foundation stone was laid on 5th Sept 1869

The neo-Romanesque castle complex has a variety of structures was created off the plans by Eduard Riedel and scteches from a scene painter Christian Jank – King Ludwig II played a major part as well int he design and look of the castle

Its crowded in summer so if you can go a few months before or after as its going to be packed!

If camping, there are a few options around, I used Camper contact app to find a campsite and it was perfect!

Entrance to castles are at a certain time so get there early to secure the time you want

Give yourself an extra 30mins to get up to the castle itself especially if you choose to walk

You can book your tickets in advance from their website here

If you have time, I recommend to visit the Museum of the Bavarian Kings, it was really interesting!

If you are visiting both castles, I would recommend to give around 2-3hrs between visits – time your tours!

Prices: Neus-15euro / Hohens-21euro / Museum 14euro

LOCATION

https://goo.gl/maps/9WLCHwBBo8JBpBnd6

Perched on the side of the mountain overlooking the Schwangau countryside and surrounded by a few other castles, it sits there in its own looking like its out of this world in its own fantasyland

Located in the southern part of Germany in the beautiful Bavarian region

There are a few walking tracks around the wood area and from these pathways you can get some really great photos of the castle looking down at the countryside

Map of the 6 floors of the castle – we are only allowed to see part of 1 floor which is a shame and some of the castle isnt finished yet

Getting there…

There was a local bus that we caught from the campsite to the castle complex – its only a 10min drive

We couldnt believe how this huge red thing of a bus fit into the tiny streets! It could barely turn this corner yet the Germans can always do anything 🙂

Its not very often but better than nothing!

First up close glimpse from the bus! bloody excited…

The entrance to the castles and the museum were all together at the base of both castles next to Alpsee

Yep! a really touristy spot! Make sure that you get here as early as possible as it fills up from 11am onwards and gets very busy, we were glad we got there early because as soon as we saw the crazy amount of tourists buses come in and park we freaked out

We got to the ticket complex where all the tourist info was about visiting the castles in the area – there were different options of getting to the castle, we chose the walk as I remember it being steep but really nice to do as you can enjoy the view and take your time

The walk up was nice, passed by the many different modes of transportations

We kept Neuschwanstein until the end so we had a late afternoon tour for 3:25pm

As you walk up to the castle it becomes apparent just how HUGE this castle really is! It looms over you as you approach it and has such a personality where it just doesnt want to be forgotten!

The forecourt of the castle

King Ludwig wanted the castle to have several different sections : a gateway building, Knights building, ladies apartments, royal palace a keep and chapel

When he died in 1886, only the gateway building, knights building and palace had been finished, inside the building only the kitchen, adjacent rooms, royal apartments, throne room and singers call were finished

This is the bridge you can hike up to to take the epic photo of the castle with the countryside at the back – its not a tough hike and I highly recommend it!

INTERIOR OF THE CASTLE

We couldnt take any photos of the inside on our tour so ive taken some from online so I can remember when i look back at this post…

There are only around 15 rooms finished and the project was cancelled upon the death of King Ludgwig

Escape plan – map of the interior

The Kights Bath – one of the unfinished rooms – high ceiling room was inteneted to have a large pool in the floor. Ludwig wanted to recreate the bathing ritual of the Kinghts of the Holy Grail (he identified himself with them as he had read descriptions of this ceremony in medieval poems)

The Throne hall – There are paintings of Jesus and the 12 Apostles and 6 canonised kings

The murals were created by Wilhelm Hauschild

Painting details so intricate! A lot of the themes to these murals were also taken from the Operas of Richard Wagner

His bedroom – so beautifully decorated with deep luscious colours – they had tiny beds in those days!

The main hall of Singers – The grand concert hall was one of the favourite parts of King Ludwig – designed for opera performances of Richard Wagner (who was his favourite)

The walls are decorated with images from Romantic legends from Lohengrin and Parzival bought to life by Waygner

The drawing room

The Dining Room

St George and the Dragon in the throne room

Beautful murals of German legends and myths are painted all throughout the castle in each room taken from his love of medieval times and what he read in stories and poems

The Study

The really interesting and wierd grotto inside the castle

A stage designer called August Dirigl built the artificaial stalactities

Interesting that King Ludwig was ahead of the times and he had central heating, flushing toilets and running water and an electrical bell system for the servants

And the view outside from the grotto

The castle kitchen

We exited a differnet way we came through some underground tunnel

BACK TO THE PAST… THE CASTLE BACK IN 2005…

My last time that I was here was a lot different – I had a printed map to get around, I had to use the internet cafe to print my train tickets and timetable and I didnt know what was around the surrounding countryside as I didnt have google maps to research!

times have changed!