King Ludwig's Castles

Neuschwanstein castle is built along Germany's border with Austria, on the edge of the Alps. This is probably the most famous castle in Germany. Disney used it as a model for their castles. It's usually crowded with tourists. This is a nice wide panoramic view of the castle from Mary's bridge above the castle.

This is the view out the window of Neuschwanstein castle. The large yellow building on the right is Hohenschwangau castle, also open for tours. Hohenschwangau is the only one of these not built by King Ludwig, its where he lived as a boy.

If you walk down the hill to that castle and look back up at Neuschwanstein, this is what you see. Notice the parasail at the left, the hill in the background is used to launch hang gliders and parasails. You can ride to the top via the Tegelberg gondola, or hike to the top.

Tickets: Here's a tip for getting your admission ticket. Neuschwanstein is often very crowded during the summer months. The first time I was there in 1991, tickets were sold in the castle itself. When I visited in 1994, a new building had been built down the hill from the castle for ticket sales. You had to wait in a long line for tickets, then go up to the castle and wait in another long line for the tour. Returning again in 2001, I found, as someone from Shwangau was kind enough to inform me by email, that ticket sales have changed again, this time really for the better. Now, after you park beneath the castle, walk up the road to the right (follow the ticket signs) to a ticket sales office on the right side of the street. Here you can buy tickets for Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, valid for a specific entry time, so it's no longer necessary to wait in a long line to get tickets or get into the castle. Now, once you've bought your ticket, you're free to wander through the town, down by the lake, visit the shops or restaurants or go or up around the castle, perhaps visiting Marienbrucke for the view above the castle before arriving at the castle just in time for your tour. Just make sure you arrive on time, don't forget to allow adequate time to get up the hill to the castle, because your ticket is only valid for your assigned entry time. Once inside the castle, I found some more unfinished parts of the castle have been opened up to visitors (areas not open before), in the form of additional gift and snack shops.

Even after 4 visits, I still find this castle and the stories of Mad King Ludwig interesting.

Linderhof is east of Neuschwanstein, by a roundabout route. This is a smaller residence, with gardens and several other buildings on the estate. One of these is an artificial cave built into the side of a hill, which has a lake inside. The king would sit in a boat on this lake and watch as performers acted out plays on a stage at the end of the lake. (Neuschwanstein castle also has one room inside that is decorated in a cave motif). The cave here was in good condition when I first visited in 1991, but I've heard that its condition has since deteriorated, by 1997 rust of the metal framework had caused pieces to fall off, and netting is now in place to keep pieces from falling on visitors. So I don't expect it to be as interesting to see now as it was then. I visited myself again in 2001, finding this netting still in place, so it looks like this change is permanent, but I still think it's worth visiting. I also noted a couple of other changes in my most recent visit, tours of the cave appear to now be in German only (tours of the main building are still in multiple languages, with the same advance purchase of tickets for a specific entry time now used at Neuschwanstein), and the Moorish Kiosk (a smaller building also on the grounds) no longer open for tours, you can only go and look inside through a glass enclosed entry as of 2001. I've heard Linderhof described as a copy of Le Petite Trianon (on the grounds of the Versailles estate near Paris). I've been to both. Trianon is larger and quite different as far as I am concerned (sorry, no pictures of Trianon, that roll of film was lost).

Herrenchiemsee is a copy of the Versailles Palace built on an island in the Chiemsee east of Munich.

It's not finished, but it has copied much of Versailles, including the Hall of Mirrors (shown here). The real Versailles palace is near Paris, and is much larger than this. To get here you will pay to park, pay to ride out to the island on a boat, and pay again to tour the building.