Neuschwanstein (Ludwig's Castle)

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There are many tours that you can book to take you to Neuschwanstein castle. It's a major tourist attraction, and well worth the visit! We decided to go to the castle ourselves after much research on line.

The best way to go is purchase a ticket from any of the main train stations to Fussen station . The journey is about 2-3 hours on the train through the gorgeous Bavarian country side. All of the other travel sites indicated not to go to late as the line up's can be quite long. You can also book your tickets on line which will allow you to avoid the line up to buy the tickets. The tickets are quite cheap, costing about 30 euros return to get there and back. A steal!

We decided to leave Munich around 9 am to get there. There were many, many tours on the same train as us, no doubt they paid a lot more to get there then we did. Once there, you walk up a small hill to the place where you can buy your tickets. The castle is open from 10-4 after September; and from 9-6 prior to that. The tours of the castle are in 45 minute incredments; so if you know exactly which time slot you want ahead of time you can book it on line. We didnt' do that b/c we didn't know exactly which time we would get there. We were in line for about 30 minutes to get a ticket. In the meantime we explored the quaint little shops at the bottom of the hill. There aren't many resturants there, but there are a few snack stands you can eat at. As you can imagine, the food is expensive since its a main tourist attraction.

About 45 minutes before your tour starts you can take one of the many trams up to the castle. The journey takes about 15 minutes. You can walk up the hitll, but it is very steep and muddy. Unless you like hiking, I would not recommend it. If you get tired or stuck in between there isnt' any help for you to come back down!

Once at the castle, they call your number (tour number) and you line up to see the castle. It's a wonderful trip and the castle is amazing. You can certainly see where Walt Disney got its Snow White castle idea from.

Once of the best parts of this tour is the ability to walk on a man made rope bridge and view the castle. You are literally suspended up hundreds of feet on a wooden rope. My husband remarked it was like going across a rope bridge in the resident eveil video game! Loved it.

Once back to Munich there are many places to eat. We ended up getting a nice roasted chicken dinner with two sides for under 10 euros. That with some nice beer, it was a great way to end the day.

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