Neuschwanstein was Ludwig II’s pride and joy, started in 1869 and completed in 1886.
It is important to mention that when visiting this castle and Hohenschwangau, book tickets online to assure you are able to get a tour. Make sure you do this well in advance (like several months). If you need to get last minute tickets, you can try to arrive at the Ticket Center in Hohenschwangau an hour before they open to ensure you beat the crowd. It gets Black-Friday long, before the center even opens. There are usually only a few tickets available on the day of, so make sure you get there early to ensure you get them. Lucas and I arrived at 7:10 and seven people were already in front of us. By 7:30, there was a line of 50 people behind us, and the ticket shop didn’t even open until 8 am.
The castle required a long walk uphill to get there, so we opted to take a bus, as we were pressed for time. Busses leave at random times, about every 15 minutes or half hour. You can also catch a ride on a horse-drawn carriage, but these are longer in duration and seemingly less frequent.
The castle is quite large and towering, and, interestingly enough, is also the model for Walt Disney’s castle logo.
Inside the castle, we found it was very elaborately decorated. Ludwig II allegedly took inspiration from the Wartburg castle in Eisenach, among others to design his grand castle, which towers over the others. Not an inch of wall was left without a painting, a scroll, or decoration of some sort. Ludwig II even had his own cave built into the castle, and whether these were real stalactites and stalagmites, I am not sure, but it was interesting.
Ludwig II was also a very religious man, and his bedchamber took inspiration from the gothic carvings of choir balconies in churches. The wood carvings above his bed had so many intricate scrolls and points, it was ridiculous. He also was a fan of royal blue, and his bedroom was dark brown with royal blue chair coverings.
Below the castle, he had a ginormous kitchen, with some of the original cooking pots and pans still in it. He was a big fan of desserts. He apparently started complaining of tooth pain and lost a bunch of his teeth, likely to cavities and decay.
His private 3m x 3m (10 ft x 10 ft) dining room was to the side of the kitchen, a walled alcove with an open ceiling. He even had a door, a small writing table, and a lounge chair, so it was almost as if he could have spent the whole day in this tiny room.
Ludwig II added a grand hall to the castle, which was designed like the medieval days with candelabras and 600 candles that would light the hall, but he used it mainly for himself. It seemed he kept pulling himself away from people.
Eventually, the town declared him unfit to rule and sent men to his house, who grabbed him from his bedroom late one night and brought him to see one of his friends, a king, near Munich. The two were walking along a lake, as a rainstorm approached, and went missing. Both were found by some people who were searching from the sea, and both had drowned. It is disputed still to this day who killed who, but speculation goes that Ludwig II drowned his friend, and then drowned himself.
It really does seem kind of sad, like Ludwig II lived this glorious life, but was really lonely and died alone. But maybe he was happy that way.
He spoke often in his younger days of never wanting to marry, nevertheless, he proposed to a girl he had known since his childhood. But at their engagement ball, he abandoned her to go watch a play at the theatre. Eventually, the engagement broke off, and three days later, the woman found herself in love with someone else. Outside of this, Ludwig II never spoke of any romantic relationships.
The castle is gorgeously architected, and it is worth it to see one of the most iconic castles of Germany, even if you are not as into its history.
P.S. pro tip- you can view the castle from a bridge over a waterfall if you take a walk to the Marienbrücke. Lines start to form, so this also needs to be visited earlier in the day! Perhaps this should be your first stop when you get to the castle, to get some unique photos without other tourists!
Watch our video of Neuschwanstein castle below!