Bus to and from Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle is certainly one of the most well known German landmarks. More than 1.5 million visitors per year travel to the little village of Hohenschwangau in the south of Bavaria to take a tour of the impressive castle and to enjoy its picturesque alpine surroundings. Neuschwanstein Castle's silhouette with its many little towers and alcoves looks oddly familiar to you although you have never been there? No wonder, since the building stood model for one of the most iconic castles of the world: Disney Castle.

In 1869 Ludwig II of Bavaria commissioned a castle for private use. He was dreaming of a quiet sanctuary far away from the busy and hectic life at court in Munich. The king hired Christian Jank, who was formerly working as a scene painter in various theatres, to come up with the designs for a true fairy-tale castle with impressive theatrical and romantic elements both on the inside and out. Neuschwanstein Castle was modelled on a medieval knight's castle but without actually serving any defence purposes.

While Neuschwanstein Castle might seem like a finished building from the outside, the inside tells a different story. Due to financial problems, King Ludwig II's dream castle was never completed. Since the king wanted to pay for the construction of Neuschwanstein himself, he plunged into debt. This did not remain unnoticed and in 1886 the government of Bavaria decided that the king was not fit to rule anymore. An embassy went down to Hohenschwangau to incapacitate the king and to remove him from Neuschwanstein. Only one day later, Ludwig II died after having only spent a few months in the castle of his dreams.

While Neuschwanstein was originally meant to be a quiet place of private retreat, it was opened to the public only a few weeks after the king's death and it instantly became a tourist hotspot. Nowadays, more than 10.000 people visit Neuschwanstein Castle on a busy summer's day. The romanticised building with its iconic silhouette is regarded the epitome of a fairly-tale castle. In 2007 it was voted one of the new Wonders of the World.

You can easily get to Neuschwanstein Castle by bus. The German provider FlixBus offers direct connections from many German cities. Radius Tours offers guided roundtrip tours in many languages starting in Munich.