A Tour of Bavarian Castles
A roadtrip through the German countryside
Our reason for coming to Europe in the fall was to join Yuki’s aunt and uncle in Germany for a 5-day trip. Yuki’s cousin and her boyfriend, who live in Thailand, had just taken part in the Berlin marathon and flew down to Munich to join the party. Along with some local family friends, we set off to the southwest to see King Ludwig II’s palaces and castles.
Linderhof Palace was just one of three palaces built by the then-king of Bavaria, Ludwig II. It was remarkably small, which was quite unexpected, and is his smallest palace. It was inspired by Versailles in Paris and was the only one that was finished during his lifetime.
We were surprised that the gardens surrounding the palace are much larger than the building itself. Done in the classical European style of perfectly symmetrical flowerbeds and tall square hedges, it felt largely out of place in the forest, and surrounded by the natural beauty of the mountains.
This garden extended as a grand staircase up the side of a hill directly across from the valley. The grand fountain and staircase would have been the centre view from inside the palace, but from above it oddly diminished the palace in the landscape.
The next day we drove out to see Hohenschwangau Castle and Neuschwanstein Castle. The exterior grounds around the castles are open to the public, but a ticket is required to get inside. Yuki’s uncle had pre-booked us guided tours so we didn’t have to wait too long to go inside.
Hohenschwangau Castle was the first one we visited. It is the smaller of the two castles and had a nice homely atmosphere to it. It is where Ludwig spent most of his childhood and where he lived while monitoring the construction of Neuschwanstein Castle nearby.
This was our first time visiting romanticised castles, which are really elaborate houses in the shape of castles. With dining rooms, bedrooms, studies, libraries, etc… there’s nothing defensive or military about the castles. They are just large homes.
In contrast to the earlier Linderhof Palace, the castles here are placed to take advantage of views of the natural landscape — which was nice because the mountains and nearby lake are beautiful. We noticed that the mountains are a lot sharper than the Rockies.
The second castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, was commissioned by Ludwig II as a new home — just for himself. Though it was never completed, as it is today, it is an incredibly excessive place for one person to live. Complete with a throne room, theater, artificial cave and much, much more, it’s hard to believe that it was made for only one person.
The tours didn’t allow photos inside, but we were able to get this classic image of the castle from a bridge over a gorge.
On the way back to Munich we made a stop in a town called Walchensee to take a gondola up a mountain called Herzogstan. Unsurprisingly, we discovered that the King used to have a cabin here and it was a favourite place of his.
It’s not hard to see why this is an amazing destination. The views to the surrounding valleys and mountains are incredible and we didn’t even make it to the top. There wasn’t enough time to go hiking, so we just had a light snack at a restaurant near the top of the gondola. During the summer there are a lot of hikers, and in the winter it appears to be a good skiing destination.
Upon our return to Munich we had an evening in the city and then flew out to Spain the following day. It was a quick 5 days, but it turned out to be a wonderful time to see a bit of Germany as well as spend time with Yuki’s family.
