When applying to our study abroad program Christine looked at me and said…
“Michelle, if we get into our Barcelona program, we need to go to the castle?”
“Christine… this is Europe, there are lots of castles…”
“NO. THE CASTLE.”
“Neuschwanstein…?”
“That’s the one!!!!!”
Well, luckily, and as you all probably can tell, we got into our abroad program, and we got our asses to that castle.
Upon arriving to Munich, we spent the night at our AirBNB host’s boyfriend’s place before her’s was ready. HUGE S/O Carsten for being such a homie and for friending us on Facebook and sharing his beer with us :’) With his help, Carsten helped us plan the following day. The day of Christine’s dreams. The Castle Day.
It was incredibly easy, but honestly, that is probably because Munich is such a well built and organized city. From Carsten’s place, we hopped on the S-Bahn and took it to Marienplatz. In Marienplatz, we stopped for breakfast at Woerner’s (Check out München Through Munich for some more on that!). From Marienplatz, you needed to get to the main central train station and stop at Hauptbahnhof Central Station. Although, I’d make sure you have a lot of time when you get there so you can avoid sprinting through the train station like a moron and making your train with 30 seconds to spare. ha. good times.
Be smarter than us, please. ?
Once you’re on the train, though, its a piece of cake. In two hours, you get off the train and hop on a bus, the 170 to be exact, for 5 minutes until the first stop. From there, you head up the hill and go to the ticket office to buy your tour for the Castle.
After, there’s nowhere else to go but up! 40 minutes, give or take, up. The little trek is absolutely stunning, it was a true winter wonderland and I was in awe at how beautiful the snow glittered and clung to the branches above our heads.
The view took my breath away, and I couldn’t stop smiling. I looked up and realized it had started to snow.
A flurry landed on my nose, and I felt like I was in a fairytale
The only way to get into the Castle is to buy a ticket for one of two tours — audio or with a walking guide. I’ve done both, and in my opinion, the audio is completely sufficient and a tour is definitely necessary since the inside is so beautiful. The castle is extremely colorful and surprises you whenever you enter a new room. The ornate decor, wood carvings, and intense colors, especially King Ludwig’s favorite color Royal Blue, really makes this castle unlike any other. Not to mention there is a legitimate grotto inside the castle, which was absurdly bizarre and epic at the same time. I sneaked one photo inside until the guards poked my back and said “No no, no photos, no no.” ?
Although the castle is beautiful and we all swooned and felt like Disney princesses for the day (Cinderella, Belle, and Elsa respectively), my favorite part of this day was a little dangerous and involves breaking some rules.
If you’re into breaking rules, which you should be because that’s how you get to see the best things I’ve decided, then you should 100% do this.
Once you exit the castle, look to your left. You’ll see a metal fence that blocks off the side of the castle. It is decorated in many aggressive signs basically saying Danger, Keep out, Beware, blah blah blah. Beside this metal gate, is a low wooden fence that fences you in from not falling down a portion of the mountain.
See this? Well, then you’re in the right spot.
Two guys in front of us slipped below the wooden fence, and I followed. Christine held my purse as I held onto the top of the fence and slithered my body underneath it and placed my foot on one of the rocks below. Once you have your footing, grab the tree next to you and slip your body under the same wooden fence, but on the other side of the metal fence that blocks this passageway.
Cool, hardest part is done! Now, walk this path all the way to the top and keep smiling as you maneuver your body around about 5 more metal fences that say the usual Danger, Illegal, Keep Out, blah blah blah.
Soon, you’ll reach the bridge. It’s rickety, old, and it’s incredible freezing since you are so high up, but none of it matters when you look down, around, and see the whole castle in all its beauty. Staring us down, it looked even bigger than I had thought.
Even though when we started to head back down the mountain my foot caught some ice and I completely ate shit, the day was beautiful. As I sat in the snow post the least graceful fall that mountain has ever seen, I couldn’t stop laughing and I couldn’t care less. I was in one of the most beautiful places with some of the best people.
P.S Everything at the castle closes circa 5 pm. Get there early, and make sure to get the donuts on the way up. We missed them and we still regret it today. RIP.