GERMANY – Schwangau
Schwangau is a municipality in the district of Ostallgäu in Bavaria, Germany. The village lies 4 km from the larger town of Füssen and just 1.5 km from Hohenschwangau, collection of tourist-oriented facilities adjacent to the major tourist attractions of Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau. – wikipedia
Schwangau has no rail service and aside from renting a car, Bus Bavaria is a great mode of transport to get you there. We booked a tour through Mikes Bike Tours / Bus Bavaria / Bike Rentals to visit Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. If you plan to visit these castle and think you will save a euro or two by standing in the line to get tickets – MISTAKE. The lines are so long and if it is warm, there isn’t any shade to stand in.
We went on the Summer Neuschwanstein Castle Tour by Bus (with bike ride). At €59 ea for adults, it was well worth it. Bus travel to and from Munich, bike ride, plus you skip the lines when you arrive! Super simple to book online and no hassle at all. We were able to walk to their office from our hotel to get on the bus.
The Bike Ride
The bike ride was easy over generally flat terrain. We peddled out to a lake; stopped for a bit so people could take a dip if they wanted and then headed back to where we started for lunch at Schloss Brauhaus.
A clip from the bike tour. Ryan, our guide, was explaining a bit about the castle and why it is still standing today. The audio is poor, you need to really turn up the sound to hear it – sorry.
Lunch
Schloss Brauhaus was very good. The cold beer was very welcome after the leisurely bike ride through the Bavarian countryside. The lunch we had at their outdoor beer garden was tasty too.
Neuschwanstein Castle
Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and in honor of Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.
The castle was intended as a home for the king, until he died in 1886. It was open to the public shortly after his death. Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer. – wikipedia
After lunch we hopped on the bus for the castle tour. You do not actually have to do the tour. You can walk all around the castles without doing the tour. Some of the people that were on the bus with us that took the castle tour said they learned more about the castles on the bike ride than they did with the castle tour.
Hohenschwangau Castle
We did not walk around this castle as there wasn’t time.
Hohenschwangau Castle is a 19th-century palace in southern Germany. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. It is located in the German village of Hohenschwangau near the town of Füssen, part of the county of Ostallgäu in southwestern Bavaria, Germany, very close to the border with Austria. – wikipedia
Bus Bavaria
I am sure all of Mikes Bike Tour guides are great; Ryan was exceptional!
Dinner back in Munich
As luck would have it, the bus went right by our hotel coming back into Munich. We arrived back in time for dinner. Munchen Stubn was a block away from our hotel. I highly recommend the Munchen Stubn Board and the Allgau Cheese Spaetzle. Both very delicious. the board was smoked kaminwurzen (semi-dried
sausage), blackened smoked pork, cold roast, coarse liverwurst, Tegernsee mountain cheese, obazda, leberkas and herbed cream cheese. Served with crunchy radishes and beer radish, pretzel stick with chives, assorted breads, a pretzel and tub butter. The spaetlze was two kinds of cheese, homemade fried onions and chives. A great meal to top off the day.
