Winter in Bavaria: Hiking to Neushwanstein Castle

We woke up early and had a really nice breakfast in the hotel in Munich. We then packed our bags and made our way to the train station. We were headed to Füssen.

To read about the first part of this trip, click here.

It took a couple of hours to get there, and the whole train ride we watched the landscape get hillier and snowier! By the time we got there, there was a fresh inch or two of snow everywhere, which was absolutely beautiful.

When we got into town, we had to figure out where to keep our suitcases. Because the train station was under construction and the tourist office didn't store luggage, we were in a bit of a pickle. It turns out Hotel Sonne will store luggage for about 2 euros a bag. It was definitely worth it and made us so much flexible for the rest of the day.

When we got our bags stored, we went to find lunch. We continued our Asian theme with some Chinese food. It's probably the only Chinese restaurant for miles, and it was a bit funny to be in a small, scenic Bavarian town eating Chinese food.

After lunch, we explored the town. It so pretty!

We did end up getting a little bored, so we wandered a bit out of town. While walking, we noticed a hiking trail that went to a lake, so we followed it. It was a bit more strenuous than I thought it would be, but it was definitely worth it. A few miles later, we ended up spotting Hoheshwangau Castle and a pretty beautiful frozen lake.

We walked along there for a while, and then ended up taking the paved road back into town, because it was shorter and flatter! When we got back into town, we found a cafe and took a long break. We had really nice tea and some sort of German berry tart. Whatever it was, it was delicious.

After our break, we collected our bags and went to check in to our hotel, which was just across the border in Pinswang, Austria. We took a taxi and it took us only about 10 minutes to get there. It was a bit of a novelty for us staying technically in a different country, so we were amused.

We checked into our hotel and they ended up bringing us our dinner to our room because the kitchen was technically closed. We had soup, cheese, bread, and some meats. I think the amount of food they gave us could have served 5! We ended up eating that food for the next two days before we finished it all. But we had another early night, since we had spent the day mostly walking around.

The next morning, we had breakfast bright and early and left the hotel before 9 to begin our hike. The plan for the day was to walk to Neushwanstein Castle, which is only about three or four miles from Pinswang if you walk. So we set out with only vague direction from the woman who worked at the hotel.

We walked through one of the most magical and wintry forests I have ever seen. It looked like it belonged in a fairy tale. It was also so quiet that when we stopped talking, there was absolutely no noise.

Eventually we did make it to Shwansee, which is the lake below the castle. We walked around the lake and eventually made it to the town where you buy tickets for the castle. Because it was winter, there was no line and we got tickets for the next tour. We took the horse-drawn carriage up to the top of the hill where the castle is and we finally got our first view of the castle. It was so foggy, we hadn't been able to see it until we were pretty much at the castle.

We ate our lunch right outside the castle while waiting for our tour, and then we headed in. I was a little disappointed that the tour was so short, but apparently only about 1/3 of the rooms are finished, so those are the rooms in the tour. It is extremely elegant and beautiful, and there's so much art. Unfortunately, the tour goes too quickly to really stop and see the paintings and sculptures that are absolutely everywhere in the castle. But it was really interesting to see the inside.

After the tour, we headed back into the little town and had tea at the big hotel by the lake. We thawed out and prepared to walk back to our hotel.

By the time we started walking back to the hotel, the fog and clouds had cleared a bit, so the views were absolutely amazing!

After a long day of walking, we headed back to the hotel to rest, only to decide a few minutes later that we wanted to head back out and explore Pinswang. It turned out to be a really great idea, because we ended up going in their main church there and it was absolutely stunning!

When we went back to the hotel, we ate dinner, and then went back to our room for a quiet evening.

The next day was our last day in the area. We spent the morning doing the exact same hike as the day before, because the weather forecast said it was going to be sunny, but it never did clear up while we were there. It looked the same as before. But we got to say goodbye to the lake and the castles, and then we headed into Fussen.

We pretty much went straight to the train station and went back to Munich.

To see what we did Munich, read the about the last part of the trip here.