The Details of Our Day
Neuschwanstein: The Details of Our Day
Welcome to the Neuschwanstein Castle tour! I am very happy you are here and will do my best to make this a wonderful and memorable day. If you have questions, please feel free to ask me. If needed, you can use a translator app on your phone to help us communicate.
Here is our plan for the day:
· We ride on the bus for about two hours from Munich to the village of Hohenschwangau near the Austrian border. This is where the castle is located.
· After about 25 minutes, we stop for the bathroom. The bathroom costs €0.70 (cash).
· We should arrive in Hohenschwangau at about 11:30am.
· When we arrive, we will go to a snack shop that I call “The Spot”. This is also where we will meet again at the end of our day. At the snack shop you can:
o Use the bathroom.
o Eat a quick lunch.
o Get cash from a money machine.
· After our time at the snack shop, we meet again at the corner across from Hotel Müller.
o There, I will give everyone their castle entry tickets.
o As today is the day of the "Almabtrieb" (when Bavarians parade the cattle down the mountain), we all will be walking up to the castle.
· We plan to be at the side of the castle where the four flag poles are by 2pm.
o I will explain the castle visit and show you how to return to the village after the tour.
· Your castle entry time is between 2:25 pm and 2:55 pm. Please check your ticket for the exact time.
· Inside the castle, a State of Bavaria guide leads the 30-minute tour.
· After the guided tour, you can explore:
o Two gift shops.
o A balcony with a view.
o A café.
o A historical film.
o The castle kitchen.
· Most people finish around 3:30 to 4 pm. Then you will have a little more free time. With the free time, you can go back down the mountain and visit the village. To go down the mountain, you
o Walk down the mountain on a paved road (it takes 25minutes), or
o Ride the horse-drawn carriage down the mountain
§ The carriage stop is on the road below the castle.
§ You pay the carriage driver 4€, cash, to ride the carriage down the mountain.
§ The carriage ride takes 20 to 25 minutes to come down the mountain, but the amount of wait time before boarding a carriage is unpredictable.
§ It is best to be at the carriage stop no later than 3:30pm to be assured of getting down the mountain in time.
o Back in the village of Hohenschwangau, you can:
o Walk to the other castle, whose gardens you can visit
o Walk along a beautiful alpine lake
o Visit a beer garden (the best one is the last one on the left on the way to the lake)
· We meet again at The Spot (the snack shop) at 5pm.
· We take the bus back to Munich (no bathroom stop planned on the return trip).
· We should arrive in Munich at about 6:45pm, depending on traffic.
· If you need to reach me during the day, call or text: +49 162 768 4984.
I look forward to sharing this special experience with you!
Thomas
