Munich castle tours?

[johndekay]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone knows of any good tours of munich castles? I am interest in seeing Herrenchiemsee and neuschwanstein however most tour groups only go through one of the two...

Thanks!

[me]

FYI John, these aren't in Munich.

Prien am Chiemsee is 50 miles away, and Füssen is 80 miles from Munich.

johndekay said:

I was wondering if anyone knows of any good tours of munich castles? I am interest in seeing Herrenchiemsee and neuschwanstein however most tour groups only go through one of the two...

[Eagle]

johndekay, I'm not too familiar with Herrenchiemsee, so don't have any information on tours. However, I used Radius Tours for Neuschwanstein & Hohenschwangau. The service was great and I would certainly recommend them!

Check www.radiusmunich.com for further information and current prices. The office is in the Munich train station so it's easy to access, however I'd recommend booking as soon as you know the dates you'll be there, as the tours sometimes book up quickly. I booked as soon as I arrived in Munich.

Good luck and happy travels!

[freshsprout]

I think Neuschwannstein has a couple of smaller castles nearby - one which is on the same country road, if I recall. Definitely recommend checking out this castle b/c there aren't as many significant architectural sites in southern Germany.

But if you can, I would highly recommend you go check out the town of Heidelberg. (It might have been a 1 1/2 to 2 hr drive, don't remember since my German friends were driving me there. Or you can take a train from Munich, I'm sure) Heidelberg is so cute and was by far, my most fav. spot in Southern Germany... it's a really old town with cobblestone walkways, small villas, restaurants and shops.. very picturesque. There is a beautiful main castle in (mostly in ruins now) Heidelberg walking distance from the town centre and you can take a tram up to it, where you can get a beautiful shot of the village.

[me]

FYI: Neuschwannstein is the fairy tale castle used as a model for Disneyland theme park. Ludwig II, aka "Mad King Ludwig," had it built to his specifications, to honor the fantasy world of Wagner's operas. [the Bavarians hated the onerous taxes they were paying to build Ludwig's castles]

before Neuschwannstein was even finished, Ludwig was declared insane.

Heidelberg is 3+ hours away from Munich, by train or car. there is a nice castle there, but the city is best known for Heidelberg University, Ruprecht Karls University founded in 1386, one of Europe's oldest educational institutes.

[freshsprout]

It's 3 hours? Wow... maybe my friend was driving really fast on the Autobahn. You know how that is in Germany..

Didn't they say Ludwig may have committed suicide or someone may have murdered him for all of those taxes?

[me]

freshsprout said:

It's 3 hours? Wow... maybe my friend was driving really fast on the Autobahn. You know how that is in Germany..

perhaps, or maybe you were enjoying yourself so much that the time flew by?

freshsprout said:

Didn't they say Ludwig may have committed suicide or someone may have murdered him for all of those taxes?

Ludwig's death was mysterious. the facts & theories don't add up.

what's really odd is that his family stopped the investigation into his death.

- d

[madamtrashheap]

Herrenchiemsee is a beautiful place and really good to see if you've been (or are going) to Versailles as it was designed to be Ludwig's very own Versailles, complete with moveable orange groves and Hall of Mirrors.

If you can find a tour that encompasses Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau and Herrenchiemsee (with Lindau thrown in!) then it will be worth taking, despite being a long day. Otherwise, to get there you'll have to do as David suggests and get from Munich to Prien (train is around 60mins) then catch the ferry to Herreninsel in the middle of of the Chiemsee (Chiem Lake). Have a look here www.herrenchiemsee.de/englisch/n_palace/index.htm for more information.