Snowy Day at Neuschwanstein Castle

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to study abroad in Greece this semester, and since I finished earlier than the semester in the States, I had a couple of weeks to travel with some friends I met while I was abroad. Traveling around Europe with friends has been a dream of mine ever since I heard my mother tell stories of her days backpacking the world when she was younger, so I can’t believe it’s finally happening. 

The first stop on our travels from Greece was Munich, and we arrived to lots of snow falling despite it being the beginning of April. Being from California I don’t have a lot of experience with snow, and I’d never traveled in the snow except for ski vacations, so this was a new experience for me. From Munich, we decided to take a day trip out to the Neuschwanstein castle which was absolutely incredible. This is the place Walt Disney used as inspiration for the Cinderella castle, and I’m sure you’ve probably seen it at one time or another in pictures. I’ve seen photos of the castle on many Instagram pages but never knew it was located near Munich until I started doing some research. The castle is about 2 hours outside of Munich, so if you wish to pay a visit I recommend booking a tour, there are a number of good ones on Tripadvisor, or renting a car to drive around yourself. We opted for the tour option and ended up stopping at the other palace from the king who built Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, before heading out further to Neuschwanstein. Linderhof was quite small but gorgeous inside and beautifully decorated, but the real jewel of the trip was the famous Neuschwanstein castle. 

While I had initially dreamed of arriving at Neuschwanstein during the summer months when the forest around the castle would be green and lively, visiting in the snow ended up making it feel just like a fairytale. When we arrived in the town where the castle is located we were informed we would have to take the 40-minute walk up the hill to reach the castle. We were also informed that the famous bridge associated with the castle, Mary’s Bridge, which provides the best vantage point for photos, was closed due to the snow. I was devastated by this news. I couldn’t imagine traveling all the way to the castle only to not get any good photos (a little basic I know), so I was determined to make it up to that bridge. I asked the friends who I was traveling with if they would be up for the adventure, and a couple of them said yes. Despite numerous signs about the bridge being closed, we attempted to take a shortcut hoping to get around the barrier blocking the bridge. We set off up a snowy path which began at the beginning of the paved path up to the castle. The snowy path ended up being a steep climb up the hill. I had decided to wear boots because of the snow, but my friends were not so lucky and ended up getting their shoes soaked. After about 20 minutes of hiking up the path, which was much more difficult than I had expected, we finally reached the top. 

Hiking Path Covered in Snow (this was one of the flattest parts)

At this point, there were three possible paths for us to talk, two of which had a barrier blocking the way. We asked another group of people ducking under the barricades where they had come from, and they told us that one of the paths led to the castle. We decided to go down the one path not blocked off and ended up with a view through the trees to the castle with the bridge in front. This was the first I had seen of the castle in real life and I was stunned by its beauty. We took a couple of photos and one of my friends fell into a snow pile while trying to get a few pics, but I thought we could do better. 

View of Neuschwanstein Castle with Mary’s Bridge above

We headed back up to the top of the hill and decided to duck under the barricade with the bridge sign on it. Don’t worry there were multiple sets of footprints to show us the way others had previously also disobeyed the rules that day. We walked up the path to find the bridge with a huge gate in the way, so there was no way we could possibly get on it. Very disappointed, we started to walk back down the path towards the barrier we had ducked under when we came across a family stumbling down the side of the hill in the woods completely off the path. I noticed that the part of the hill they had come down was on the other side of the fence with a “danger to life” sign above it. My friends and I looked at each other. We had already come this far, and at this point all of us were determined to get a better view of the castle. We all decided it was worth it, ducked under the fence, and headed up the very steep and very slippery section of the woods. I wouldn’t even call this a path, but I was determined to get a view of the castle. After stumbling up the hill and clinging to a few trees we finally made it to the most epic unhindered view of the castle. It was stunning and made the entire exhausting journey worth it. The viewpoint was on the edge of the cliff so I understand why we passed three danger signs. We quickly took our photos, trying not to wander too close to the edge, and then started our walk down. 

Unhindered View of Neushwanstein Castle

Turns out the trip back down our little made-up path was even more slippery than the way up and both my friends ended up falling in the snow and but-scooting themselves down the steepest part. We then ducked back under the barricade and ended up on the main path. From there we walked around the second barricade and headed off toward the castle. Not surprisingly right before we reached the castle we ran into yet another barricade and had to walk down another slippery hill that left both my friends covered in snow. We finally ended up at the castle, covered in snow, looking a little crazy, and very happy with our adventure. 

View to the Back of the Castle through the Woods

We met up with the rest of our tour group and spent the next hour exploring the castle and its gorgeous interior. I particularly enjoyed the throne room and ballroom. After our tour, we headed back down the hill, this time on the paved road which was much much easier than our climb up, and ended up on the bus back to Munich where we promptly fell asleep exhausted from our adventures. If you’re ever planning a trip to Munich I highly recommend taking the trip out to Neuschwanstein. It was truly an incredible experience. While my friends and I did disobey a couple of rules during our adventure, it ended up being quite a good bit of fun, and there were lots of other people ducking under the barricades right alongside us. I can’t wait to share more stories from my European backpacking adventures with you so stay tuned!