https://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/tourist/index.htm Archives

Peak Bavaria on a different scale

4th July 2025 funtime65

Oh It’s a sleeping beauty all right but Neuschwanstein Castle and its sister citadels are peak Bavaria on a different scale.

No need to feel self-conscious if you find yourself running up the 656ft hill in excitement to see the castle which inspired Walt Disney.

As one wide-Scot did on a much-storied Munich Beerfest Top Deck break 40 years ago.

Sending leisurely visitors diving for cover.

Scaling the heights

Fast forward 35 years and a new generation or maybe the same, only older, are still looking over their shoulders.

And asking for a safe word as the same Scot slides by.

Slipping on the Alpine limestone en route to Germany’s highest mountain Zugspitze.

Only this time the older bones won‘t carry me up and der mountain is near 10,000ft high.

And besides the cable cars afford the best views and there are surprises aplenty atop including circulating toilets.

Going solo

If fairytale castles and lands are your thing then our friends at Solo Holidays have a new seven-day tour through Bavaria.

With Neuschwanstein Castle the centrepoint and a visit to its neighbour, Schloss Hohenschwangau.

Before heading up to Zugspitze.

Travellers will also discover the elegance of Linderhof Palace, the Ettal Monastery.

And take a boat trip across Lake Chiemsee to explore the grand Herrenchiemsee Palace.

The tour ends in Berchtesgaden with a visit to the Eagle’s Nest.

Fairytale ending

The six-nightGermany Bavarian Fairytales, Castles and Mountains trip departs May 14, costing £2,999pp.

It includes return flights and transfers, airport taxes & charges, breakfast daily, two dinners, welcome drink.

Room for solo occupancy, entry to Neuschwanstein Castle, Schloss Hohenschwangau, Linderhof Palace and Ettal Monastery.

A cruise to Herreninsel, a visit to Berchtesgaden and the Eagle’s Nest and an accompanying Solos Tour Leader.   

It’s peak Bavaria on a different scale.

Countries, Europe

Real Disney Beauties in Europe

11th September 202411th September 2024 funtime65

There were few castles or kings and queens for Walt Disney to base his on in America… so he chose real Disney Beauties in Europe.

Many of our Disney favourites were cribbed from fairytale and folklore, often grisly, from the Old World.

And they are front and centre around the Disney world and particularly so this Halloween.

And while, of course, it is a tale as old as time Disney never tires of telling it, nor we to hear it.

Which is why we alighted on the Mischief Makers’ body popping in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Paris.

As part of Mickey’s Halloween Celebration.

Halloween tale as old as time

Light the flame: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

All of which will be in your programme in your Cassidy Travel Autumn getaway.

Cassidy are offering a three-night package with flight from October 29, staying at the 4* Relais Spa Chessy Hotel

From €2,769 for two adults, two kids.

Now, of course, anyone who is going to Disney is already a big kid.

A Disney pilgrimage

And we are already familiar with the Real Disney Beauties in Europe which for many is their doorstep.

But, France is the spiritual home to the OG Beauty and the Beast.

As the magnus opus of 18th Century French writer Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve

And so a Halloween visit here is something of a pilgrimage.

While for visitors from other continents, or even within ours.

You can also walk through the original Disney Castle, the Wonderful World of Disney’s Neuschwanstein, in Bavaria in Germany.

Or in the case of one excitable Disney fan, enjoying a break from Oktoberfest, run up the hill to it.

Countries, Culture, Europe

Leave royals in fairytales

6th May 2023 funtime65

An insight on the jamboree that is the Coronation of Charles Windsor in Britain by a German grandee beloved in these parts… leave royals in fairytales.

Of course Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, was more diplomatic.

But he did concede that in his home country people viewed far-off royal spectacles as fairytale or Hollywood.

Germany, like many of the 159 republics in the world, has emerged from monarchies.

While keeping and showcasing palaces for tourists who love a fairytale.

Gold Swan

Neuschwanstein in Bavaria falls into that category.

With the castle on a hill so dazzling Walt Disney that he copied it for Disney Castle.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria had a thing for swans as well as other pecadilloes and he put that stamp on everything around the New Swan Castle.

And most importantly in his bedstead.

But alas he was unable to avail of it all, dying before it was all finished.

And we imagine his passing was a thing of over-the-top theatrical and balletic beauty, a la a dying swan.

Of course, Neuschwanstein is far from the only once-royal palace which still draws the visitors…

More than 61 million people have visited since 1869.

And more than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer.

Including this refugee from the Munich Beerfest who worked off his hangover by excitedly running up the hill.

Very Versailles

Versailles was the jewel in the French crown but once the people of France decided that it should be used for the state rather than some bling for their king it became a much-visited tourist spot.

While its own people can enjoy the great works of art and settings with free exhibitions and displays.

And so until October 31st, you can enjoy the musical gardens and the Great Musical Waters in the gardens and groves.

Every Saturday evening from 10 June to 23 September, Friday 14 July and Tuesday 15 August, discover the Gardens in the evening.

With the The Night Fountains Show.

While the Sculptures and Mouldings Gallery in the Small Stables is also free to you and me from 12.30pm to 6.30pm every Saturday and Sunday.

Your carriage awaits

Now if you’ve been looking through your fingers at the UK royal show today.

You’ll have witnessed the slowest vehicle in London, the royal carriage.

Guess what though… in Paris you can get up close and personal for free.

Located in the the Great Stables , the Gallery of Coaches is open every weekend afternoons from 12.30pm to 6.30pm.

Of course all of this is run by us, and not by royal decree, or when we say us it’s really the French people.

Viva La Revolution

And a reminder of who is in charge is brought home to you in the Royal Tennis court, the birthplace of French democracy.

All of which is linked to an important episode of the Revolution. Every weekend from May to October from 12:30pm to 6:30pm (last admission at 17:45).

Of course, it will be likely a long, long time before it’s Game, Set and Match for the British monarch, if at all.

But for the day that’s in it wouldn’t it be better to leave royals in fairytales and enjoy your favourite Disney film.

Countries, Europe, Ireland, UK

Where is Ireland on this jigsaw?

8th December 20218th December 2021 funtime65

And they’ve been a revival stories of Covid… but where is Ireland on this jigsaw?

You see it’s something that gets us out of ourselves and travel.

All when our leaders have us all shut down.

Only some manufacturers (let’s call them Gibsons) still seem to have a British empirical view of the world.

Despite Ireland having broken from the British yoke 100 years next year.

Although the new state of Northern Ireland remained (and still remains) loyal.

Jiggery-pokery

I was stopped in my tracks this week when browsing the shelves in the retail park.

And I discovered that we we were back in 1921.

With the two words United Kingdom spanning these two islands.

For some, unfortunately too many, it’ll be pedantry on my part.

But it’s lazy, dismissive, erroneous and outdated.

And to project a hypothetical would it be as easily brushed over were there to be a jigsaw on sale with the UK still in Europe?

To be fair I’d probably buy that!

Where in the world?

Loose geography has long been a bone of contention.

Probably since my primary school days.

When we would be given a borderless map and tested on where countries and capitals should be.

Growing up in the UK’s northern country, Scotland, was a challenge too.

And not just because of the weather, religious regression and our misfiring football team.

No, because Britain, that’s Scotland,England and Wales, being abbreviated in conversation on TV to England.

The UK you ask? Well, that’s when Northern Ireland gets included.

Also while we’re here, can somebody look at scrapping the British Isles topographical misnomer?

A new world

Get the Braai on: Port Elizabeth township, South Africa

Because we have caught up with post-colonial name changes around the world.

Although we do appreciate that it is a constant updating exercise.

With my old favourite Port Elizabeth in South Africa now needing to be changed to Gqberha.

It wasn’t all bad on my shopping expedition though for a helium canister for balloons (party at ours!).

The great erections

Barcelona prayers: At La Sagrada Familia

Next to the world and a jigsaw of Britain was a collection of great 3-D erections (steady!) from Revell.

There was Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria.

And those of a certain age will remember it from the credits of Wonderful World of Disney.

Me, it was running up its hill to clear my boozy Oktoberfest head.

La Sagrada Familia I visited during the height of a European heatwave a couple of years ago.

And the joke would be that you would never be able to finish it!

The Tower of London sits alongside it on the shelf.

Although I can’t confirm whether they had intended to give us London Bridge but it kept falling down.

Last but not least is the Colosseum.

And yes, you’ll want to check that there are no missing pieces.

When Ireland was my world

Final piece of the jigsaw: With Laurie in Malahide

And so after collecting the photographic evidence and brazening it out as the stern-eyed shop assistant restocked…

In time-honoured fashion I made my excuses and left.

And on my return home I rummaged through the garage for an old jigsaw with a fond memory.

Where is Ireland on this jigsaw?

It was in fact our whole world then.