Ludwig II spent seventeen years building Neuschwanstein and slept in it for about eleven nights. He was declared insane and deposed in June 1886, died in a lake two days later in circumstances still argued about, and the castle he had built as a private retreat was opened to paying visitors within six weeks of his death.
It was never a medieval castle. It was a nineteenth-century fantasy of one, built with a steel frame, central heating, running water on every floor and a telephone line, designed by a theatre set designer rather than an architect. Around 1.4 million people a year now visit a building its owner wanted nobody to see.
Tickets are timed, sold through a single booking system, and the tour lasts about thirty-five minutes with no lingering. Book online well ahead; turning up is not a plan in summer.
The mountains behind it
Garmisch-Partenkirchen sits below the Zugspitze, Germany's highest point at 2,962 metres, reachable by a rack railway through the mountain and by cable car. The two villages were forcibly merged in 1935 for the Winter Olympics and still resent it slightly.
Berchtesgaden, in the eastern corner almost surrounded by Austria, has the Königssee — a fjord-like lake where the tour boats are electric and have been since 1909, so the only sound is the oars and a trumpeter who plays at the cliff face to demonstrate the echo.
The Tegernsee and the Bavarian lakes, an hour from Munich, are where the city's money keeps second houses.
Mittenwald and the Karwendel, on the Austrian border, are violin-making country and quieter than anywhere else on this list.
The eight below are grouped that way.
Garmisch and the Werdenfelser Land
Below the Zugspitze.
Schloss Elmau occupies a large estate at Krün between Garmisch and Mittenwald, with two concert halls, four spas, a bookshop and a programme of chamber music and literary festivals. It has hosted two G7 summits and it is unlike any other hotel in Europe.
Schloss Elmau
Krün, Werdenfelser Land · 5★ · $$$$
Two concert halls, four spas and a literary programme
Check availabilityDas Kranzbach sits nearby in an Arts and Crafts house built in 1913 by an Englishwoman, with a glass-roofed hall, a spa and a policy of no children, no televisions and no music in the public rooms.
Das Kranzbach
Krün · 5★ · $$$$
A 1913 Arts and Crafts house with no children and no televisions
Check availabilityHotel Sonnenbichl occupies a Bavarian villa above Garmisch with painted façades, a garden and the Zugspitze in the window.
Hotel Sonnenbichl
Above Garmisch · 4★ · $$$
A painted Bavarian villa with the Zugspitze in the window
Check availabilityRiessersee Hotel sits by the Riessersee above the town with a small lake, a terrace and a family operation.
Riessersee Hotel
Riessersee, Garmisch · 4★ · $$
A small lake and a terrace, family-run
Check availabilityNeuschwanstein and the Allgäu
The castle country, west.
Ameron Neuschwanstein Alpsee Resort & Spa occupies a position at Hohenschwangau with rooms facing the castles across the Alpsee, and it is the closest you can sleep to Ludwig's building.
Ameron Neuschwanstein Alpsee Resort & Spa
Hohenschwangau · 4★ · $$$
The closest rooms to Ludwig's castle, across the Alpsee
Check availabilitySonnenalp Resort sits at Ofterschwang in the Allgäu on a family estate running since 1919, with golf, a very large spa and full family facilities.
Sonnenalp Resort
Ofterschwang, Allgäu · 5★ · $$$$
A family estate since 1919 with golf and a very large spa
Check availabilityTegernsee and Murnau
The lakes, an hour from Munich.
Bachmair Weissach occupies a position on the Tegernsee shore with a spa, a beer garden, a restaurant with a star and a design that is Bavarian without being a costume.
Bachmair Weissach
Tegernsee · 5★ · $$$$
A starred kitchen and a beer garden on the lake shore
Check availabilityAlpenhof Murnau sits above Murnau in an Art Nouveau house with a park, a spa and views to the Alps across the moor that Kandinsky painted.
Alpenhof Murnau
Murnau · 4★ · $$$
An Art Nouveau house above the moor Kandinsky painted
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The Gasthöfe and Pensionen across the Bavarian villages are excluded. They are the traditional way to stay in this landscape, with a beer garden downstairs and a fraction of the price. They are inns rather than hotels.
What to do
Book Neuschwanstein online before you travel, and see Hohenschwangau next door, which is where Ludwig actually grew up and is the more human building.
Go up the Zugspitze by the rack railway and down by the cable car, or the reverse, and note that the summit is often in cloud.
Take the boat on the Königssee to St Bartholomä, and listen to the trumpeter at the echo wall, which sounds like a gimmick and is genuinely remarkable.
Walk the Partnachklamm gorge at Garmisch, a 700-metre ravine with a path cut into the rock wall, open year round and spectacular when frozen.
Eat and drink properly: Weisswurst before noon, as tradition insists, and the beer gardens where you may bring your own food and buy only the beer.
Practical notes
Munich is ninety minutes from Garmisch and two hours from Berchtesgaden, with trains to both. Innsbruck is an hour south over the border.
Summer is the walking season and busiest at the castles. Winter has skiing at Garmisch and the Christmas markets. May, June, September and October are the best balance.
Neuschwanstein parking is well below the castle and access is uphill by foot, bus or horse carriage. Allow more time than you think.
Every hotel bookable in the Bavarian Alps
Questions people actually ask
Did Ludwig live at Neuschwanstein?
Barely. Around eleven nights across seventeen years of building, and it opened to visitors weeks after his death.
How do you get castle tickets?
Timed slots through one official booking system, online and well ahead. Same-day availability is unreliable in season.
Garmisch or Berchtesgaden?
Garmisch for the Zugspitze and the castles. Berchtesgaden for the Königssee and a quieter corner.
How many nights?
Five. Two for the castles and three in the mountains.