Bavaria castles

These castles are hardly medieval. Hohenschwangau was built in the early 1800s by Ludwig II's father on the site of an earlier castle. Lugwig built Neuschwanstein and Linderhof in the second half of the 19th century. I'm not saying you shouldn't see these castles, just understand what they really are.

A castle that dates back much farther is Burghausen, NE of Munich, which was built almost a thousand years ago.

Another very old castles is Harburg, on the Romantic Road between Donaueshingen and Nördlingen.

Oberammergau is a good base for visiting Lugwig's castles. It's only about a half hour from Oberammergau to Linderhof or less than 2 hours from Oberammergau to Hohenschwangau (and Lugwig's castles), all by bus.

Rick Steves' favorite castle "in ALL of Europe" is Burg Eltz.... I'd say try for that one! We've been to many castles but not that one yet & it is on our list. It's been left intact for 700 years & is decorated as it was 500 years ago, he says. Very gorgeous - check it out.

If it is Medieval/Renaissance castles you want, see Nuremberg Castle built in 1050, Trausnitz Castle built in 1204, Burghausen Castle built in 1255, and Neuburg Palace built in 1502.

Two good places to stay in Fuessen are Hotel Sonne ( www.hotel-fuessen.de/en/ ) and Landhaus Koessel
www.landhaus-koessel.de/en/

The places on your list are all relatively modern palatial residences. Neuschwanstein, like Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty castle, was built by Ludwig II (1845 - 1886) of Bavaria to resemble a medieval castle and was fleshed out by a theatrical set designer. It's owner and creator, King Ludwig II, moved in to his shiny new, unfinished faux castle just 6 months before his death. And that was that. It was nearly 1900 when construction work on Neuschwanstein ended; shortly after that it was turned into a tourist attraction. Also shortly after Ludwig's demise, Walt Disney was born (1901) and a few decades later came up with Fantasyland; nowadays tourists and Disney fans get pretty excited about visiting N'stein, which was one of Disney's inspirational sources for Sleeping Beauty's castle. But it's a 30-minute tour of dubious interest, IMO.

Genuine medieval castles in Bavaria are few and scattered about. But visitors today can find dozens of them in one spot by taking a trip to the Middle Rhine Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where castles played a major role in European history for centuries. Check out the map, information and videos at THIS PAGE. From Munich you can reach Bingen, at the beginning of the Rhine Valley, in less than 5 hours; there are a couple of afternoon train departures per day that take only 4.25 hours, one of them direct. It's worth the trip.

Scene near Bingen
Day cruises on the Rhine
Two castles that are easy to reach and can be toured: Rheinfels Castle and Marksburg Castle

Burg Eltz near the Mosel River: homepage

Define "the Bavaria area". Bavaria is the largest federal state in Germany. The northern part of the state tends to have more old castles, but if by "the Bavaria area" you meant just southern Bavaria around Munich and southwards to the Alps, the list wouldn't run as long. Others have already mentioned Burg zu Burghausen and Burg Trausnitz, these are both excellent recommendations (although most of Burg Trausnitz was rebuilt after a fire in the 1960s.)

Someone asked a similar question a week or so ago.

The oldest Bavarian "castle" I know of is Burg zu Wörth in Donauwörth, later know as Mangoldstein, built in 900 AD. But it is just a pile of rocks now.

BTW, Burg Eltz is NOWHERE near Bavaria!

Thank you for your replies. Yes I realize those castles I mentioned are more modern and during my research, I realized I'd much rather see true medieval castles and not those. I had my itinerary set on that, but now am having a hard time rearranging to visit the Rhine River area with all those castles. We are flying into Prague for a few days, then spending 1 day in Cesky krumlov, then hopping to go to Salzburg for a 1-2 days then after that going to Rothenburg and was going to come back down to Munich. Now I want to add in the Rhine River Valley area, but we do have to make our way back down to Munich as we fly out of there. I think I plan to skip the Neuschwanstein, altogether this time. My day to Salzburg can be flexible and maybe just do a day trip from Munich if I decide to somehow go straight to the Rhine area from Cesky Krumlov. However, I don't if that could work. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can have about 3 days in the Rhine area.

You need not travel all the way to the Mittelrhein to see some great examples of castle architecture. As noted, northern Bavaria and most of Baden-Wurttemberg have plenty of specimens... I would write more, but I'm about to hop on a plane from Toronto to Germany....

Hi laurel,

Simple.... Add a night or 2 to your Salzburg stay. Be sure to visit Hohensalzburg in Salzburg with great views overlooking Salzburg and then take a day to visit nearby Hohenwerfen in Werfen.

On the way from Salzburg to Munch, stop at Mad King Ludwig's Herrenchiemsee Palace. While Ludwig's creations aren't "real castles", they are certainly worth seeing, especially if you plan to be in the area.

Paul

Hohenaschau Schloss (somewhat midway between Munich and Salzburg, near Herrenchiemsee)
Ambras castle near Innsbruck

If you are thinking of going to Hohenaschau, know that they only have two tours of the castle per day (none on Monday or Saturday). Tu, Th, Su, and holidays they are in the afternoon, We and Fr they are in the morning.

Hello Laurel, we are in Berchtesgaden at the moment, this trip we have visited Linderhof ( interesting but if you have seen Versailles near Paris, then its nothing to rave about) Neuschwanstein we only walked around and took some fantastic photos of , from the bridge ( on a sunny day)
Yesterday we visited the castle overlooking Salzburg, while it was interesting , we found it very 'unorganised' to look around and not that interesting ( I guess you get a bit use to seeing them after a while) . whereas we had a guided tour of Hohenwerfen , some days a go, and we found it very good. we also watched the falconry display. we got to go up inside the bell tower which had fantastic views. overall a really good place to visit. IMO, however we were driving past so was not like we had to go out of our way, re transport etc. I must say we like to see old castles, as its interesting to see the old materials/workmanship.( eg: not just copies)

hope this helps.