We will be in the King's Castles area of Bavaria for 2 nights. So, a day and a half. We will be driving. Will it be worth our time to take a paid, guided tour to see Neusch, Hoh, Weiskirche and Linderhof? Or since we can drive ourselves--just as good and cheaper? Is the experience of a good tour guide the deal maker?
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19095 posts
Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, and Linderhof (the little palace, itself, and the grotto) can only be entered with tours offered by the palaces themselves, so all the 3rd party tour can do is take you there and charge you handily for the service.
The 3rd party tours do pick up your tickets, saving you waiting in line, but you can get the same thing by reserving in advance. The line at the Hohenschwangau kiosk for pickup is usually quite short. Of course, if you are driving from Munich, mechanical failure, traffic holdups, or making a wrong turn can mess up reservations.
I'm not sure about Wieskirche. When I was there I could just walk in and look around on my own (no entrance fee). I think Wieskirche does have their own guided tour, but I'm not sure.
Posted by
the Netherlands
2487 posts
I'm of the school to be master of my own time and taste. It's always good to be aware of the history of things, but I'd say what you can find on Wikipedia is enough to put in context what you see. These buildings don't need much explanation of a tour guide who can point out details which you otherwise might have missed.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19095 posts
"These buildings don't need much explanation ..."
Ton, the point is that you cannot just walk into three of those buildings. Entry to Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, and the Linderhof palace is only by guided tour. Even the 3rd parties that take you to these places cannot give you a tour. You have to take the building's own tour.
As for Wieskirche, at times it is open to free admission; at other times, due to services, no sightseeing is permitted. They also give their own free guided tours, in German only. Other language tours can be arranged separately, but are not free. No other admission is allowed during tours.
Posted by
San Francisco
14521 posts
There are palaces, villas, Schlösser, etc where the only way to see the place is by way of a guided tour. No individual wandering around is allowed. In Potsdam seeing Neues Palais was like that, only by tour given only in German, exactly the same as with the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl...great. They announce the time of the next tour and where to assemble, you show up with the ticket.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you all for your contributions. Very helpful.