We must leave early from Lindau this day as we need to be in
Neuschwanstein Castle before 11:20 AM to take our booked tickets and
the road trip can take around one hour and a half.
After this visit, we’ll drive across the Austrian border to
Innsbruck, where we’ll explore the Old Town and spend the night.
The spots marked at map are:
A- Lindau
B- Neuschwanstein Castle
C- Innsbruck
After
At 9 AM we’re on the road. We leave Lindau early
as we must take our booked tickets for today’s highlight,
Neuschwanstein Castle, before 11:20 AM and there is a one hour and a
half drive to there. We’re following the direction to Kempten and then
we keep on motorway 309 waiting for the signs to Füssen or the castle
itself. They take some time to appear.
We feel the needing to stop by the road when we
see the beautiful sky line of Nesselwang with its church in front of us.
Roads 309 and 310 go through the valley to the Alps and give
beautiful landscapes with green grounds to mountains full of abets.
It’s an area full of lakes and close to reach Füssen we’re amazed by
the view of Lake Weissensee.
We go all through Füssen, passing by the start of its old
city, which looks like deserving a visit by itself. But now we’re going
directly to our goal, with it is now signed in the road. When we get
there, the activity of the place has nothing to do with all the quiet
places we’ve been these days: lines of coaches and cars converge to the
entrance of a big car park, which we can see like a sea of vehicles.
There, a single man is in charge of managing the endless line
of vehicles and take the 6 euros for the parking. We go up to the shop
area but we still will need to go to an upper level to the ticket box
office. The queues for the tickets are very long but we’re saved from
them thanks to our booking: we go straight to the box for reserved
tickets and get ours by paying 27.60€. So, a bit before 11 AM we’re
ready for our tour at 12:20 PM. From here we can already see the two
castles: the white Neuschwanstein and the yellow Hohenschwangau.
The reason for having to pick up the tickets one hour before
the tour is to allow people to reach the entrance of the castle. The
line for the bus up there is long and this one is for everybody. We pay
2.60€ for each bus return ticket.
It takes almost 40 minutes for us to get down from the bus
since we joined the line for it. Up there, the bus stop is just when
the short path to Maribrücke Bridge starts, but we still have a walk to
the get into the castle as we can see the back of it and we have to
reach the gate at the front of it. It’s 15 more minutes, without
stopping to enjoy the beautiful views, which we’ll be able to enjoy
without rushes when coming back.
We cross that gate around 12 PM and, once inside you only can
wait. You can do that in the gift shop or in the stairs up to the
courtyard, as the most of the people do. The courtyard itself is nice,
but it is fenced to avoid going further, so it’s just for the picture.
A screen displays the time for the next tour. It seems there is one
every 5 minutes.
When it is our turn, our tickets make us pass through the
turnstile and we make a line in front of the door. The guard there
makes us to pass in advance because the first thing to do is taking the
stairs up for three floors, so my wife’s injured leg is going to make
all the group slower on this and, this way, they can join us upstairs.
There, once the group is together with the guide, we receive the
audio-guide in the desired language.
In this 30 minutes’ tour we’re leaded back down these three
floors all through the halls in every floor. We can see the Throne
Hall, bedroom, Hall of the singers, the Grotto… Those are impressive
halls trying to emulate Wagner’s operas landscapes. No photos or videos
are allowed in this tour, so I can show just a few of it here:
As in everywhere, the exit is through the gift store. Then
there is a cafeteria where we take our lunch. Prices are not expensive
as one could think in a place like this, but the portions are small. I
get a mini pizza with water and a piece of Black Forest pie by 12.30€
and Eva gets a Frankfurt with salad with water and the same pie by
14.50€.
The pie is the best in this cafeteria, may be only
overtaken by the views from the terrace. We can see Marienbrücke Bridge
from here, where we’re going to be shortly.
When we’re following the exit of the castle we pass by the
only rooms out of the tour, where you can take pictures freely: the
kitchens.
Once out, we go one level down to take a picture
of the front of the castle.
We walk back to the bus stop by the same path we did before,
but enjoying the views this time. The landscape with the lakes is
amazing.
When we reach the bus stop, where there is a line
already, we head to Marienbrücke Bridge following the short path to it.
The bridge is crowded and is hard to find a gap for your picture with
the best view of the castle. It’s impressive as it is very high and you
can see a small river below with some waterfalls. The highest fall is
just under the bridge.
It’s time to come back and we join the line for the next bus
down to the visitor center. When we are in our way to the car it’s 3 PM
already, so this visit has taken 4 hours.
We had already seen the signs pointing the way to
Innsbruck when coming and this time we follow them heading to Austria.
I’m worried because I need petrol and the vignette, the toll sticker
you need to use Austrian motorways, but I cannot find any gas station.
When I get into a long tunnel I realize we’re crossing the border
inside so getting the vignette is becoming urgent now. Somehow, this
point seems to be thought already as the first sight of Austria out of
that tunnel is a big gas station.
I find a reason for not having petrol stations before the
border when I see the petrol is a lot cheaper in Austria. I fill the
tank and get the vignette for 10 days, which is the minimum, by 8.80€.
The woman behind me in the pump, who explained to me that is usual here
to let the pump to the next car before going to pay, helps me to put
the vignette on. She tells me it must be up in the windscreen and
advices the left side.
About two hours later we’re taking the right exit to reach
our hotel in Innsbruck, which is in the city center. The traffic there,
by the riverside, is horrible. In the hotel we’re welcomed and given
directions to the parking place.
After that, we only have to use the bridge across the river
to reach the old city and be part of the live of Herzog-Friedrich
Street. It is clean, with beautiful and well maintained façades, and we
follow it until being in front of the most iconic place in this city:
The Golden Roof.
The high mountains all around the city are giving a
magnificent bottom to these beautiful streets. On this quick visit,
made especially for Eva’s injured foot, we could already get the beauty
of this city. Our hotel is one of the colorful houses in the riverside.
After some rest, we go out for dinner. Today is an exception
for our light dinners due to the meager lunch we got today. We choose Cafe
Piano's terrace because we like the look of the courses
people are enjoying. It is full and we have to wait for 15 minutes to
get a table.
We pay 34.10€ in total for our dinner, which has cutlet,
goulash and rosti in such a wonderful place.
We go back to the hotel with a big smile to rest
from an intense and amazing day.
