Fairytale Castles Around the World

Bran castle, Translyvania Romania (the famous Dracula castle)

Peles castle, Sinaia Romania

What makes castle so intriguing to most people?

Perhaps, it is always associated with prince and princess living happily ever after in fairytales.

Perhaps, it is the grandeur.

Or perhaps, it is the symbol for most ancient cities.

Of all the castle I have visited before, Neuschwanstein remains my favourite and the most fairytale like castle. No wonder even Disney 'borrowed' the idea of their theme parks castle from this one.

Some of the famous castles from the places I visited so far..

Hmm.. I shall write another one of palaces next time.

Linlithgow castle, Scotland (birthplace of Queen of Mary Scots)

Edinburgh castle, Scotland

Alnwick castle, England (one of the famous Hogwarts filming location)

Kronborg castle, Denmark (the setting for Hamlet)

Frederiksberg castle, Copenhagen Denmark

Segovia alcazar, Spain (one of the Disney's castle inspiration)

Cordoba alcazar, Spain

Seville alcazar, Spain

Palais of Pena, Portugal (not exactly a castle)

Prague castle, Prague

Neuschwanstein castle, Germany (the famous castle of them all)

Wawel castle, Krakow Poland

A Fairytale Land

Neuschwanstein from Marienbruke bridge

And where is this place? It's located nearby Fussen at a small town called Hohenschwangau whereby the world famous Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle is inspired. There are two castles, one which King Ludwig II grown up in and another castle where he spend quite a fortune to built on based on his favourite opera singer, Wagner called the Neuschwanstein. We are not allowed to take any photos inside the castle and hence just pictures on the exterior. The whole place looks more like a fairytale out from the Disney's animated world where princes and princesses meet and live happily after.

To reach the castle, one could take a local train from Munich and stopped by a town called Fussen. From there, take bus no 73 or 78 (if unsure, just follow the tourist crowd) to the castles. Visiting of the castles start from Hohenschwangau and then Neuschwanstein which also called the Swan Castle or Mother of all castle. Personally, I think the name fits the castle very well with very fairytale like location. You can take either the horse carriage up the Swan Castle or a bus or a hike up. Since the horse carriage was quite expensive, we hike up. The fare to go in both castles was 17 euros back then (I went there in 2008, so the current fare might change).

the pretty lake


Hohenschwangau




view of Hohenschwangau from far








Marienbruke bridge

We walked from Hohenschwangau to Neuschwanstein and pass by the most beautiful lake ever. To sum it up, it's the most beautiful castle I ever seen before and although I had seen many castles subsequently, Neuschwanstein is and always will be the prettiest and fits the name of Mother of all castles!!

we were greeted by Neuschwanstein once we stepped out from the bus

looks familiar? it's the Sleeping beauty castle in Disneyland

Photos of the interior of the castle were taken from internet as phototaking is prohibited inside.

singer's hall


dining hall



dressing room


throne hall