Living a Real-Life Disney Fairy Tale
Christmas and New Year’s is such a magical time of the year. Especially Christmas when you have younger children. And so very early on in our planning, we decided we wanted to spend this time of the year somewhere that felt magical; at the base of Neuschwanstein Castle. Otherwise known as the castle that inspired the Disney castle. We also wanted to be somewhere remote, away from hustle and bustle, where we could be surrounded by nature and feel completely at peace.
Well, we can definitely say that we got exactly what we were looking for staying in Hohenschwangau! We literally felt like we were living in the middle of a fairy tale world when we stayed here. It was a stunningly gorgeous area where we were completely surrounded by nature, including mountains, lakes, streams/rivers, forests, and open fields. We are convinced that the Grimm brothers must have spent some time in this area gathering inspiration for their stories.
And as if the stunning nature views everywhere weren’t enough, Neuschwanstein Castle, nestled high up the mountain above us, was breathtaking! It was pure joy to wake up every morning and see the castle outside our bedroom window and to look up from the dinner table and see the castle outside our dining room window. It was gorgeous in the daytime hours when you could see this idyllic-looking castle, but also at night when it was completely lit up. We spent ten days here and never once got sick of the views from our apartment or the beautiful nature surrounding us in all directions.
We spent the vast majority of our time hiking and exploring the areas in and around Hohenschwangau. We hiked up the mountain towards Neuschwanstein several times, going up to the bridge above the castle to look down at the stunning view of Neuschwanstein from above. We also continued across the bridge and up the mountain. There’s another lookout further up that also looks down on the castle and is equally gorgeous. Past that lookout, very few tourists ventured. We went up that way twice. The first time all four of us went up. We hadn’t been prepared for a long hike that day, so turned back without going up too far. We likely hiked 1.5 hours each way in total from the base in Hohenschwengau.
The second time was just Jon and Katia who ventured further up the mountain on New Year’s Eve. It was intended to be a family hike, but Emmeline was not up to a long hike that day. I think this was probably the first and only time she let us know she just wasn’t feeling up to something like this! I was disappointed to miss out on the bigger hike, but we did hike up to Neuschwanstein for one last view of the castle as a family before we turned back and Katia and Jon continued. And it was nice for us to split up and have one-on-one time with the girls as a NYE treat.
In her perfect world, Katia wanted to make it all the way to the top of Tegelberg mountain and take the cable car back down the mountain, but this just wasn’t realistic as there was way too much snow at the top of the mountain. We didn’t come equipped with the proper spiked footwear and poles to conquer that type of terrain on our year away. They did make it quite far up until it was time to turn back as the terrain got beyond running shoe footwear and to give them time to get back down off the mountain before dark. Katia has the most adventurous and athletic spirit and is sooooo desperate to climb more mountains! She wants us to buy her all the gear and get her into rock climbing when we get back to Canada so she can hike and climb mountains, “the bigger, the better!” as she would say with an excited gleam in her eyes! I’m pretty sure both my children could live in the outdoors and be perfectly content, but this is especially true of Katia. She would be in her element to do a multi-day trek in the mountains, setting up camp to sleep as needed along the way.
In addition to climbing the mountain area around Neuschwanstein multiple times, we also did hikes that took us around lakes, fields, streams, and nearby towns including Schwangau and Fussen. On our way back from Fussen, we went up a smaller mountain area and stumbled across a Christian route. We aren’t clear on if this is used for Easter celebrations or pilgrimages or what, but it was impressive! It was the stations of the cross. As you made your way up the path/route, there was a small chapel at each station of the cross. At one location there was a large area with a cave and a cross with a serpent, as well. When you reached the top, there were the three crosses, with Jesus in the middle cross, and a stunning structure with various chapels inside and a magnificent view at the top. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It was quite a surprise to stumble upon it during our hike. This is an example of one of the things we love so much about hiking and exploring areas, stumbling across the most unique and unexpected surprises along the way!
We spent a portion of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve hiking, which made our hearts happy. But we also made sure to take lots of time out to relax, play cards and board games, watch a family movie, watch impressive NYE fireworks at midnight from our balcony, eat lots of amazing food, and have some much-needed snuggly lazy time together. It was the most peaceful and magical Christmas and New Year we have ever experienced. Coming here to Germany for Christmas was the perfect choice for our family!