136 km
Drifting south out of Augsburg, you'll arrive at Landsberg am Lech, situated on the Romantic Road in the center of the Lechrain region, the boundary region between Swabia and Bavaria. Landsberg am Lech was built where a major historic salt road crossed over the Lech. To protect the bridge, Duke Henry the Lion ordered a castle to be built, Castrum Landespurch, incorporating an older settlement and castle named Phetine.
Soon a larger settlement evolved, receiving its town charter as early as the 13th century. Landsberg burned down in 1315, but was rebuilt at the same side because of its important location. Today, Landsberg has a beautiful and picturesque historic center.
While you're there, visit Neues Stadtmuseum, Herkomer Museum, Schmalzturm, The Witch Tower, Mutterturm, Jungfernsprungturm, Bayertor, Marienbrunnen and Lech Blick Aussichtspunkt, the viewpoint over the weir.
Landsberg am Lech is known for its prison where Adolf Hitler was incarcerated in 1924. During this incarceration, Hitler wrote (dictated) his book 'Mein Kampf' together with Rudolf Hess. His cell, number 7, became part of the Nazi cult and many followers came to visit it during the German Nazi-period. Landsberg am Lech was also known as the town of the Hitler Youth. In the outskirts of this town was a concentration camp where over 30,000 victims were imprisoned under inhuman conditions, resulting in the death of around 14,500 of them. After World War II it was the location for one of the largest displaced person (DP) camps for Jewish refugees and the place of execution for more than 150 war criminals after 1945. On a happier note, Landsberg is also the birthplace of the Nobel laureate Erwin Neher.
Whether you choose to follow the River Lech or stay on the main road, this stage contains a high concentration of interesting towns, villages and great places to stop and visit. Altstadt Schongau is another one of these places, and you can spendi some time at Schloss Schongau, or take a walk along historisches Münzgebäude, or get lunch and take a break with a cool beverage in the Old Town market square.
When you get to Füssen, visit the eclectic castles of Bavarian King Ludwig II - Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau make for some spectacular photographs and great castle tours. You can explore both castles during the day, then explore the town of Füssen at night. It's both rewarding and easy to spend a few days in Füssen as there is a lot to take in, here.
An iconic Bavarian town in southern Germany, Füssen is positioned just north of the Austrian border, and you should take some time to explore The Old Town (Altstadt Füssen) and visit Hohes Schloss where the Gothic castle contains a regional art museum. Also, take a look at the Franciscan Monastery of St Stephen (Franziskanerkloster). The museum of St. Mangs Abbey showcases the violin and lute-making industry, and nearby, Tegelberg mountain has a ski resort, a panoramic cable car and an alpine slide, a wild experience you do not want to have on your motorcycle!
Hohenschwangau Castle is a 19th-century palace built by King Maximilian II of Bavaria, and was the childhood residence of his son, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The fortress Schwangau was first mentioned in historical records dating from the 12th Century, when it stood high up on a rock on the site of the present 19th-century Neuschwanstein castle. The knights, later counts of Schwangau, were ministerialis of the Welfs.
In 1743 Hohenschwangau was plundered by Austrian troops. King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria sold the castle in 1820, but in 1832 his grandson crown prince Maximilian II of Bavaria, bought it back. In April 1829, he had discovered the historic site during a walking tour and became enthralled with the natural beauty of the surrounding area. Reconstruction of the castle began in February 1833, continuing until 1837, with additions to the structure right up to 1855. Richard Wagner later based his operas Lohengrin of 1848 and Parsifal of 1882, sponsored by Ludwig II who had grown up with these stories at Hohenschwangau.
Commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and in honour of composer Richard Wagner, Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century historicist palace built on a rugged hill, rising above the village of Hohenschwangau, near Füssen Altstadt. The castle was intended as a private residence for the King until he died in 1886, after which, it was opened to the public. Since then more than 65 million people have visited Neuschwanstein, and it hosts over 1.5 million visitors per year, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.
Due to its secluded and strategically unimportant location, the palace survived the destruction of two World Wars. Until 1944, it served as a depot for Nazi plunder that was taken from France by the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Institute for the Occupied Territories, a suborganisation of the Nazi Party. The castle was used to catalogue the works of arts. In April 1945, the SS considered blowing up the palace to prevent the building itself and the artwork it contained from falling to the enemy. However, the plan was not executed by the SS-Gruppenführer assigned the task, and at the end of the war the palace was surrendered undamaged to representatives of the Allied occupation forces, who eventually returned the palace to the reconstituted Bavarian state government. Later, the Bavarian Archives used some of the rooms as a provisional store for salvaged archival material, after the premises in Munich had been bombed.
The Museum of the Bavarian Kings (Museum der bayerischen Könige) in Hohenschwangau recounts the history of the Wittelsbach dynasty from its beginnings to the present day. The main focus of the exhibition is based around King Maximilian II who commissioned the conversion of Hohenschwangau Castle into his summer residence, and his son, King Ludwig II, creator of Neuschwanstein Castle.
The exhibition incorporates the views of the surrounding landscape and castles, the subtle use of modern, interactive museum technologies and expansive displays to explain the background to the original exhibits, in an informative and vivid way. The exhibition caters to the different requirements of visitors from Germany and abroad with tours in several languages and various depths of complexity, offering a memorable and informing experience even for those on a tight time schedule, such as motorcycle travellers.
Dave O'Byrne
European Touring Route AS
Jägerhaus (Hunter's House) lies about 1km from Schwansee, and is a very central overnight location if you want to explore this magnificent area in more detail. The Jägerhaus was built in 1786 as an iron vestment and apartment for the court ushers.
Located directly opposite the Schlosshotel Lisl and beneath the cliff face that Schloss Hohenschwangau perches on top of, this historic building has been carefully renovated and the original picturesque style has been accentuated, so it blends nicely into the surrounding Baroque and Neo-Gothic lavishness.
Jägerhaus has 11 rooms and suites furnished with antiques, canopy beds and patterned wallpaper, so you experience a magical and romantic atmosphere, especially when you look out the windows! In one direction, you have Schloss Hohenschwangau, look out another window and you're looking at Schloss Neuschwanstein. A different direction, and you have the Museum of the Bavarian kings and Alpsee.
Jägerhaus is part of the AMERON Neuschwanstein Alpsee Resort & Spa, a group of buildings steeped in tradition which include three Hohenschwangau houses - Alpenrose, Jägerhaus and Lisl - whose history goes back to the time of the royal court. An interesting symbiosis arises with the two new buildings, Galeria and Seehaus, where tradition meets modernity, history meets zeitgeist. If you have some extra 'zeit' and enough 'geist' you could spend a day or two hiking, cycling and/or relaxing in the spa, as there is something for everyone here. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to Neuschwanstein Castle. You could also rent a boat just a stone's throw away from Jägerhaus, and float on the lake for a while, as you take it all in.