Bavarian Castles (final 2 spots)

Overview

FINAL SPOTS
Click here to secure your spot 

Did you always want to visit that beautiful Cinderella castle Neuschwanstein, and all those other magnificent Bavarian fairy tales castles? And did you always want to learn about King Ludwig II and his remarkable lifestyle that give him the questionable title of Mad King Ludwig? Now is your chance!! From Wednesday 29 May until Sunday 2 June Expat Club visits this stunning part of Germany with a group of international people from Brussels. We visit several spectacular castles, including the Würzburg Residenz, Nymphenburg and München Residenz, Linderhof, Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, Herrenchiemsee and the Kaiserburg Nuremberg.

Pictures

So many castles to choose from in Bavaria

We begin our trip in Würzburg, an ancient city in Northern Bavaria, a region called Franconia

The Würzburg Cathedral | © Borisb17 - Shutterstock

The Marienkapelle in the city center | © Lara Irimeeva - Shutterstock

The main reason to stop in Würzburg is to visit the Würzburg Residenz with its stunning halls an fresco ceilings | © Pairath Tawin - Shutterstock

The Marienburg on the opposite side of the river offers a panoramic view over the city | © Jan Kranendonk - Shutterstock

The Bavarian Capital Munich lies close to the German and Austrian Alps | © euregiocontent - Shutterstock

The Munich city hall and the Frauenkirche in the background | © S-F - Shutterstock

The Frauenkirche is one of Munich's main iconic symbols | manfredxy - Shutterstock

The Nympenburg castle is not only beautiful inside, but also has a large gardens in the back | © anyaivanova - Shutterstock

The Munich Residenz does not disclose from the outside what the inside holds | © trabantos - Shutterstock

The antiquarium in the Munich Residenz, possibly one of the world's most special halls.

The Herrenchiemsee is often called the Versailles of Bavaria | © Guido Radig (own work), via Wikimedia Commons

The Herrenchiemsee castle lies on the Herren island in the Chiemsee and was never finished | © mary416 - Shutterstock

The Herrenchiemsee is surrounded by vast gardens and forest | © mary416 - Shutterstock

The incredibly opulent bedroom in the Herrenchiemsee Castle

The Linderhof may seem small, but from the inside it is one of the grandest castles that you will ever see.

The Linderhof is surrounded by beautiful gardens | © Emily Tucker - Shutterstock

Every part of the Linderhof's gardens has something for the eye | © karamysh - Shutterstock

Hohenschwangau is home to two amazing castles: Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein | © Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung (Photo- Anton Brandl, Munich)

Kind Ludwig II grew up in the Hohenschwangau castle | © Yury Dmitrienko - Shutterstock

The Hohenschwangau castle is one of our trip's highlights | © Yury Dmitrienko - Shutterstock

Undoubtedly the main destination for most people on our trip, Neuschwanstein | © MNStudio - Shutterstock

Neuschwanstein is situated at the foothills of the Alps | © canadastock - Shutterstock

Neuschwanstein looks like a fairy tale castle from every angle | © Yury Dmitrienko - Shutterstock

We start our tour in the inner courtyard | © Frog Dares shutterstock

The throne hall in Neuschwanstein | © mironov - Shutterstock

The historic city of Nurnberg is home to the medieval Nurnberg Castle | © Mariia Golovianko - Shutterstock

This castle is totally different from the other castles we will see during this trip | © ESB Professional - Shutterstock

The Heidenturm stands in the middle of the castle

Program

The program for this Bavaria trip, like any other Expat Club trip, is carefully designed. We value realistic departure, travel and arrival times, and put a lot of effort into allocating enough time to visit each destination.

Wednesday 29 May
We depart around 17h00 from Place Schuman and drive towards Würzburg where we stay one night in a good hotel in the city centre. We leave at this time so you won’t have to take a full day off, while you can just relax in our comfortable bus with Royal Class seats.

• Departure by bus from Brussels
• Highway dinner stop
• Arrival and hotel in Würzburg

Thursday 30 May
Today you will wake up in Würzburg. Maybe you’ve never heard of this city, but we are certain that you will find it totally worth a visit after our tours by professional guides through the Würzburg Residence and the Festung Marienberg. In the early afternoon we depart for München where we visit one of the most impressive palaces of this South German state, before we check-in to our second hotel where we stay for 3 nights.

• Visit to Würzburg Residence (fees & tour included, time reserved entry)
• Visit Festung Marienberg in Würzburg (fees & tour included)
• Visit to Nymphenburg in Munich (fees & tour included)
• Visit to Munich city center in the evening (optional)

Friday 31 May
This day may as well be the best day of the program with a visit to city of München and the München Residenz in the morning and the “German Versailles” in the afternoon. The Residenz is new on our program, because we received incredible feedback about this city palace. You will be able to go through it on your own with an audio guide. In fact, it’s almost a carbon copy, even though great parts of this impressive palace are completely unfinished and the left wing was completely removed. Situated on an island in the beautiful Chiemsee, with the German/Austrian Alps as a panoramic backdrop, a visit to Bavaria without the Herrenchiemsee Palace is incomplete. We have reserved a timed entry with a guided tour and made reservations. Beforehand you can also visit the impressive Augustinian Monastery, and walk around the island.

• Visit to the München Residenz (fees included, audio guide included)
• Boat ride to the Herreninsel (fees included)
• Visit to Herreninsel Park (fees included)
• Visit to the Herrenchiemsee Palace (fees & tour included, time entry)
• Visit to the Augustinian Monastery (fees included)

Saturday 1 June
This is probably the day that most of us want to travel to Bavaria for due to its visit to the world-famous Cinderella-like castle Neuschwanstein (a true bucket-list item). But don’t underestimate the exceptionally ornate Linderhof with its splendid gardens, as well as the Schloss Hohenschwangau where Mad King Ludwig grew up. Many of our 2018 group loved these places even more than Neuschwanstein!

• Visit to Linderhof (fees & tour included with reserved entry)
• Visit to Neuschwanstein (fees & tour included with reserved entry)
• Optional visit to Hohenschwangau (optional with reserved entry, limited spots)
• Optional visit to Museum der Bayerischen Könige (optional)

Sunday 2 June
Although we have to drive back a long way today, we are going to see another amazing place in Bavaria, simply because we can’t get enough of it. And since we’re in the neighbourhood, why not just hop by? We begin with a visit to some very historic World War II places in Nurnberg, namely the Nazi rally grounds and the nazi stadium. After visiting our main destination, we also drive by the historic building where the Nurnberg trials were held. Our main destination is of course the Imperial castle of Nurnberg

• Return to Brussels
• Imperial Castle of Nurnberg (optional, but fees included)

Transportation

We will be travelling with a very comfortable double-decker bus with Royal Class seats. This means a lot more space for your legs, especially because there are leg flaps and foot rests. Of course, the seats also recline nicely so you can relax and get some extra sleep. The bus has an on-board toilet, a bar (with several drinks/snacks for sale), and several flatscreen TVs with a DVD system.

Accommodation

We’ve chosen modern and highly-rated 3* hotels Würzburg (1 night) and Munich (3 nights). For each hotel you can choose between the following options

• Single room (normally with 1 large bed, surcharge)
• Double room (1 large bed, for couples, no surcharge)
• Twin room (2 single beds, for 2 friends travelling together, or for single travellers who would like to avoid the single surcharge).

Room sharing for single travellers
If you are joining this trip on your own you can get a single room for a surcharge, or you can also opt for the room sharing service. This means you do not pay a surcharge. During the outbound journey we will introduce you to the other travellers who also want to share a room. We do not assign a room partner, but you can mutually agree to share the room. We only offer female/female and male/male rooms. This is a great way to save some money while you get to know another nice person on this trip.

Würzburg – GHOTEL
The GHOTEL is one of the best rated hotels in Würzburg. Towering high above the city, this hotel is modern with spacious, clean rooms. We stay here only for one night as we drive towards the South of Germany. Still, Würzburg is a great stop with an old city center and an amazing palace, the Würzburg Residenz. Please note that breakfast is optional for this first night (€12). You can indicate whether you would like to add this during checkout.

Munich – Ibis Styles Münich Messe Ost – NEW HOTEL
We stay 3 nights in this (again) highly rated 3* hotel in Munich. It has nice and clean rooms, and the good thing about this hotel is that breakfast is already included in the formula so you can start the your day in the best way. We chose this hotel above the earlier mentioned regular Ibis because it has a better location and is better rated.

Families

Please contact us if you would like to bring your family. The trip is certainly very nice for children from about 4 years of age, but we want to make sure you get the right room. Needless to say that children get a high discount. Please contact us for more information at info@expatclub.org and let us know the size of your family and the age of your children.

Comments

• The trip will be carried out by Lauwers Reizen, one of our trusted coach partners.
• The trip is carefully planned. Still, all timings are indicative and may change if required by circumstances.
• The trip is sold as a package. You cannot go with your own transportation or arrange your own accommodation. If there are specific things that you do not want in the package, please let us know.
• You are personally responsible for getting good cancellation and/or travel insurance that covers you for unforeseen emergencies and medical expenses before or during the trip. 
• You are personally responsible for using the hotel room in an appropriate way. Any missing or broken items will be billed after the trip.
• Expat Club cannot be held liable for long delays that influence the program (e.g. missed guided tours), neither can Expat Club be held liable for weather-related cancellations or any other unforeseen events that influence the course of the trip, including, but not limited to technical problems with the coach, strikes, weather etc.
• Expat Club cannot be held liable for personal injuries during the trip, such as, but not limited to, things that happen during the guided tours. Joining this trip is safe but still at your own risk.
• If you do not find a room partner on your own, we will find one for you (male/male, female/female). During the outbound trip we will connect you with others in the same position. If you decide to take a single room during the trip, then you will have to fully pay for it yourself.
• If you book a double / twin room and your travel partner cancels, you will have to pay the single room supplement or share a room with another person (if available).
• The cancellation with a refund, as described in the terms & conditions, is 6 weeks. Within this period you cannot cancel the trip and get a refund. You can always find a friend or colleague who will join instead of you.