Neuschwanstein Castle was built by a king who never lived in it. It was designed as a private fantasy rather than a royal residence. When King Ludwig II died in 1886, only 14 of its 200 rooms were finished. There are no guest rooms. Six weeks later, it opened to tourists and has drawn nearly two million visitors annually ever since.

Ludwig sketched the designs himself as a tribute to composer Richard Wagner, collaborating with Christian Jank, a stage painter who worked on Wagner's operas. The interiors are decorated with scenes from Lohengrin and Tristan und Isolde. Ludwig's impatience created such pressure that the construction foreman took his own life during the build.

The king spent just 172 days here before being declared mentally ill and removed from power. Days later, his body was found drowned in Lake Starnberg alongside his psychiatrist. The circumstances remain unexplained.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours trace Ludwig's obsessive vision from his childhood summers at nearby Hohenschwangau Castle, where he gazed up at the hilltop site, through to Walt Disney's visit with his wife that inspired Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.