The childhood home of Ludwig II, perched on a small hill below the more famous Neuschwanstein and visited as a pair. Hohenschwangau is older and more lived-in: the castle was rebuilt by Ludwig's father Maximilian II in the 1830s in a Gothic-revival style over the ruins of a medieval keep, and the family used it as a summer residence for several decades.
The interior is more rewarding than Neuschwanstein's — actual royal living quarters with original furniture, paintings on the walls of Bavarian and Swabian legends, and the rooms still arranged as the Wittelsbachs left them. Ludwig spent his summers staring at the construction work going on across the valley at Neuschwanstein through a telescope; you can see exactly the view he had from his bedroom window. Tours run every five minutes (35 minutes, multiple languages); same booking system as Neuschwanstein. Tickets €15.