This is the castle Walt Disney used as inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Disneyworld! I found the tourist information a little confusing when we first arrived. I'll try to make this simple so you know what to expect...Parking is available in the village for 5 Euro a day, you cannot drive your car up to the castles. There is a ticket office in the village where you can purchase tours of one or both castles. You can also go in and get a free map of the town (suggested!!) . It's a steep walk up the mountain to the castle and they don't sell them at the castle so make sure if you want a tour you buy the tickets before you go up. These are only needed if you want to tour the inside rooms of the castle. It's completely free to go inside the courtyard and walk around the outside. The best pictures of the castle can be taken from a viewing point on a bridge around the back of the castle, or from a viewing area toward the front side of the castle. To get to the top of the hill where the castle is you can walk (not suggested personally), you can take a horse and carriage ride for about 6 Euro up and 3 Euro down (each) or you can take the bus, 1.80 Euro up and 1.00 Euro down for adults (children were slightly less). The bus will take you very close to the bridge and then it's a short walk to the castle. The horse and carriage ride leaves you on the other side of the castle near the front viewing area. We felt the best choice was to pay for the bus up, checked out the bridge (p.s. you can also see the gorge from here), see the castle, and then take the horse ride down. Unfortunately there were A LOT of people waiting for the carriages and it only comes around a few times an hour so we ended up walking down the hill. Wow! I was so glad we didn't walk up. Walking down was enough of a work out for me! The castle is being restored so there was scaffolding on the one end. The website shows this is expected to be up until the end of 2012.
View of the castle from the bridge
The bridge
A love lock on the bridge (if I had known I'd have brought one!)
View down from the bridge
Walking to the castle (yes, there was scaffolding on the one end)
I love love this castle! Pretty pictures. I think I could easily become obsessed with castles, especially after seeing this one! Hmmm maybe I need to add some castle decor to my owl decor in the spare room....
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