Hohenschwangau, the more sedate of the two, was built by Maximilian II of Bavaria in 1836; Neuschwanstein, the fairytale one, was the brainchild of his son, "Mad" King Ludwig II. It took 17 years to build - construction stopped on Ludwig's death and some of his ideas for the castle never eventuated. Ludwig was born in Munich in 1845 and was only 18 when he was crowned King of Bavaria. Apparently he initially attended to affairs of state but pretty quickly grew bored with that and turned to less subtle pursuits and became more and more obsessed with acting out his extravagant fantasies, hence Neuschwanstein.
Hohenschwangau was where he grew up and he had the multi-turreted Neuschwanstein built about half an hour's carriage ride away. It's the most photographed castle in Germany (can understand why) and apparently the Disney castle was based on it. It's quite small but is really pretty.
Just to finish off Ludwig - his excesses finally became too much and he was declared insane when he was 41. Three days later he died under mysterious circumstances - found drowned in a lake. Did he jump or was he held under?
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