Just up the mountain about a one-hour drive from Munich is the lovely medieval hamlet of Garmish-Partenkirchen. Although that seems like a long name for us Americans, it’s actually quite fun to say.

(Getty Images)| Princess fantasies come to life at Neuschwanstein, a 19th-century castle in the Bavarian Alps that Disneyland Resort used as inspiration when designing Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Enveloped in the steamy waters of Schloss Elmau's Japanese onsen (a traditional oriental thermal bath) heated to a precise 40C (104F), with a backdrop of the snow-capped Bavarian Alps, I consider ...

With its unmistakable architecture, this tall, elegant castle is the most beautiful in all of Europe ... it offers impressive views of the Bavarian Alps and towers above the entire region.