Hopferau Castle

Schloss zu Hopferau was built in 1468 by the knight Sigmund von Freyberg-Eisenberg, originally conceived as a hunting lodge in the rolling countryside of the Ostallgäu, just 13 kilometers from what would later become the world-famous Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. The building's three-story gabled main structure was later extended with a three-story hip-roofed Neo-Gothic wing in the 19th century, giving the castle its present pointed-arch, crenellated facade. During the chaos of the Second World War, the estate briefly played an unexpected role in computing history when Konrad Zuse's pioneering Z4 computer was hidden here to protect it from destruction.

In February 2025 the castle changed hands, acquired by Manfred Rietzler, owner of the Festspielhaus concert venue in nearby Füssen. Rietzler has signaled plans to expand the property's use as an events and office venue, with some rooms earmarked for visiting artists and Festspielhaus guests, while continuing weddings, Christmas markets, and community events with the local municipality. The 17-room hotel remains actively bookable through 2026 via Booking.com and the castle's own website, with 599 verified reviews and an 8.6 rating as of this writing.

The Z4's wartime relocation to Hopferau is a genuinely notable footnote in the history of computing: Konrad Zuse's Z4, one of the earliest programmable computers in the world, was moved out of Berlin to escape Allied bombing, and its survival at rural sites like Hopferau ultimately allowed the machine to continue operating after the war, eventually being used at ETH Zurich into the 1950s.

The castle's proximity to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau places it within one of Bavaria's most visited tourist corridors, giving Hopferau guests an unusually convenient base for exploring King Ludwig II's famous 19th-century castles without staying in the more heavily trafficked town of Füssen itself.

Manfred Rietzler's acquisition and stated plans to blend hotel, events, office and artist-accommodation uses reflect a broader pattern among smaller German castle properties, where diversifying revenue streams beyond pure hospitality has become a common strategy for sustaining the upkeep of a large historic building.

The Ostallgäu region surrounding Hopferau combines Alpine foothill scenery with a dense concentration of royal Bavarian heritage sites, giving visitors staying at the castle a rich regional context for combining a countryside stay with some of Germany's most internationally recognizable architecture.

The Festspielhaus Füssen, the concert venue whose owner acquired Hopferau in 2025, is itself a significant regional cultural institution, and the planned integration between the two properties suggests a future where guests attending performances there might increasingly overlap with those staying at the castle — a genuinely evolving relationship worth watching for anyone with a longer-term interest in the property.