Recommendations to get to Neuschwanstein from Munich? Private tour? Viator? Thanks!

No experience with a tour. We did the train route and it is quite easy, enjoyable, and memorable as there are no train changes and the scenery out the windows is pleasant.

Do you know that you can't go inside with that sort of a tour? Only guides from the "castle" can tour inside....

So your special tour from Munich can only get you there and back - hopefully they will throw other stuff in to make it worth the money....

We were in Munich a couple of weeks ago and did a full day tour with Mike's Bike Tours. It included bus ride, bike ride (very easy) to a lake, lunch (not included in the tour price - you pay for that at the restaurant), and Neuschwanstein. Our tour guide didn't go in the castle with us, but we did get an English tour inside by someone who works at the castle. This was my favorite day of our two weeks in Germany. Note, you will need cash for the castle ticket as that is collected while on the bus on the way out there.

https://www.mikesbiketours.com/

Looking at the website, it seems they do the castle and a Christmas market walking tour in December.

and the timed tour inside of N-stein is only 20-30 minutes. Quite short for the effort it takes to get there.

I'll just add some general information. Viator is actually a 3rd party booking site owned by Trip Advisor. They charge a huge fee to businesses to be listed. On the Viator page you can see what company is actually providing the tour/experience so I recommend booking directly with the company itself after reviewing the company's website and understanding their T&C.

I've toured Neuschwanstein three times in the last 4 decades. I've always done it on my own - yes, by train and bus. And I've never encountered any problems doing it that way. I find it difficult to imagine spending close to $100/person just to have someone take me to the castles and still have to pay extra for the ("optional") tour.

At least one of the 3rd party tours takes you to Linderhof, but doesn't spend enough time there to make it worth while. In 2007, I spent most of the day at Linderhof, touring not just the palace, but the ground and the grotto. Then they take you to Oberammergau, again for a visit too short to be worth it. I think they throw in those blink-and-run visits just to make it difficult to do on your own.

I'll add that Mike's Bike is a very reputable business. We always rent bike from them when in Munich and I've had family members take the castle tour with them and they were happy with the experience.

That said, this is a very easy trip to do via public transportation or by rental car. This is the one trip I actually recommended people to use a rental car for when we were living in Munich as there are plenty of nice towns to stop along the way. One place I usually recommend is a stop at the Wieskirche. If the weather is nice you can have a picnic there on a bench on one of the nearby farm paths.

DJ

Another vote for Mike's Bike Tour. We did that a few years go in September and at that time of year they do a bike ride to Swan Lake as well. It was a really nice day. I thought for sure my husband and son would think was cheesy, but they had a great time too. We. have also rented bikes from them right in Munich to go ride ourselves. That was ideal as we went all the way through the English Garden and beyond, then back. Since the bike ride to Swan Lake is not an option with you going in December, I think their other offering sounds wonderful.

Radius tours looks good. You get 10 hours of the services of a tour guide for 69€. The ride there and back are not spent in silence. I think if you have spent all this money to get to Germany, why not add to your experience with a good, guided tour.

https://www.radiustours.com/tours-in-english/neuschwanstein-castle/?fh-u=d8cbc506-2171-40ce-b32c-81c8fec5f08b