Munich Christmas Markets, Beer Halls and visiting Neuschwanstein Castle

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
6
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
9
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
9
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
6
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
10
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
9
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
85 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
20th/454
Top 5%
continent
Europe
country
Germany
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$160 ($150-$350 in 2020 prices)
Time of year visited
December
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Castles / Fortresses Market Partying / Lash
All Tags
Big city Breweries Bustling restaurants Forests Gardens Live music Local villages Mountains Palaces Snow Towers
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary

Nowhere does Christmas better than Bavaria:

🎄Sipping on warm Glühwein as you wander around the oldest Christmas Market in Munich with its 140 stalls spread out across the central Marienplatz and ice skating ring

🎄 Jump into the Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall for some oompah bands and great atmosphere

🎄 Take a trip over to the Neuschwanstein Castle – the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle – surrounded in snow is practically the definition of fairytale.

Hard to think of a better experience in the northern hemisphere in December.

Highlights

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#1 Neuschwanstein Castle in the snow - seeing the fairytale castle that inspired Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle and the benchmark for all castles around the world

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#2 Wandering through the Munich Christmas Markets to see the 100+ stalls all scattered around the Marienplatz as you sip on some delightfully warm Glühwein

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#3 Hohenschwangau Castle - a stunning castle in its own right, just a wee bit eclipsed by the Neuschwanstein Castle nearby

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#4 Hitting the famous Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall for the superb atmosphere and to try and host of Bavarian beers

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#5 The quaint village of Oberammergau with its atmospheric wall paintings dotted all around the village houses

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#6 Linderhof Palace with beautiful interior rooms and pleasant grounds

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#7 The walk over to Mary's Bridge for great views of the Castle and across the Bavarian Alps

Travel Tips

The markets – very straightforward.  Key tip is to make sure you try the Glühwein, the delicious hot mulled wine that many people are drinking at the stalls or as the walk around to keep themselves warm.  Love that stuff.

Neuschwanstein Castle – the standard that all castles are measured against and the highlight of Bavaria.  Be sure to book ahead if you want the 35min tour of the castle, to walk the 10mins to Mary’s Bridge for that postcard view and to enjoy the cable car ride up.

Getting to Neuschwanstein Castle from Munich – you’ve got 3 options: 1. Rent a car and drive – best option as you have the freedom to check out the rest of the Alps that you’re interested in and avoid the risk of a busy tour.  Takes around 1 hour 40mins to drive direct.  2. Take the train – fun but takes about 2.5hours each way and a bit of a faff with changes.  3. Join a tour – easiest option as everything will be spoon-fed for you and will likely be a full day tour with Linderhof Palace, Hohenschwangau Castle and the village of Oberammergau included.  To get the best of both world’s we organised a private tour which worked out well cost-wise because there were 4 of us.  For more details, I found this site gave a good summary of how to get there –  https://www.wanderingermany.com/how-to-get-from-munich-to-castle-neuschwanstein/.

Extra tip for Neuschwanstein Castle in summer – take the nearby Panoramablick Tegelberg Cable Car for incredible views of the prettiest parts of the Bavarian Alps. See the travel entry Summer hike to the Disney (Neuwanstein) Castle.

Castles and towns around Neuschwanstein Castle -the highlight is obviously Neuschwanstein Castle, but you will also find the tours making the trips to Hohenschwangau Castle, a striking castle in its own right that is right next to Neuschwanstein; Linderhof Palace with its beautiful interior rooms and beautiful grounds; and the quaint village of Oberammergau with its gorgeous wall paintings.  Linderhof Palace and Oberammergau are around 40mins – 1 hour to the east of Neuschwanstein Castle and make the tour a loop.

The Munich Beer Halls – the other “must-do” in Munich.  Even if you don’t like beer, the Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall is a great experience with the oompah band, painted ceilings and generally raucous atmosphere.

The rest of Munich – going to be controversial here, but I found there was little else for the average tourist to do outside of the Beer Halls and the Marienplatz with its Christmas Markets.  Its not so much a criticism, because the Beer Halls and the Markets are brilliant fun, just to be sure to prioritise these over trying to cram in anything more.

Time of year to go – you can still obviously visit outside of Christmas time, the only thing you’ll really miss out on are the Christmas Markets.  Neuschwanstein Castle will still be beautiful throughout the year, the Bavarian Alps are stunning in summer and there is always the option of Oktoberfest in September if you’re looking for that buzzing atmosphere.

Expensive – Munich is a very wealthy city and many tourists visit in Christmas time, so be prepared for things to be expensive.

 

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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