Had it been completed, the palace would have had more than 200 interior rooms, including premises for guests and servants, as well as for service and logistics. Ultimately, no more than about 15 rooms and halls were finished.

Despite its fame and imposing exterior, Neuschwanstein Castle is largely unfinished. When King Ludwig II died mysteriously in 1886, construction halted immediately. Of the 200 planned rooms in the original blueprints, only about 14 to 15 rooms were actually completed. The finished areas include the spectacular Throne Hall (though it lacks a throne), the King's bedroom, the Dining Room, and the Singers' Hall. The vast majority of the castle’s interior remains as "raw" brickwork and scaffolding-grade spaces that are not open to the public. Additionally, a massive "Keep" with a gothic church was intended for the upper courtyard but was never even started. Because the castle was opened as a museum just weeks after the King's death to pay off his massive debts, the Bavarian government decided to keep it in its "arrested state" rather than finishing it, preserving it as a monument to Ludwig's unfulfilled romantic vision.