Babelsberg Palace

Babelsberg Palace in Potsdam is the Gothic Revival summer home of Prince William of Prussia, later Emperor William I, and his wife Augusta. With turrets, battlements and bay windows inspired by English country houses, it rises above the Havel River and anchors Babelsberg Park, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the palaces and parks of Potsdam and Berlin. Note that the interior is still being restored, so most visitors come for the terraces and park.

A short history

Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed a first, modest building in 1833 to 1835. When William became heir to the Prussian throne in 1840, Ludwig Persius and Johann Heinrich Strack enlarged it between 1844 and 1849. The royal and later imperial couple spent their summers here for more than 50 years. On September 22, 1862, a meeting at Babelsberg led William to appoint Otto von Bismarck as Prussian prime minister, a turning point on the road to German unification in 1871.

After 1945 much of the furnishing was lost. In East Germany the building housed a law academy, briefly the film school and later a museum of prehistory, while the park sat inside the border zone facing West Berlin.

What you can see in 2026

• The facades and towers, restored together with the terraces between 2013 and 2016 for €9.7 million.
• Five terraces that landscape designer Prince Pückler planned as "palace rooms under the open sky," with mosaic paths, flower beds and statues.
• Fountains that run from April to October for the first time in about a century.
• Babelsberg Park, with lakeside paths, the Flatow Tower, the Small Palace and the medieval-style Gerichtslaube.

The interior has been under restoration since 2019. According to the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation (SPSG), the palace opens only for special events, such as a series of German-language special tours in fall 2026, most of which are already sold out. There are no regular opening hours or standard ticket prices at the moment, but the park and terraces are free to explore.

How to get there

Potsdam is about 25 to 40 minutes from central Berlin by regional train or S-Bahn, and the Deutschlandticket covers it. Local buses stop at "Potsdam, Alt Nowawes," from where you walk up through the park. Drivers will find paid parking near the palace. A nice day trip from Berlin combines Babelsberg with a walk across the Glienicke Bridge, famous for Cold War spy exchanges, and a visit to Glienicke Palace.

Is it worth visiting?

Yes, for the setting alone. Allow two to three hours for the terraces and a loop through the park, and come in late summer or early fall when the gardens and fountains look their best. Check the SPSG website for special tours before you go, and keep in mind that the tours are not wheelchair accessible.