The tripto catalogue lists 82 palaces – Baroque residences, summer palaces with large parks and the royal palaces of Ludwig II.
Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam is Frederick the Great's Rococo summer palace above six vineyard terraces, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, the Wittelsbachs' summer residence, has the Stone Hall, the Gallery of Beauties and a park of 180 hectares. Linderhof Palace in the Graswang valley is the smallest of Ludwig II's palaces, with a Hall of Mirrors and the Venus Grotto. The Würzburg Residence (UNESCO) impresses with Neumann's staircase and Tiepolo's giant fresco; the court garden and court church are free. You can enter the courtyard of Dresden's Zwinger, with its Crown Gate and Nymphs' Bath, free of charge. Schwerin Castle stands on an island in Lake Schwerin and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2024.
Most palaces in the catalogue are in Bavaria (over a dozen), North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony (about 10 each), and Brandenburg and Baden-Württemberg. Potsdam alone has five.
In practice: allow two to three hours for a palace with its park. Tickets usually cost €10–14 and combined tickets €15–22; in many Bavarian palaces and at Schwerin Castle, under-18s enter free. Palace gardens such as Charlottenburg and Würzburg are often free. Sanssouci admits visitors only with a fixed time slot.
Palaces
Potsdam
Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam was the private summer retreat of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, and it is one of the most rewarding day trips from Berlin. The single-story rococo palace sits on top of six terraced vineyards inside Sans…
Palaces
Munich
Nymphenburg Palace in Munich is one of Europe's grandest baroque palaces and was the summer residence of Bavaria's Wittelsbach rulers for two centuries. Its long white facade, ornate state rooms, King Ludwig I's famous Gallery of Beauties…
Palaces
Ettal
Linderhof Palace near Ettal in the Bavarian Alps is the smallest of King Ludwig II's royal palaces and the only major one he lived to see completed. Since 2025 it has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Neuschwanstein.…
Palaces
Würzburg
The Würzburg Residence is the grand Baroque palace of the former prince-bishops of Würzburg and one of the finest palaces in Europe. Together with its Court Garden and Residence Square, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.…
Palaces
Dresden
The Zwinger in Dresden is one of the great baroque masterpieces of Europe and the top sight in the capital of Saxony. Built for Augustus the Strong as a stage for lavish court festivals, the palace complex wraps a vast garden courtyard wit…
Palaces
Schwerin
Schwerin Castle is the fairy-tale palace of northern Germany. Rising from an island in Lake Schwerin, with golden domes, dozens of turrets, and terraced gardens reaching down to the water, it was the residence of the Grand Dukes of Mecklen…
Palaces
Potsdam
Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam was the private summer retreat of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, and it is one of the most rewarding day trips from Berlin. The single-story rococo palace sits on top of six terraced vineyards inside Sans…
Palaces
Dresden
The Zwinger in Dresden is one of the great baroque masterpieces of Europe and the top sight in the capital of Saxony. Built for Augustus the Strong as a stage for lavish court festivals, the palace complex wraps a vast garden courtyard wit…
Palaces
München
Nymphenburg Palace in Munich is one of Europe's grandest baroque palaces and was the summer residence of Bavaria's Wittelsbach rulers for two centuries. Its long white facade, ornate state rooms, King Ludwig I's famous Gallery of Beauties…
Palaces
Ettal
Linderhof Palace near Ettal in the Bavarian Alps is the smallest of King Ludwig II's royal palaces and the only major one he lived to see completed. Since 2025 it has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Neuschwanstein.…
Palaces
Chiemsee
Herrenchiemsee Palace on Herreninsel island in Lake Chiemsee is the largest and most expensive palace built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, a lavish tribute to Versailles in the Bavarian countryside. Reaching it by boat across the lake is pa…
Palaces
Würzburg
The Würzburg Residence is the grand Baroque palace of the former prince-bishops of Würzburg and one of the finest palaces in Europe. Together with its Court Garden and Residence Square, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.…
Palaces
Moritzburg
Moritzburg Castle near Dresden is one of the most photogenic palaces in Germany: a Baroque hunting lodge with four round, red-domed towers, set on an artificial island in a lake. Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, t…
Palaces
Schwerin
Schwerin Castle is the fairy-tale palace of northern Germany. Rising from an island in Lake Schwerin, with golden domes, dozens of turrets, and terraced gardens reaching down to the water, it was the residence of the Grand Dukes of Mecklen…
Palaces
Berlin
Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg) is the largest and most important palace complex of the Prussian kings and German emperors in Berlin. With its green dome, lavish baroque and rococo rooms and a sprawling palace garden, it is…
Palaces
München
The Munich Residenz is the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach dynasty and the largest city-center palace in Germany. For more than four centuries, Bavaria's dukes, electors and kings ruled from this sprawling complex in the heart of Mu…
Palaces
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg Palace (Residenzschloss Ludwigsburg), just north of Stuttgart, is one of the largest Baroque palaces in Germany and is often called the "Versailles of Swabia." With about 452 rooms, two churches, an 18th-century theater and a v…
Palaces
Dresden
Dresden Castle, known locally as the Residenzschloss, was the seat of Saxony's electors and kings for some four centuries and is now one of the richest museum complexes in Europe. Behind its Renaissance towers in the heart of Dresden's Old…
Palaces
Dresden
Pillnitz Palace (Schloss Pillnitz) is the former summer residence of Saxony's electors and kings, set right on the Elbe River on the eastern edge of Dresden. Its three palaces, with curving Chinese-style roofs, are surrounded by about 25 h…
Palaces
Mannheim
Mannheim Palace (Barockschloss Mannheim) is one of the largest palaces in Europe, a red sandstone Baroque residence more than 400 meters wide in the middle of Mannheim's city center. Built for the Electors of the Palatinate, it now houses…
Palaces
Eutin
Eutin Castle (Eutiner Schloss) is a four-winged brick palace on a moated island in the Großer Eutiner See in Schleswig-Holstein, in the region known as Holstein Switzerland. Once a residence of the prince-bishops of Lübeck and later a summ…
Palaces
Leipzig
Gohlis Palace (Gohliser Schlösschen) in the Leipzig district of Gohlis is a small Baroque summer palace from the 1750s. It is described as the last surviving Baroque palace and estate complex around Leipzig. If you are looking for things t…
Palaces
Rudolstadt
Heidecksburg Palace (Residenzschloss Heidecksburg) in Rudolstadt is a Baroque palace that stands about 200 feet (60 m) above the old town, on a ridge above the Saale river in Thuringia. It was the residence of the counts and princes of Sch…
Palaces
Binz
Granitz Hunting Lodge (Jagdschloss Granitz) near Binz on the island of Rügen looks like a fairy-tale castle hidden in a beech forest: four crenellated corner towers, a slender central tower and pale pink walls. Built for the princes of Put…
Palaces
Berlin
Jagdschloss Grunewald, a Renaissance hunting lodge on the shore of Grunewaldsee lake, is the oldest surviving palace in Berlin. Hidden in the Grunewald forest in the leafy Dahlem district, it combines a lakeside walk with an excellent art…
Palaces
Salem
Salem Abbey (Kloster und Schloss Salem) on Lake Constance is one of the most important baroque monastery complexes in southern Germany. This former imperial Cistercian abbey blends a Gothic minster with baroque state rooms, and in the 19th…
Palaces
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
After hours of climbing in the Wetterstein mountains, the King's House on the Schachen first looks like a modest timber chalet with shutters and fretwork balconies. Only upstairs do you see why King Ludwig II built up here: the Turkish Hal…
Palaces
Potsdam
Red brick walls, bands of grey and white marble, a small round temple with a gilded fruit basket on the roof and the waters of the Heiliger See in front: the Marmorpalais in the New Garden may be Potsdam's most romantic palace. King Freder…
Palaces
Potsdam
The New Palace (Neues Palais) in Potsdam is the largest palace in Sanssouci Park and one of the last great Baroque palaces built in Prussia. Frederick the Great commissioned it right after the Seven Years' War to prove his kingdom was anyt…
Palaces
Bad Mergentheim
In the middle of the spa town of Bad Mergentheim on the river Tauber stands a palace from which one of Europe's most powerful religious orders was governed for almost 300 years. From 1527 to 1809, Mergentheim Residential Palace was the hea…
Sanssouci in Potsdam, Nymphenburg and the Residenz in Munich, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee, the Würzburg Residence and Dresden's Zwinger.
Usually €10–14: Sanssouci €14, Schwerin Castle €13, Linderhof €11, Würzburg Residence €10. Combined tickets cost €15–22, and under-18s go free at many palaces.
The courtyard of Dresden's Zwinger, the court garden of the Würzburg Residence, Charlottenburg Palace Garden and the castle park in Schwerin.
Updated: · Opening hours and prices can change — check the attraction page before you go.