Nymphenburg Palace: Munich Travel Guide (4.6★)

A summer house that kept growing

It began as a gift for a son. In 1664, Elector Ferdinand Maria started building a villa for his wife Henriette Adelaide of Savoy to celebrate the birth of their heir, Max Emanuel. Later Wittelsbach rulers added wings, galleries and pavilions to it. The result is a pale facade stretching across the end of a long canal, with a 200-hectare park behind it.

From the tram stop, you follow the canal straight toward the main block, with swans on the water and gravel underfoot. The scale is the point. The building is designed to be seen head-on from a distance, so slow down on the approach.

Inside: rooms, beauties and coaches

Start in the Steinerner Saal (Stone Hall). It is three storeys high, white and gold, and its ceiling fresco is by Johann Baptist Zimmermann. From there, the tour route runs through the royal apartments in the wings.

What to look for:

• Gallery of Beauties: 36 portraits of women commissioned by Ludwig I and painted mostly by Joseph Stieler, including the cobbler’s daughter Helene Sedlmayr.
• Ludwig II’s birth room: the “fairy-tale king” was born here in 1845.
• Marstallmuseum: in a side wing, with gilded state coaches and Ludwig II’s ornate sleighs.
• Porcelain collection: upstairs from the coaches, showing pieces from the Nymphenburg manufactory.

The park and its pavilions

The baroque gardens behind the palace are laid out symmetrically, and the landscaped woods farther out have scattered pavilions. The highlight is the Amalienburg, a small rococo hunting lodge by François Cuvilliés with a circular Hall of Mirrors in silver and pale blue. The Badenburg holds an early heated indoor bath. The Pagodenburg is tiled in blue and white, and the Magdalenenklause is a fake ruined hermitage.

The pavilions usually open only during the summer season, so check before you walk out to them. If you want more green space afterwards, the Botanical Garden borders the park to the north. The Hirschgarten beer garden is a short walk south.

Timing the queue at the cashier

The listed hours are 9am to 6pm every day. On weekdays, crowds are low across that whole window, so a Tuesday or Wednesday gives you the most freedom. On weekends, the quiet window is just 9am to 10am. Don’t arrive between 11am and 5pm on a Saturday or Sunday, when tour groups pile up in the Stone Hall and the ticket line spills outside.

A few habits will help:

• Buy the combination ticket (Gesamtkarte) if you want the palace, Marstallmuseum and pavilions. Current prices are posted at the cashier and on the Bavarian Palace Administration website.
• Do the interiors first and the park last. The rooms fill up as the day goes on, but the park absorbs crowds easily.
• Getting there: take Tram 17 from Hauptbahnhof or Karlsplatz (Stachus) to the “Schloss Nymphenburg” stop.
• In a cold winter, locals ice-skate and play Eisstockschießen (Bavarian curling) on the frozen canal. This only happens once the city declares the ice safe.