Entrance to Linderhof Pa lace

Linderhof Palace: King Ludwig’s Fairytale Castlemonkeysandmountains.com /linderhof -castle-bavaria-germany

Linderhof Cast le, or palace as it is off icially known, is the only cast le that eccentric KingLudwig II f inished before he died a mysterious death.

You can try your hand at solving the mystery here. Most of Neuschwanstein Castle is not finished. Nor is my favorite ofthe three Herrenchiemsee Palace in which you have to take a boat to get to the palace located on an island. LinderhofPalace is also by far the smallest of the three castles, but as it was inspired by Versaille, for what it lacks in size, itmakes up for in opulence and fairytaleness – a word I just made up but which seems quite fitting for King Ludwig II.

Entrance toLinderhofPalace isavailable byguided touronly. Youcan makereservationsin advanceonly by mailor fax. Sincethis wasn’tconvenientour groupfrom Munichjust showedup andwaited lessthan 20minutes toget in. Thepalace touris less than25 minutesand isoffered inGerman orEnglish. When Iasked a girl

Looks jus t l i ke your bedroom r ight? Photo cour tes y o f Bavar ian Cas tle Dept.

Moor is h Kios k on the grounds o f Linderhof Pa lace

asked a girlin our group what she thought ofit, her reply was short. Havingsaid that we all agreed it wasworthwhile. Of special note isthe Hall of Mirrors which due tothe clever placement of mirrorsgives the illusion of a neverending corridor. Unfortunatelyphotos are not allowed insidethe palace so you’ll just have totake my word that the palacereally does resemble somethingout of a fairytale.

I also really enjoyed the parkgrounds of the palace. Thereare formalgardens,waterfeatures aMoorishKiosk and aMoroccanHouse. Weate at therestaurantnear theentrance, butthere werelots of greatspots for apicnic. Myonlycomplaintwas that thebuildings onthe groundswere notsigned, so itwas difficultto know whythere was aMoorishKiosk and aMoroccanHouse(actually built in Morocco) in the middle of Bavaria.

Perhaps the most unique feature found on the palace

View over looking Linderhof Pa lace and grounds

Perhaps the most unique feature found on the palacegrounds is the Venus Grotto, an illuminated artificial cavemade especially for King Ludwig II that illustrated the firstact of Richard Wagner’s Tannhaüser. Mmm perhaps hewas a little obsessed? Whatever happened to justdancing around in your living room or Hall of Mirrors inhis case? Perhaps, I was being too kind when I referredto the king as eccentric. Entrance to the Venus Grotto isalso available only by tour which lasts about 10 minutes. The tour is only held in German (to the best of myknowledge), but even if you don’t speak German, thevisual and sound effects still make it worth seeing.

Know Before You Go to Linderhof Palace:

Linderhof Palace is open from 9:00 – 6:00 pm April –October 15th. Important Travel t ip: The previousopening times mentioned are the best time to go. While the palace itself is open from 10:00 – 4:00from October 16th – March, the Grotto, MoroccanHouse, and Moorish Kiosk are all closed. Plus thefountains won’t be turned on and there won’t bemuch to see in the gardens.

Entrance to Linderhof Palace costs €8.50

Bring a picnic, the park is gorgeous! Alternativelythere is a restaurant at the entrance to the grounds.

Linderhof Palace can be reached by taking a trainfrom Munich, to the nearby village of Ettal. Then hopon a bus which takes you directly to the palace. Travel t ip: While in Ettal, take a minute to explore

Water feature in front o f Linderhof Pa lace

Travel t ip: While in Ettal, take a minute to exploreEttal Abbey, it’s a beautiful Benedictine monasteryhome to ~50 monks.

More info can be found about Linderhof on theofficial web page here.

About Laurel

Laurel Robbins is a free-spirited adventurer, award-winning travel blogger at Monkeys and MountainsAdventure Travel Blog. Many hats, one travel obsessedCanadian in Germany.

Venus Grotto handm ade jus t fo r King Ludwig II