Quick Facts

Date
Saturday, 21 December 2024
Tickets
Nymphenburg Palace — booked ahead, €24 total, self-guided, no fixed timing
Region
Munich, Germany
Covers
Nymphenburg Palace & gardens
Good for
A slow final day — light on plans, easy on tired legs

A Slow Morning

Day 13, 21 December, was left deliberately light — tickets to Nymphenburg Palace, booked ahead for €24, with no fixed timing to keep to. We let ourselves rest through the morning, giving our bodies a break after many full days of travel. By late morning, we made our way to the palace, the birthplace of King Ludwig II.

Standing by the canal at Nymphenburg Palace, trees and a bridge behind Along the canal, tracing its length toward the gardens.
Standing by the lake at Nymphenburg Palace, looking out over the water One last quiet look over the water.

Nymphenburg Palace

The palace started life in 1664 as a summer residence for the Bavarian electors and grew wing by wing over the next century into the vast estate we walked through — a canal running the full length of the gardens, once used for ceremonial boat processions straight up to the front steps. Long gardens, still water, and swans gliding across the lake made it feel more like a park than a single building.

Nymphenburg Palace and its long facade, seen across the lake
The full sweep of the palace, across the lake.

King Ludwig II was born here in 1845, in the same rooms we were walking through. Inside, the state rooms are still dressed in their original silk wallpaper and gilt trim, each one opening into the next in a long formal sequence, exactly as they would have been walked through two centuries ago.

Ludwig was known for his fondness for animals even as a child here, and swans have been kept on this same lake for generations since — one of the few parts of the estate that's stayed genuinely unchanged.

Swans gliding on the lake at Nymphenburg Palace Swans, gliding past without a care.
Swans on the wide lake at Nymphenburg Palace, the palace towers visible in the distance The lake, wide and still, the palace behind.
Family Travel Tip

Nymphenburg's gardens are large and flat, making it an easy, stroller-friendly stop to close out a long trip — good for a day when you want a real attraction without much walking effort.

A Simple Lunch

Just outside the palace, we stopped for lunch at a cosy traditional restaurant. The food was warm and comforting — sausages, potato salad, crispy schnitzel, simple Bavarian dishes that felt just right on a cold afternoon.

Bavarian lunch on a wooden table near Nymphenburg Palace: grilled sausages with mustard, pork schnitzel in gravy, and creamy potato salad
Sausages with mustard, schnitzel in gravy, and potato salad — exactly right for a cold afternoon.

Back Inside the Palace

After lunch we went back into the palace for a second look at the state rooms. The walls are covered in pale blue silk printed with gold motifs, a gilt-framed mirror hangs above the sofa, and a crystal chandelier catches the light over a parquet floor. Seeing the rooms a second time, after the morning walk, made the details easier to notice.

One of Nymphenburg Palace's state rooms, silk wallpaper and a crystal chandelier
One of the state rooms, dressed exactly as it was two centuries ago.
Our daughter sitting on a green leather bench in the palace's portrait gallery, portraits of 19th-century women lining the walls The portrait gallery, a row of 19th-century court ladies on the walls.
Painted rococo ceiling and a crystal chandelier inside a state room at Nymphenburg Palace The painted ceiling, looked up at for a long time.

Wandering the Grounds

We spent most of the day slowly exploring the palace grounds — no fixed route, no ticket time to make, just whichever path along the canal looked most interesting next.

Our daughter smiling in the gardens at Nymphenburg Palace Making the most of the last slow afternoon.
Our daughter crouching in front of Nymphenburg Palace Finding something more interesting than the palace itself.

A Gentle Goodbye

Woman on the stone steps of the palace terrace at Nymphenburg, pale winter sky above Down the palace steps, one last time.
Man leaning on the stone balustrade of the palace terrace, the long canal gardens stretching behind him The canal gardens, stretching out from the terrace.

By evening, we returned to our little boarding house. Before heading in, we stopped by the nearby supermarket for some chocolates, a few last souvenirs, and simple instant meals for dinner.

Back in our apartment, we prepared a small meal and spent our final night in Munich quietly, just the three of us. It was a mix of happiness and sadness — grateful for the two weeks we shared, and already feeling the softness of goodbye as we prepared for the journey home.