Linderhof Palace: The Only Large Palace Ludwig II Saw Finished, the Venus Grotto and How to Get There

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If you have looked at a Neuschwanstein day trip from Munich and noticed that most of them make a second stop at another castle, that second castle is Linderhof, and it deserves better than the footnote it usually gets. It is the one big palace of Ludwig’s that he saw through to the end, and it comes with an artificial cave and a park full of small buildings. This page covers what it is, what it costs this month, how the grotto works, and the realistic ways to reach it. It sits alongside my page on King Ludwig’s castles and their UNESCO status and the step-by-step Neuschwanstein trip by train.

What Linderhof is

Ludwig II was crowned in 1864 and made his first plans for Linderhof in 1868, and the palace grew around the forester’s house that belonged to his father, Maximilian II. In 1869 he had that house rebuilt as the Royal Lodge, and the complex was extended and clad in stone in the following years. The palace administration calls Linderhof the only large palace Ludwig lived to see completed, and it measured 30 by 27 meters after his death in 1886¹. That is a small footprint for a king.

It is also one of four sites in the Ludwig II inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list, alongside Neuschwanstein, Schachen and Herrenchiemsee, decided on July 12, 2025⁶.

Hours, prices and the grotto's season

Everything here is as the palace administration lists it for 2026, and the date matters because the summer season ends on October 15. From April 15 to October 15 the palace is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from October 16 to April 14 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with ticket sales ending at 5:30 p.m. in summer and at 4 p.m. in winter³.

Source: schlosslinderhof.de².

Children under 18 are free, and so are students over 18 from general, vocational, special and hospital schools with a student ID. The rest of the park buildings need no ticket. Tickets cannot be returned or exchanged, and online tickets skip the queue at the cash desk. All buildings are closed on January 1, Shrove Tuesday and December 24, 25 and 31²³.

Palace tours are in German and English, hold at most 40 people, start roughly every 5 to 10 minutes and last about 25 minutes. The administration lists eleven rooms on the route, from the vestibule to the Hall of Mirrors, with an audience room, a bedroom and a dining room in between³⁷.

The Venus Grotto

The grotto is an artificial dripstone cave, built in 1875 to 1877, 90 meters long and up to 14 meters high, which the palace’s own page calls the largest artificial cave of the 19th century. It was built for Ludwig’s sole use, its stage set comes from the first act of Wagner’s “Tannhäuser”, and it is modeled on the Blue Grotto of Capri. Electric lighting went in between 1878 and 1881⁸.

The visit is a guided tour too: groups of up to 50, roughly every 20 minutes, about 15 minutes long. Its hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. return each year on April 15, and it is closed from October 16 to April 14³.

The grotto sits about 50 meters above the palace on steep paths with gradients of up to 20 percent, and photography is not allowed inside¹².

Resi says If the grotto is why you are going, go before October 15 or plan for April. No guide will open it for you in between. In winter you are buying the palace and the park, which is a fine day, but a different one.

What else is closed or off

The Moorish Kiosk is under restoration and cannot be seen from the outside or the inside, and the administration hopes to reopen its interior at the start of the 2028 season. The fountain in front of the palace is off because of a water shortage, though other water features run in summer. In winter the park buildings are closed except the Royal Lodge, which then opens Sundays and public holidays from noon to 4:30 p.m. and daily in Bavarian school holidays³.

Dogs may enter the palace only if carried, and the site is a nature reserve, which is why drones and model planes are banned. Photographing the exterior for private use is fine¹².

By public transport

The palace’s own directions are specific. Take the train to Oberammergau, and from there bus 9622 runs to Linderhof; bus 9624 connects Linderhof with Oberau and Reutte, and the timetables are on rvo-bus.de⁴. That is the whole official answer, with no travel time from Munich, so check the connection to Oberammergau on bahn.de for your date before you commit.

The Bayern-Ticket is the obvious fare to price. It costs €34 for one person, €44 for two and €74 for five in second class, and it is valid on a weekday from 9 a.m. until 3 a.m. the next day, and from midnight on weekends and public holidays¹⁰. It covers almost all scheduled buses in Bavaria, but the same page notes that some buses do not accept it and links to a list of them, which I could not open, so confirm that bus 9622 is not on it before you rely on the ticket. My Bayern-Ticket guide goes through the rules, and the Bavaria by train page has the trips that suit it better than this one.

By car, the palace tells you to take the A95 and the B2 to Oberau, then the B23 toward Ettal, and the parking holds 550 cars and 14 coaches for a fee. A tour operator’s own page makes the case for a coach: it describes seeing both castles in a day on public transport as almost impossible and claims its tour saves about four hours. That is the operator’s claim, not mine⁴⁵.

Day tours from Munich

Three tours in the site’s feed include Linderhof, and I read all three pages on October 13, 2026. They are not the same trip.

Neuschwanstein Castle and Linderhof Palace Day Trip from Munich is a coach tour of about 10 hours 30 minutes run by Mentor Reisen GmbH, meeting at 8:45 a.m. at Sonnenstraße 1 in Munich. It stops at Linderhof first, around 10:45 a.m., with about an hour and a half there, then drives through Oberammergau to Neuschwanstein. Entrance fees are not included, though the page offers an option with them and has the guide sell skip-the-line tickets on the coach in the morning. It is rated 4.8 from 3,008 reviews, can be cancelled for a full refund up to 24 hours before, and showed a fare from $86.54 per person for Wednesday, October 14, and from $142.33 with entrance fees⁹.

VIP Daytrip Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Grotto from Munich is the same operator, meeting point and duration, in English only. It includes the entrance fees for both castles with skip-the-line entry, snacks and soft drinks on board, Bavarian beer, and the Venus Grotto between May 1 and October 15. The order is different: the coach reaches Linderhof around 10 a.m., the group walks to the grotto first, about 20 minutes uphill, and then does the palace. It is rated 4.9 from 1,038 reviews, with the same 24-hour full refund, and the page warns of more than 300 steps at Neuschwanstein⁵.

Half Day from Füssen to Neuschwanstein Castle and Linderhof Castle is the odd one out, because it starts in Füssen, not Munich: 8 hours by the page’s own count despite the title, from 9 a.m. at Wachsbleiche 2, with skip-the-line entrance to Neuschwanstein, a stop at Linderhof, Hohenschwangau and a pass through Oberammergau¹¹. It is operated by Bavarian Castle Tour, lists hotel pickup and drop-off, requires a minimum of two people per booking, and is rated 3.8 from 49 reviews. It suits people already based in Füssen, which is not a Munich plan.

Resi says I would book the VIP version. It is the only one of the three that puts both castles’ entry tickets and the grotto in one booking, takes you to the grotto before the palace, and has the best rating at 4.9 from over a thousand reviews. One honest limit: the page’s grotto inclusion ends on October 15, so for a date after that the grotto part of the argument is gone, and you would be paying the VIP fare for tickets, snacks and an English-only group. For those dates, the first tour with entry added is the fairer comparison.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you visit Linderhof Palace without a tour?

No. A visit to the palace and to the Venus Grotto is possible only on a guided tour, in German or English.

How much does Linderhof cost?

In 2026 the palace is €11 regular and €10 reduced, the Venus Grotto €9 and €8, and the combined palace and grotto ticket €18 and €16. Children under 18 are free.

Is the Venus Grotto open in winter?

No. It is open from April 15 to October 15 and closed from October 16 to April 14.

How long does the Linderhof tour take?

The palace tour lasts about 25 minutes and the grotto tour about 15 minutes.

How do you get to Linderhof by public transport?

Train to Oberammergau, then bus 9622 to Linderhof, according to the palace’s own directions. Bus 9624 connects Linderhof with Oberau and Reutte.

Is Linderhof a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

Yes, as one of four sites in the Ludwig II inscription of July 12, 2025, with Neuschwanstein, Schachen and Herrenchiemsee.

Can you see Neuschwanstein and Linderhof in one day?

Yes, on a day tour from Munich of about 10 hours 30 minutes, which stops at both castles.

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