The hall of mirrors
Facing mirrors repeating candlelight to infinity โ the palace's most famous room.
Softeis โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Cayambe โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Cayambe โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Llez โ CC BY-SA 3.0
If there is time for only one: Neuschwanstein is more famous and more imposing outside; Linderhof is finer inside, far less crowded, and its gardens have no equal at the other. By car the two combine into one long day โ they are about an hour apart.
The palace opens in winter and looks lovely in snow, but the grotto, the kiosk and the fountains all shut โ and they are half the experience. Given the choice, go between May and October.
Two to three hours on site: the timed interior tour is half an hour, the rest is gardens and follies. Add the journey each way from Munich, and consider pairing it with nearby Ettal abbey or Oberammergau.
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Linderhof is the smallest of King Ludwig II's three palaces and the only one finished in his lifetime โ which may be why it feels closest to the man himself. The dreamer-king built it in a secluded mountain valley south of Munich, near Ettal abbey and the village of Oberammergau. The palace is tiny but extravagant almost beyond belief: a bedroom larger than its reception rooms, a hall of mirrors that repeats candlelight to infinity, and a dining table that sinks whole into the kitchen below and rises again laden โ so the king need never see a servant. The grounds may outdo the house: terraced gardens and a fountain that fires water high on the half hour, and scattered in the woods, follies of which the most famous are the ornate Moorish Kiosk, where Ludwig sat in Eastern dress, and the artificial Venus Grotto with its lake and gilded boat.
Facing mirrors repeating candlelight to infinity โ the palace's most famous room.
An ornate Eastern-style pavilion where Ludwig sat in Oriental dress beside a peacock fountain.
A dining table that sinks whole to the kitchen and returns laden, so the king saw no one.
French-style terraces set among Bavarian mountains, with a fountain firing tens of metres high.
Linderhof 12, 82488 Ettal