Getting to Schloss Linderhof: the address, the bus from Oberammergau, and why the day tours exist
Where it actually is
Linderhof 12, 82488 Ettal. The postal town is Ettal, which is the abbey village; the palace itself is further west, up the Graswangtal, a long flat-bottomed valley with the Ammergau Alps on both sides of it. I live at the Oberammergau end of that valley and walk in it most weeks, and the thing worth knowing before anything else is that Linderhof is not in a town. There is a palace, a car park, a ticket desk and a great deal of mountain. That is the whole settlement.
The nearest place with shops, a station and somewhere to sleep is Oberammergau. If you are building a day around Linderhof rather than passing through it, build it around Oberammergau and treat the palace as the reason you came.
I am not going to tell you how far it is from Munich, and that is deliberate. No source I trust publishes a figure I would stand behind, the tours’ own stated durations disagree with each other, and a number in this paragraph would only be a number you plan around and then discover was for a Tuesday in February. What the listings themselves say is that it is a full day out of Munich. That is what this site says too.
Without a car: Oberammergau, then the bus
Get to Oberammergau by train, then take the bus up the Graswangtal to Linderhof. That is the route, and it is a normal public bus rather than a tourist shuttle. Two things about it are worth more than any timetable I could print here.
Check the current timetable before you travel, and check the last bus back first. This is a rural valley service and its shape changes with the season, exactly as everything else at Linderhof does. I am not printing departure times on this page, because a timetable copied into a web page in August 2026 is a wrong timetable by the following spring, and being stranded in the Graswangtal at dusk is a genuinely bad evening rather than a funny story. The operator publishes the current one; look at it the week you go.
Work backwards from the last bus, not forwards from the first. The palace tour is short and the park is not, so the constraint on your day is when you have to leave, and people consistently discover that constraint at the wrong end of the afternoon. How long the various pieces take is set out here, and if you are coming by bus you should read that page before you pick a departure.
What works
- Oberammergau is a real town: trains, beds, food, and a reason to be there anyway
- A bus fare and about eleven euros at the window is the whole of what the day costs
- You go at your own pace, and the park rewards that more than the palace does
- You can stay until the light goes, which no coach passenger can
Worth knowing
- It is a rural timetable and it thins out in winter and in the evening
- It needs planning the day before rather than the morning of
- Missing the last bus back is the failure mode, and it is not a small one
- Two legs, each with its own timetable, is two chances to be caught out
Driving, and where you put the car
If you have a car this is straightforward: a valley road, a car park at the end of it, and a short walk to the ticket desk. Parking is charged, and I am not going to print an amount for it, for the same reason I am not printing a timetable. What I can tell you is that the catalogue itself treats it as a real cost: three of the listings that drive here itemise the parking fee among the things they cover, one of them listing “Parking fees and road charges” and another simply “Parking fee”. Operators do not itemise nothing.
Two seasonal notes from someone who drives this valley in February. In winter the road is kept open and it is still an alpine valley road; take the tyres seriously. And in high summer the car park fills from mid-morning, which is one more argument for the early start that this site keeps making for other reasons as well.
What to do with a rucksack, and one rule about the sky
If you have come up the valley on the bus with a pack on your back, this paragraph is the one you needed. There are lockers. The large ones are opposite the castle hotel and there are smaller ones by the toilets, and they take rucksacks and camera equipment. Pushchairs and baby carriers are left at the palace entrance. The administration accepts no liability for anything stored, which is the ordinary wording and is worth reading as it is written rather than as a reassurance.
Camera equipment is in that sentence for a reason. You may not photograph or film inside the palace, the Venus Grotto or the Royal Lodge — outside in the park you may — so a big camera is something you carry round the gardens and put in a locker for twenty-five minutes, not something you take in.
And the rule about the sky: no drones and no model aircraft. The park is inside a nature conservation area. If you were planning aerial shots of the cascade, plan something else; this is not a discretionary rule you can ask a guide about on the day.
If you are driving and the weather is good, park once and stay. Ettal Abbey is on the way in and Oberammergau is a little beyond it, and the three of them make a full day without the drive back to Munich in the middle. Several of the listings on the platform have worked this out and sell exactly that shape of day.
Why the day tours exist, honestly
Now the part that most sites in this niche skip. If a coach from Munich is listed at about seventy-six euros and the door charges about eleven, why does anybody book the coach?
Because they are not the same purchase, and pretending they are is the mistake that makes this whole subject confusing. The palace sells the ticket. The platform sells the day. The coach seat is transport, a guide, a fixed departure, somebody else’s problem when the traffic is bad, and — on most of these listings — Neuschwanstein first. Fourteen of the eighteen listings that name Linderhof also name Neuschwanstein in the title, and on those the Graswangtal is the afternoon half of somebody else’s Neuschwanstein day.
That is worth stating without a sneer in it. For a visitor with four days in Munich, no car, no German and one free Wednesday, a coach seat converts a two-leg public transport plan with a rural timetable in it into a thing that happens whether or not they understand it. That is a real product and people are right to buy it. What they should not do is buy it under the impression that it is a ticket, because on most of these listings it is not one: of the eighteen that name this palace, only two state the entry flat. The full breakdown is on the tickets page.
And the reverse is worth stating too. If you have a car, or a day and a timetable and a willingness to read it, the difference between about eleven euros and about seventy-six euros is yours to keep. Nobody at the palace, the platform or this website is going to think less of you either way.
Can I just get a car to Linderhof and back?
Yes, exactly one listing in the whole crawl does that and nothing else: t759029, a private day trip from Munich to Linderhof Palace and back, listed at about three hundred euros in a private car with no tickets included. Every other listing here adds somewhere — Neuschwanstein, Oberammergau, Ettal, the Eibsee, an alpine coaster.
The catch is not the price. The catch is that it has no rating at all and not one written review, so if you book it you are booking on the strength of its description and nothing else. That is not a warning about the operator, whom I know nothing about. It is a statement about how much evidence exists, and the amount is none. Which listings have written reviews behind them, and which have nothing, is set out here.
The only Linderhof-only tripPrivate day trip from Munich to Linderhof Palace, and back
The one everybody booksFrom Munich: Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Trip
Quotes a stale fareFrom Munich: Royal Palace of Linderhof with Oberammergau
Which shape of day suits which traveller
Three honest routes in, and the third is the one nobody sells.
| How you get there | What you pay for the palace | What else it costs | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coach or minibus from Munich | Depends on the listing — see the admission table | From about €76 per person for the most-booked one | No car, no German, one free day, and Neuschwanstein on the same list |
| Your own car | €11 adult, €10 reduced, under 18 free | Fuel and a charged car park | Anybody with a car and a morning |
| Train to Oberammergau, then the bus | €11 adult, €10 reduced, under 18 free | Your rail and bus fares, and a timetable to read | Independent travellers who would rather stay till the light goes |
The middle and bottom rows are the same visit at the same door for the same money. The top row is a different product that happens to end at the same gate.
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available Linderhof Palace tickets and tours and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.
Related: what the door charges and what each listing does about it, how long you need once you are in the valley, opening hours and the practicalities, and what closes in winter.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get to Linderhof Palace?
The palace is at Linderhof 12, 82488 Ettal, in the Graswangtal west of Oberammergau. Without a car, take a train to Oberammergau and then the bus up the valley — check the current timetable, and check the last bus back before you plan the rest of the day. With a car it is a valley road to a charged car park a short walk from the ticket desk. Otherwise, a full-day tour out of Munich or Füssen does the travelling for you.
Where is Linderhof Palace located?
Linderhof 12, 82488 Ettal, in Bavaria. The postal town is Ettal, the abbey village; the palace sits further west up the Graswangtal, a valley in the Ammergau Alps. The nearest town with a station, shops and beds is Oberammergau.
Can you get to Linderhof by public transport?
Yes. Get to Oberammergau by train and take the bus up the Graswangtal. It is an ordinary rural bus service rather than a tourist shuttle, which means its timetable is seasonal and thins out in the evening, so read the current one before you go and work your day backwards from the last departure rather than forwards from the first.
Is it worth booking a tour instead of going independently?
It depends on what you are buying. A tour is transport, a guide and a fixed departure, and most of them put Neuschwanstein first — fourteen of the eighteen listings that name Linderhof name Neuschwanstein in the title too. If you have no car and one free day, that is a genuinely useful thing to buy. If you have a car, or the patience to read a bus timetable, you are paying for a journey you could make yourself, and the palace charges the same at its window either way.
Is there a tour that goes to Linderhof and nowhere else?
One, in the whole crawl behind this site: a private day trip from Munich to Linderhof Palace and back, listed at about three hundred euros with no tickets included. It carries no rating and not one written review, so booking it means booking on its description alone. Every other listing that names Linderhof also goes somewhere else — usually Neuschwanstein.
Is there parking at Linderhof?
Yes, and it is charged. This site does not print an amount for it, because a figure copied into a web page goes stale where a car park does not. Three of the listings that drive here itemise the parking fee among the costs they cover, which tells you it is a real charge rather than a formality. In high summer the car park fills from mid-morning.
Where can I leave a rucksack or a camera at Linderhof?
There are lockers: the large ones opposite the castle hotel and smaller ones by the toilets, for rucksacks and camera equipment. Pushchairs and baby carriers are left at the palace entrance. The administration accepts no liability for what is stored. The lockers matter more here than at most palaces, because photography and video are not permitted inside the building, the Venus Grotto or the Royal Lodge.
Can I fly a drone at Linderhof?
No. Drones and model aircraft are not allowed: the park sits inside a nature conservation area. Photography on foot in the park is free for your own use, but nothing airborne, and nothing at all inside the palace, the grotto or the Royal Lodge.