Nymphenburg Palace in Munich: how much time to allow?
 

Taking a poll... What is the average amount of time you have spent at Nymphenburg Palace? We will be 2 adults and 2 kids (9 and 11) visiting the castle on our last day in Europe before heading home to the U.S. the following day. Ideally, I'd like to be able to do something else in Munich in the afternoon... The Englischer Garten, or a Third Reich walking tour, but I'm wondering if we might be too tired from lots of walking at the castle in the morning. Also not sure if there would even be enough time to do much else depending on how many hours we spend there. What is reasonable? 2 hours? 3 hours? We will need to have dinner early and early to bed that night in order to wake up early the next day for the flight home.

You'll probably spend an hour or so at the main palace - but then there are the satellite palaces, the porcelain museum, the carriage museum, the gardens... I suppose 3 hours would cover most of it but you may have to make some choices if you get tuckered out that morning. Maybe pick some low-energy activity that afternoon.

IIRC, I spent between 3 and 4 hours at Nymphenburg (not counting the time to get there or return to Munich) -- that included a bit of time (less than an hour, I think) in the main palace and lots of time roaming the grounds and exploring its gardens, museums, and "out" buildings. YMMV.

We took the tram to the place when we last visited so "getting there" wasn't all that time-consuming. We took a tour and other than the stairs and the usual trooping through "gold leaf central" rooms, we didn't do a "lot" of walking. I would plan on a couple of hours to see the main palace itself and perhaps a wander through the grounds. Versailles it is not in terms of size.

The E-garten: unless you really like being amongst the trees and greenery and the water (you might stop to watch the surfers at some point), make sure to go to the "central" area where you can get a snack, etc. The place is extensive but you can get there easily using the U-bahn.

Sorry -- I didn't mean that the transit required much time -- I meant that I spent 3 or 4 hours at Nymphenburg, not counting transit. Again, YMMV.

Hi brubenow,

I spent a half day there and didn't even go into the gardens -- it was winter.

s

The gardens are lovely. Besides the more formal areas with reflecting pools and fountains there are large areas with other buildings (hunting lodges, follies, etc and beautiful wooded areas with sacttered statues and water features.

I would allow about 4 hours to see much of it.

Thanks everyone! Sounds like you all agree 3-4 hours. My kids will probably have had their fill after 3.

That's why I said "a couple" since the children may very well get bored.

Assume you have already done the Residenze.

Thanks, Dukey. We probably won't do the Residenz- I've been told that Nymphenburg is the better choice for kids over the Residenz, and I don't think we'll have time for both. I know it's a shame to miss it, but we have limited time in Munich, unfortunately.

I don't think it is necessary to plan to do only one way. I have spent about 3 hours there, but I have spent quite bit of time in the garden. It was a moderate temperature day in fall. I think you are going in July 2016? What is your plan if the day starts out hot? How would you structure routing if your children gets exhausted in the middle of the visit? And what would you do with time suddenly became available if you choose to cut Nymphenburg short?

Residenz seems to be never ending sequence of rooms. I would say way too many rooms.