Residenz or Nymphenburg? The case for this palace, and the part I will not pretend to know
This question gets asked so often that one listing in our catalogue is built out of it: a single guided tour sold as Nymphenburg Palace or the Residenz, where you settle it on the day. It is the cheapest guided option at this address and it has been reviewed by people who went to each. When a product exists whose whole proposition is “you decide later”, the question is real.
What follows is the case for this palace, made out of this palace’s own published facts. What does not follow is a tariff, a timetable or a room count for Nymphenburg, because this site has not read them, and a page that guessed at half its comparison would be worth nothing on the half it got right.
What this page can tell you, and what it cannot
Worth being explicit about, because comparison pages are where invented facts go to hide. Everything in the left column below comes off the Bavarian Palace Administration’s own pages for this address, or off the city’s portal where it says so. The right column is what I would have to make up.
| The Munich Residenz — read and checked | Nymphenburg — not read by this site |
|---|---|
| Three separate tickets: Residence Museum, Schatzkammer, Cuvilliés Theatre, plus two combinations | Its ticket structure and prices. Ask its own operator. |
| Museum and Treasury open 9 am to 6 pm from 28 March to 19 October and 10 am to 5 pm from 20 October to 27 March; the theatre keeps its own timetable | Its opening hours and seasons, which are not necessarily these |
| A free audio guide in nine languages, covering the museum and the Treasury | Whether it has one, what it covers and what it costs |
| Open every day of the year but five | Its own closed days |
| The Antiquarium, 66 metres, the largest and most lavish Renaissance hall north of the Alps by the operator’s description | Its named rooms and what is in them |
| A treasury of ten rooms and a rococo court theatre where Idomeneo was first performed in 1781 | What it has that this palace does not |
| The Hofgarten: free, no gate charge, on no ticket | Its grounds, their size and whether they are free |
A page that filled in that right-hand column from memory would read better and be worth less. If you are choosing between the two, get Nymphenburg’s figures from the people who take its money, exactly as this site gets the Residenz’s figures from the people who take this one’s.
The case for this palace, in four facts
It is where you already are. Residenzstraße 1 is in the old town, with two underground interchanges in reach and a tram stop at Nationaltheater. There is no journey to build a morning around, which means the Residenz can be half a day rather than a day (the stops).
It is three different museums. A state-apartment route through interiors made between the 16th and the 19th century in five styles; a treasury of ten rooms with the Bavarian crowns in it; and a court theatre. Those are three quite different kinds of looking, and you can take one, two or all three (the tariff, and the two combinations).
The narration is free. Nine languages, no charge, for the museum and the Treasury. That is the fact that most changes what a visit here costs, and it is why the guided listings at this address have to offer more than commentary (what is waiting at the door).
You can hear it as well as look at it. Five listings sell music inside this building, in three named halls, and 658 of the 908 written reviews on the eleven Residenz listings in our catalogue sit on those five — nearly three quarters. Whatever else this palace is, it is a working set of concert rooms, and one of them is a rococo theatre (which hall, which calendar).
Where this palace loses the argument
Three honest ones. It is a city palace, so what you get is interiors and a court garden rather than an estate. It is three tickets and more than one door, which is a complication the visitor has to manage. And on a weekday morning for most of the year one of those three is shut until 2 pm, which is the single most common way a day here goes wrong (both timetables).
If the day you want is one where you walk a long way out of doors, the answer to this page’s question is probably not this building — and I would rather say that than sell you an afternoon you will not enjoy.
The listing that refuses to choose for you
One guided tour in our catalogue is sold as Nymphenburg Palace or the Residenz, with the choice made on the day. It is the cheapest guided option here, it carries 4.5 from 36 written reviews, and its reviewers split between the two buildings, which makes it the only listing on this site where you can read about both.
Martin, who took the Residenz version, describes a guide in costume: “The chambermaid was simply a dream. She was super nice and authentically dressed and showed us around the Munich Residence. We and the children were very impressed and had a lot of fun and were able to learn a few things too 😀 we would be happy to do it again any time.”
Ursula, who took the Nymphenburg version, wrote the only sourced practical warning about the other palace that this site has, and it is hers rather than mine: “+ The tour with a palace employee was fun, and we learned a lot about all the people who lived at Nymphenburg. - In addition to the ticket for the guided tour, you also need an admission ticket for the palace. We only found this out a few minutes before the tour was scheduled to start.” Four stars. If you take this listing on the Nymphenburg day, check what its price does and does not include before you turn up.
| Munich: Nymphenburg Palace or Residenz Guided Tour | This palace, all three partsMunich: Residenz Palace and Hofgarten Skip-the-Line Tour | Munich: Residenz Palace, Museum and Treasury Private Tour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | €21 per person | €65 per person | €225 per person |
| Which palace | Either, you choose on the day | The Residenz | The Residenz |
| Rating | 4.5 from 36 reviews | 4.8 from 190 reviews | 4.9 from 16 reviews |
| What its own page includes | A guided tour of the palace you pick | Guided tour of the museum, a licensed official Munich guide, skip-the-line tickets, and tickets to the Treasury and the Cuvilliés Theatre | Skip-the-line tickets to the palace, museum and Treasury, with the theatre on the longer options |
| How long | Not stated on the page I read | 2.5 hours | 2–3 hours |
| Group | Shared | Shared | Your party only |
| Best for | Deciding on the day | One visit that opens all three parts of this address | A small party that would rather not share |
| View → | Book this → | View → |
Or the other palaceMunich: Nymphenburg Palace or Residenz Guided Tour
The guided oneMunich: Residenz Palace and Hofgarten Skip-the-Line Tour
Private, all three partsMunich: Residenz Palace, Museum and Treasury Private Tour
Deciding on this side: whether this palace is worth the afternoon, how long it takes, what is on the route, and the choice-of-palace tour, reviewed.
Frequently asked questions
Should I visit the Munich Residenz or Nymphenburg Palace?
Take the Residenz if you have an afternoon in the city centre and want interiors: it is three ticketed parts at one old-town address, with a free audio guide in nine languages and a free court garden behind it, open every day but five. Take Nymphenburg if you want a journey out to a palace with a park — and check its hours and tickets on its own operator’s pages, because this site has not read them and prints no figure for it.
Why does this site not compare the two ticket prices?
Because it has only read one of them. Everything printed here comes off the Bavarian Palace Administration’s pages for this address or off the city’s portal where it says so. Nymphenburg’s tariff, hours and rooms were not among them, and a comparison with half its figures invented would make the other half look invented too. The Residenz tariff.
Is there a tour that covers both Munich palaces?
There is one listing sold as Nymphenburg Palace or the Residenz, where you choose which on the day — not both on one ticket. It is the cheapest guided option in our catalogue and carries 4.5 from 36 written reviews, split between the two buildings. What its reviewers say.
What does the Munich Residenz have that other palaces do not?
Three things at one address: a treasury of ten rooms holding the crowns of the Kings and Queens of Bavaria, a rococo court theatre where Mozart’s Idomeneo was first performed in 1781, and the Antiquarium — 66 metres, and by the operator’s own description the largest and most lavish Renaissance hall north of the Alps. The route through them.
Which palace is easier to reach in Munich?
This one is in the old town at Residenzstraße 1, with U-Bahn and S-Bahn at Marienplatz and Odeonsplatz and a tram at Nationaltheater, so it needs no journey out of the centre. That is a fact about this address rather than a comparison; for Nymphenburg’s own transport, ask its operator. Getting to this block.