Schloss Nymphenburg

Lonely Planet review

Adelaide of Savoy certainly married well. After she gave birth to her son Max Emanuel, her husband, Elector Ferdinand Maria was so overjoyed that he rewarded her with her own palace, Schloss Nymphenburg. Later rulers dabbled with the place until it grew into the lavish edifice you see today.

This picture-perfect Baroque palace was built from 1664 to 1758 as the royal family's summer residence. And what an over-the-top escapist fantasy it is. There's a two-storey dining hall decorated with fabulous frescoes, a room stuffed with Gobelin tapestries, a Heraldic Room, Chinese Lacquer Room and the Gallery of Beauties , lined with portraits of 38 local stunners who'd caught Ludwig I's eye (including a smouldering depiction of Lola Montez). The Royal Stables feature Ludwig II's unused wedding coach (the engagement faultered), and the Porcelain Museum is housed in the former Nymphenburg Porcelain factory. An English-style park surrounds the palace, highlighted by a central canal, various follies, a crystal and gilt-bedripped hunting lodge, Chinese teahouse, bathing house, witch's cottage, tropical greenhouses and a natural history museum.