IllustrationVisit Hofgarten Dachau for orchard trees, a shady lime walk and a hilltop view that can reach the Alps.
Visit Hofgarten Dachau for orchard trees, a shady lime walk and a hilltop view that can reach the Alps. Start on the palace side, look across the flower beds, then slow down among the fruit-tree rows. This is a garden for noticing small details as well as looking out over a very large landscape.
Several different gardens fit into the visit. Near the palace, patterned flower beds show the taste for formal decoration. Inside the old walls, straight paths and orderly fruit trees give the orchard its quieter character. The clipped lime walk makes another memorable picture: trunks, branches and leaves shaped into a living passage. Beyond the orchard, a small wooded section changes the light and the feel of the walk.
The Bienengarten in that wooded area helps explain the connection between blossom and fruit. Its information panels introduce the lives of bees, and the hives include the rounded Bienenkugel developed by beekeeper Andreas Heidinger. These are managed honeybee colonies. You can enjoy watching without approaching the hive entrances or expecting a beekeeper to be giving a demonstration.
Leave a little time for the panorama. Munich lies across the plain, with the Alps beyond when visibility is good. On a hazy day, bring your attention back to the garden: the shape of an orchard tree, the pattern of a flower bed or the way a path meets an old wall can make a satisfying photograph. Turn your visit into a safari! Use the Snappit app to scan and log wildlife sightings here.
The Renaissance garden was laid out from 1578 to plans by Friedrich Sustris. In 1715, Joseph Effner reshaped it for Elector Max Emanuel with ornamental beds, while the neighbouring wood became a courtly play garden. From 1802, Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell introduced fruit trees inside the walls. That practical change still shapes the visit. A small restoration completed in 2018 straightened a path in the orchard’s north-west corner, recovering the older right-angled layout and revealing the garden wall again.
For a short visit, begin at the palace-side garden entrance, follow the paths beside the formal beds into the orchard, visit the lime walk and panorama side, then retrace your route to the same entrance. For a longer outing, continue from the orchard into the western wooded section and the Bienengarten before returning through the orchard to your starting entrance. Allow 30–45 minutes for the first option or 60–90 minutes for the second, with stops. These are suggested sight orders, not marked trails; neither has a published, verified kilometre length.
With children, try a three-picture challenge: one garden pattern, one living thing and one distant view. Keep the whole activity on the paths. For climbing and sliding afterwards, the separate Spielplatz am Wasserturm on Hofgartenweg, beside the old garden wall, has a mosaic dragon in its sand area and a play structure with a tube slide. Allow extra time for that stop and the return to your bus or car.
In spring, look for apple blossom; in summer, take time over the formal flower beds. Autumn brings fruit and changing leaves. The 2026 fruit sale is at the Ökonomiegebäude, with self-service and staffed sessions while supplies last; check the official garden page before making a special trip. Picking or taking fruit from the garden is prohibited. In winter, use only open, cleared and gritted paths.
The palace-side garden access is step-free, but the asphalt-and-paving approach from the car park descends more than 6%; you must climb it on the return. Inside, the manager describes firm gravel paths, slight gradients and seating. Two accessible parking spaces are in front of the palace. The accessible WC is on the first floor, reached by lift, and available only during café opening hours. These details do not certify every connection to the bee garden or the playground; ask the palace office about your intended route if you need assistance or a particular surface.
A clipped passage of trees offers shade and a strong photographic perspective.
Fruit trees, straight paths and old walls make the garden’s working history easy to see.
Information panels and unusual spherical hives introduce the bees that help pollinate the orchard.
Look over the Munich plain towards the Alps when the air is clear.
From the palace-side entrance, use the formal-garden paths to reach the orchard, then visit the clipped lime walk and panorama side. Retrace the paths to your entrance. Choose how far to go before turning back; this is an order of sights, not a signed or measured trail.
Assess the entrance slope in both directions before committing to it. This suggestion is not an audited accessible circuit.
Begin with the formal garden and orchard, then follow public garden paths into the wooded area west of the orchard to find the Bienengarten. Read the panels and look at the hives from the visitor area. Return through the orchard on your outward paths, adding the lime walk and panorama if you have not already seen them, and finish at your original entrance.
For a wheelchair or pushchair, ask about the woodland and bee-garden connection rather than assuming the general garden access description covers every section.
At a path junction in the orchard, ask everyone to find two lines that meet at a right angle. Then compare that straight layout with a tree’s branching shape. A quick sketch works as well as a photograph, and nobody needs to leave the path.
The Spielplatz am Wasserturm is a separate outdoor stop on Hofgartenweg. Let children look for the mosaic dragon before choosing the slide, climbing structure or swings. Plan your way back to the palace forecourt or Rathaus afterwards; playground time and the extra walking are outside the garden-only estimates.
If the Festsaal is open, use a rainy spell for its wooden Renaissance ceiling, made by Hans Wisreutter in 1564–1566. Look for the coats of arms among the patterned panels. A lift serves the hall, although assistance may be needed with the entrance door. Check admission and the day’s access separately from the garden.
Look along the orchard paths for apple trees. Spring blossom and autumn fruit give very different photographs of the same subject. Keep a little of the tree and garden setting in your picture, and use any visible label rather than guessing a variety. These are cultivated trees; the fruit is not for picking.
Plum trees belong to the orchard’s fruit-growing story: Dachau-grown Zwetschgen were used for the Schlossbrand introduced in 2019. Look for fruit or labels visible from the path, without assuming that every tree is an apple. Individual trees and crops can change; leave all fruit in place.
Small-leaved limes were planted in rows during the 2006–07 restoration of the western wooded garden. Try looking along the planting lines from a path to see the old design. This grove is a different feature from the clipped lime walk; do not assume every lime in the garden is the same species.
These are beekeeper-managed honeybees that forage freely. Watch a flower or the designated public viewing area rather than standing in front of a hive entrance. The rounded Bienenkugel offers a different hive design to notice. Activity varies with weather, and a visit does not guarantee an interior view or a demonstration.
The western section is often called the Englischer Garten, but it began as a courtly play garden with deliberately arranged trees. The 2006–07 restoration used small-leaved limes in a six-metre grid to bring that structure back into view. The old play equipment belongs to its history, not to today’s visitor facilities.
There is a café-restaurant in the palace. Check its opening before depending on a food or toilet stop. The accessible WC permits transfer from the left only; its lift has an 89 cm door and a cabin 90 cm wide by 140 cm deep. Contact the palace office on 08131 87923 if these arrangements are essential to your visit.
A downhill arrival can conceal the effort needed to leave. Allow help or extra time for the return towards the palace, and choose a manageable turnaround point. The palace has no tactile guidance system; agree your route and assistance needs in advance.
For an autumn 2026 visit, check the fruit-sale notice if you would like to buy orchard produce. Stock depends on the harvest. The garden itself closes at dusk, which can be much earlier than 20:00; do not use the latest summer closing limit to plan an autumn evening visit.
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Entry
Garden admission is free. Normal opening is daily from 08:00 until dusk, no later than 20:00; follow gate notices and temporary barriers.
Arrival
Take a train to Dachau and a bus to Rathaus, then walk uphill to the palace. Check your current connection and return service. Parking at Schlossplatz is limited; alternatives are in the old town and the Wieninger Straße car park.
Stay on the paths
Lawns and meadows are closed to visitors. Keep off planting, leave fruit where it is and use the benches for a pause.
Dogs and wheels
Keep dogs on a short lead and remove waste. Cycling on the footpaths and gravel paths is prohibited; wheelchairs and similar mobility aids are allowed, as are children’s non-motorised scooters.
Garden care
No barbecues or open fires. Do not climb garden structures, and keep games from disturbing other visitors or damaging planting.
Bee-watching
Give the hives space, keep children beside you and use your zoom rather than moving closer. Do not touch or open any equipment.
Recent snaps will appear here as new observations are added.
Maryland, US
You might spot White-Tailed Deer and Eastern Gray Squirrel.
View guide →
District of Columbia, US
You might spot Eastern Gray Squirrel, Duck, and House Sparrow.
View guide →
Illinois, US
You might spot American Robin, Canada Goose, and House Sparrow.
View guide →
Virginia, US
You might spot Spotted Lanternfly and Northern Cardinal.
View guide →
Take the discovery with you
Identify the wildlife you spot, learn as you go, and keep a collection of the adventure.
