Day trip
Lake Chiemsee: Herrenchiemsee, the Fraueninsel and the Ferry
Two islands, two companies and two tickets. The full price of the day exists nowhere as one number.
Prices and opening times last checked
Lake Chiemsee is the largest lake in Bavaria, and the reason most people make the trip sits on Herrenchiemsee island in the middle of it: Ludwig II’s unfinished copy of Versailles. Almost every price you will find beforehand is too low, because the palace and the boat belong to two different companies and each publishes only its own half.
The palace administration prints it on its own price page: all prices exclude the boat. The real cost of an island day is 25.50 €.
The day
What a day at Lake Chiemsee actually costs
Lake Chiemsee is cheap to reach and not cheap to visit, and the gap between those two is where the surprises live. The palace administration prints it on its own price page: all admission prices are quoted without the boat. For one adult on the Herreninsel that currently means 14 € for the combined island ticket plus 11.50 € for the return crossing from Prien/Stock, 25.50 € together, before the train from Munich. The boat is about 45 % of the day and is missing from nearly every summary.
The 14 € applies during the special exhibition running to 18 October 2026. From 19 October the combined ticket drops back to 11 €, and the island day with it, to 22.50 €. Wanting both islands rather than one changes the boat fare, not the ticket: 27.40 € in total.
Herrenchiemsee and the Fraueninsel: two islands, one palace
Foto: SimonWaldherr · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
This is the part that catches English-speaking visitors out. Lake Chiemsee has two inhabited islands, and they are not interchangeable. Herrenchiemsee island, the Herreninsel, holds the palace, the King Ludwig II Museum and the Augustinian monastery. The Fraueninsel, the smaller one, has a village, a convent that is among the oldest in the German-speaking world, and no palace at all.
Boats serve both, and a ticket to one is not a ticket to the other. Crossing directly between them costs 8.90 € return; reaching the Fraueninsel from Gstadt costs 8.70 €.
Chiemsee castle: what the ticket covers
The Chiemsee castle proper, the Neues Schloss on the Herreninsel, can only be seen on a guided tour, and it takes about 40 minutes. Ludwig died before the building was finished, so part of it stands as bare brickwork behind the finished state rooms. That contrast is the reason to go, and it is something a completed palace could not show you.
Chiemsee castle tickets are sold as part of that combined ticket rather than on their own, which is worth knowing if you only want the building. The combined island ticket covers the palace tour, the King Ludwig II Museum inside the same building and the museum and galleries in the Augustinian monastery. One thing sits outside it: the guided tour of the island’s minster costs 6 € extra. The monastery is worth the detour on its own account: the West German constitution was drafted in one of its halls in 1948.
Foto: Isiwal · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The crossing
Getting there from Prien: the Chiemsee ferry
From Munich the route is a regional train to Prien am Chiemsee, then the short hop to the pier at Prien/Stock, then the boat. The pier is a few minutes from the station on foot, by bus, or on the historic Chiemsee-Bahn, a steam tram that has run the stretch since 1887 and sells a combined ticket through to the island for 15.30 €.
| Route | Return |
|---|---|
| Gstadt → Fraueninsel | 8.70 € |
| Herreninsel → Fraueninsel | 8.90 € |
| Prien/Stock pier → Herreninsel | 11.50 € |
| Prien/Stock, Gstadt or Bernau → both islands (Inseltour West) | 13.40 € |
| Prien station (via the Chiemsee-Bahn) → Herreninsel | 15.30 € |
| any lakeside town → both islands (Große Chiemseetour) | 19.80 € |
The Chiemsee ferry is the part of the journey that decides the timetable. The palace administration asks visitors to allow about an hour from Prien to the palace door, crossing included. Since the tour has a fixed start time, that hour is what most plans get wrong, not the train.
Opening times and tickets
From April to 24 October the Neues Schloss is open 9am to 6pm, with the last tour at about 5pm. From 25 October to March it runs 10am to 4.45pm with the last tour at about 4pm. It is closed on 1 January, Shrove Tuesday and 24, 25 and 31 December. The fountains in front of the palace run from early May to 3 October.
Tickets are sold online and at the pier on the Herreninsel, but the island desk holds only a limited number each day and tours do sell out. Early morning and late afternoon are the recommended slots.
In short
Common questions
Is the boat included in the palace ticket?
No. The Chiemsee ferry is a separate company with its own fares, and the palace administration quotes its prices without it. You buy the two separately.
How much is a day on Herrenchiemsee island?
About 25.50 € per adult at the moment: 14 € for the combined island ticket and 11.50 € for the return crossing from Prien/Stock. From 19 October 2026 it falls to 22.50 €. The train from Munich is extra.
Which island should you go to?
Herrenchiemsee island for the palace and the museums; the Fraueninsel for the village and the convent. With the Inseltour ticket at 13.40 € you can do both in a day; book the timed palace tour first and fit the smaller island around it.
Can you see the palace without a guided tour?
Not the state rooms; those are tour-only, about 40 minutes. The King Ludwig II Museum and the Augustinian monastery can be walked round on your own.
How long does the journey take?
Allow about an hour from Prien to the palace door including the crossing, plus the regional train from Munich. Because the tour starts at a fixed time, plan backwards from the tour, not forwards from the train.
Prices and times as of August 2026, taken from the Bavarian Palace Department and the Chiemsee-Schifffahrt. Diese Seite auf Deutsch.