Pillnitz Palace and Park

Why go

Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen, which runs the estate, says the Saxon rulers spent their summers at Pillnitz and describes its mix of Baroque and oriental architecture as chinoiserie. Its history page says the Riverside and Hillside Palaces were built from 1720 to 1724 to Pöppelmann's plans, and that the New Palace, built after a fire in 1818 and completed in 1830, reopened in 2006 as the Palace Museum with the royal kitchen, Catholic chapel and domed hall. The Riverside and Hillside Palaces house the Museum of Decorative Arts of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, which the operator's guest-service page said on 9 October 2026 will remain closed in 2026; the estate also has English, Dutch and Chinese gardens, the Palm House and a camellia kept under glass in winter. The operator's guest-service page says the visitor centre in the Old Guard House sells tickets and is the meeting point for all guided tours. The estate has served as a museum since the end of the Second World War.