The Hermitage is Bayreuth’s most magnificent garden complex, and here too the trail leads back to Margravine Wilhelmine. In 1735, Margrave Friedrich presented her with the older grounds; Wilhelmine immediately began to develop them into her summer residence and to redesign them according to her own ideas. The name says it all: the court would retreat here to live like hermits, with grottos and simple hermitages, before gathering again in gilded halls for dinner.
🏛️ The Old and New Palaces
She had the Old Palace lavishly furnished, including the Japanese Cabinet and the Chinese Shard of Mirror Cabinet, where she wrote her famous memoirs. Between 1749 and 1753, the New Palace was built to the west of it, featuring the Temple of the Sun, whose gilded figure gleams from afar, flanked by two curved arcaded wings that served as an orangery.
⛲ Water features
Numerous fountains bubble around the palaces. In the large basin in front of the New Palace, dozens of fountains shoot up into the air on the hour, a spectacle featuring figures of gods and nymphs. If you want to see the water features, you should be there a few minutes before the hour strikes; they don’t last long.
🌳 The park
The Hermitage combines strictly Baroque sections with a loosely designed landscape park and areas that have been deliberately left to run wild, along with grottos, small waterfalls and temples. You can walk through the park in an hour or spend half a day there; both feel just right.
🕒 Visiting
The park is freely accessible and open all year round. The interiors of the palaces can be viewed as part of guided tours organised by the Bavarian Palace Administration; an admission fee applies. The water features are only in operation during the warmer months.
🚗 Getting there
The Hermitage is situated on the eastern outskirts of Bayreuth and is signposted; there are car parks at the entrance. A city bus service runs out from the city centre; on foot, it’s just under an hour’s walk along the Roter Main.