a lovely rose island in lake starnberg with king ludwig 1st's small residence. it's a short wooden boat ride to this island....an island full of nature surrounded by breathtaking view of the lake and the alps. open during summers only. you can relax by the bank of the lake with friends and family having a picnic. a ticket is only needed for the residence museum. only few rooms are shown not all. a lovely relaxing den indeed.

My husband and I had found mixed reviews of the ferry boat service to Rose Island (Roseninsel) when planning our Bavaria trip so we were very pleasantly surprised by the congenial operator and friendly group of German college students who shared our boat ride. The island is so small we struggled to imagine Ludwig II racing around it on horseback as a young man! While blooms in the famous rose garden were mostly out of season, the island staff proved quite friendly, and the woman who served as our guide of the Max II-built villa gamely tackled the English text as we passed through the simple, mostly smaller-sized rooms. Besides seeing that the "extravagant" King Ludwig II was quite capable of inhabiting more simple surroundings, we had the sobering experience of gazing across Starnbergersee in the direction of Berg (near which Ludwig II drowned) knowing that the weather conditions of the present day were very similar to the day the King died.