The Hofgarten: the court garden behind the Residenz, free to walk

I grew up two tram stops from Odeonsplatz and I still cut through this garden rather than walking round it, which says it all. The Hofgarten sits behind the palace, it has no ticket, no gate charge and no turnstile, and it is not inside any of the three admissions sold at this address. You can walk into it having bought nothing and having planned nothing.

Free, and not on any ticket. The Court Garden is free to walk. The palace administration’s own tariff lists it at no charge, and it is not part of the Residence Museum ticket, the Treasury ticket or the Cuvilliés Theatre ticket — it is simply open. The one timetable published for it is the fountain machinery, which runs from April to October, daily between 10 am and 2 pm. At its centre is the Dianatempel. Nothing on this page is something you have to buy (what does cost money at this address).

AdmissionFree

On any of the three ticketsNo

Fountain machineryApril – October

Machinery hoursDaily 10 am – 2 pm

At its centreThe Dianatempel

ReservationThere is nothing to reserve

Open to everyone, on no ticket — and how that shapes the day

The garden is open to everyone: it is outside all three tickets because it is free to walk. Anyone can spend an afternoon here, and a visitor with the all-three ticket — or the guided visit, which carries the garden in its name — walks out into it at the end of the museum route.

The practical consequence is about timing. The museum and the Treasury stop selling tickets an hour before they close, at five in the summer season and four in winter, and they shut an hour after that (both timetables). The garden is not on that clock. Arriving at this address late in the day with no chance of a museum visit is not a wasted trip; it is a walk through the Hofgarten to Odeonsplatz.

The one timetable out here

The operator publishes hours for the Court Garden fountain machinery: April to October, daily between 10 am and 2 pm. That is a narrower window than most people expect and it is worth knowing if the fountains are the reason you are coming, because the middle of the day is exactly when a lot of visitors are inside the museum.

For the garden itself, check access times locally.

What is free at the Munich Residenz, and what the listings add

People arrive at this question from a wider search — what is free in Munich. Here is the answer for this address:

Free here

The Hofgarten. No ticket, no gate charge, not inside any of the three admissions
The audio guide. Free with the museum and Treasury ticket, in nine languages: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic
Admission under 18. Complimentary, in the operator’s own word, at all three parts
Admission for students over 18 holding a valid card from a general or vocational school
The cloakroom. Free and supervised, which is where your rucksack is going anyway
Photography and video for personal use, without flash and without a tripod

Ticketed or booked here

The Residence Museum, the Treasury and the Cuvilliés Theatre, which are the three ticketed parts
A live guide — the guided visit on this site covers all three ticketed parts with the tickets in the price
An evening concert in one of the halls — the palace after dark, sold as a seat
The annual and 14-day Bavarian passes — ask at the desk for the current price

That list covers this address (the tariff, and who pays nothing).

The listing with the garden in its title

One guided listing is called the Residenz Palace and Hofgarten Skip-the-Line Tour, and the garden is free to walk; the listing adds the rest: its own inclusions name a guided tour of the Residenz Palace Museum, a licensed official Munich guide, skip-the-line tickets, and tickets to the Treasury and the Cuvilliés Theatre — which makes it the one listing in our catalogue whose ticket reaches all three parts of the address. The Hofgarten is the walk at the end of it, and a good one (the guided tour, reviewed).

The half-hour version, before the rooms

If you have half an hour and no ticket, come up at Odeonsplatz, walk down through the Hofgarten to the palace, look at the Residenzstraße front from the outside and go on into the old town. It is free, it takes in the outdoor half of this address, and it is the walk that makes the rooms inside — and the guided visit through them — the obvious next afternoon. How to reach the block.

The guided one

Check dates for the guided visit that ends in the Hofgarten

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure on most tours — book now, decide later.

Around the garden: how to reach this block, what is open when inside it, whether the palace is worth your afternoon, and what the museum route contains.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Hofgarten in Munich free?

Yes. The Court Garden is free to walk, has no gate charge and is not part of the Residence Museum ticket, the Treasury ticket or the Cuvilliés Theatre ticket. The palace administration’s own tariff lists it at no charge. You can walk through it on any day, at any hour the city is awake.

What are the Hofgarten opening times?

The only timetable the palace administration publishes out there is for the fountain machinery, which runs from April to October, daily between 10 am and 2 pm.

What is free at the Munich Residenz?

The Court Garden, the audio guide in nine languages, admission for everyone under 18, admission for students over 18 with a valid card from a general or vocational school, the supervised cloakroom, and photography for personal use without flash or tripod. Admission to the three ticketed parts is what the desk sells, and the guided visit includes it. The tariff.

Is the Hofgarten included in the Residenz ticket?

No — it is free to walk. A visitor with the all-three ticket walks out into it at the end of the museum route, and a visitor with no ticket walks in just the same.

What is the temple in the middle of the Hofgarten?

The Dianatempel, at the centre of the garden. Like the rest of the garden, it is free to walk up to.